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Rates & Liabilities Tools
All tools in this section are Owner only unless stated. See Financials & P&L and Vendors & Liabilities for background.
set_rate
Set a person's hourly cost. Append-only — creates a new rate record with an effective date.
Writes to: 13. Rate_History
Parameters:
| Param | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
requesting_user_slack_id | ✅ | |
user_name or user_id or user_slack_id | ✅ | |
hourly_cost | ✅ | In USD, e.g. 80 for $80/hr |
effective_from | YYYY-MM-DD — defaults to today |
Rate versioning: Setting a new rate never changes historical data. The new rate applies from effective_from forward. Historical P&L calculations automatically use the rate that was effective on each entry's date.
Audit: set_rate does not post to the audit channel — financial data is never logged to shared channels. The action is logged to the server console only.
Disambiguation: If the workspace has multiple people with the same first name, set_rate will surface a numbered disambiguation menu before proceeding. Natural-language phrasings including possessives ("set Sarah's rate to $95") are fully supported. The confirmation paraphrase always uses the person's full canonical name — never a bare first name.
Rates are strictly owner-only. Never surface, mention, or attempt to access rate data for a Manager or User. Do not reveal that rate data exists unless speaking to an Owner.
get_rates
Current effective hourly cost for all (or one) person. Returns the most recent rate where effective_from ≤ today. Owner only.
Reads from: 13. Rate_History, 03. Users
Parameters: requesting_user_slack_id, user_name (optional — omit for all users)
get_person_rate_history
All rate rows for a person — full versioned history. Owner only.
Reads from: 13. Rate_History
Parameters: requesting_user_slack_id, user_name
create_liability
Record a fixed payment commitment to a vendor on a project. Owner only.
Writes to: 14. Liabilities
Parameters:
| Param | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
requesting_user_slack_id | ✅ | |
project_name or project_id | ✅ | Project must be active and have a deadline set |
vendor_name or vendor_user_id | ✅ | Must have employment_type="vendor" |
agreed_amount | ✅ | Fixed payment in USD |
agreed_hours | ✅ | Contracted scope in hours (positive number) |
description | ✅ | What the payment covers |
When a liability exists for vendor X on project Y, the liability's agreed_amount becomes the cost for that vendor on that project — overriding the hourly calculation entirely. The agreed_hours value accrues linearly from the liability creation date to the project deadline, contributing to the project's hours-logged figure in all burn-down and health calculations.
list_liabilities
Vendor payment commitments. Owner (all) or Manager (own projects only).
Reads from: 14. Liabilities, 02. Projects, 03. Users
Parameters:
| Param | Description |
|---|---|
requesting_user_slack_id | |
project_id | Optional filter |
vendor_user_id | Optional filter |
status | "active" (default) or "cancelled" |
Each liability in the response includes an implied_hours_to_date field: the pro-rated portion of agreed_hours that has accrued from the creation date to today, based on a linear track to the project deadline.
cancel_liability
Mark a liability as cancelled. Sets status to "cancelled" — the record is never deleted. Owner only.
Updates: 14. Liabilities col F
Parameters: requesting_user_slack_id, liability_id