Plan Payroll

# Plan Payroll

Three skills in order: know payroll is covered, close the gap if it is not, then run it.

Owners do not ask two separate questions here. "Can I make payroll" and "run payroll" are one worry, and splitting them across two sessions is how a run gets keyed in at 11pm without anyone checking the bank balance first.

Parse arguments:

- `--horizon` (default `30`) — forecast window in days: 30, 60, or 90 - `--payroll-date` (optional) — the date payroll runs; defaults to the next scheduled pay date

## Step 1 — Is payroll covered? (cash-flow-snapshot)

Invoke `cash-flow-snapshot`. It owns the forecast math, the confidence bands, and the CSV fallback — do not rebuild any of it here.

- **Goes in:** the horizon and the payroll date. - **Comes out:** a 30/60/90-day forecast, named risk flags, a chat summary, and an XLSX.

Say the verdict in one line before anything else: covered, tight, or short by a named dollar amount on a named date.

**Gate — where the chain goes next.** If payroll is comfortably covered, ask whether to skip the collection step and go straight to the run. If there is a gap, present it and wait for an explicit "see what we can collect" before Step 2.

## Step 2 — Close the gap (invoice-chase)

Invoke `invoice-chase`. It owns the ranking, the tone matching, and the send path per invoice type.

- **Goes in:** the gap amount and the date it lands, from Step 1. - **Comes out:** ranked overdue invoices with a drafted reminder each, PayPal-issued invoices queued as PayPal sends and the rest as mail drafts.

Tie the ranking back to Step 1: show what gets collected inside the horizon and whether that actually closes the payroll gap. A reminder that pays in 45 days does nothing for a Friday run — say so.

**Gate — nothing sends without approval.** Drafts only until the owner says send, per reminder or as a batch they name.

## Step 3 — Stage the run (payroll-prep)

Invoke `payroll-prep`. It owns the period setup, the hour totals, the anomaly checks, and the books sync.

- **Goes in:** the pay period, the roster, and the cash verdict from Step 1. - **Comes out:** a run sheet person by person, every anomaly flagged against the person it belongs to, totals, and the cash needed on the pay date.

Carry Step 1 forward instead of recomputing it. When `payroll-prep` reports whether the run clears, it uses the forecast this chain already produced, plus anything Step 2 is expected to collect.

**Gate — the flags, one at a time.** `payroll-prep` walks each anomaly separately. Do not collapse them into a single "looks good?" — each one is a person's pay.

**Gate — the run itself.** With Gusto connected, the run is staged in Gusto (`payroll-prep` writes the approved inputs with `update_payroll`; `run_payroll` is never called). With QuickBooks Payroll connected, the connector holds the reads and no run-staging write, so the outcome is the validated run sheet the owner keys in — what the connector holds today, not a lesser path. Staging holds only when the source actually returned a roster and a schedule: payroll-prep stops the staging path when a connected source reports employees but delivers none, and the chain then ends on the run sheet, stated plainly. **The owner submits it.** With neither, the deliverable is a validated run sheet for manual entry, and that is a complete outcome, not a degraded one. This includes when Gusto reports blockers — the run sheet inherits the blocker list from `payroll-prep`.

## Step 4 — Close the loop

One recap, in this order: the cash verdict, what was sent and to whom, the projected position if the reminders convert, and the staged run — headcount, total hours, total gross, cash leaving the account, pay date, and any flags left open.

Ray Okonkwo sees it in four lines: cash short USD 4,200 on the 15th, three reminders sent covering USD 6,800, two likely inside the window, run staged for 9 people at USD 18,340 with one missing punch still open on Marcus.

## Output

**Deliver the Step 4 recap per the owner's stored output preference — never default to a markdown file.** Check the `## Business context` block's `Output preference` (shared style guide rule, `../../shared/artifact-style.md`):

- **Visual artifact (the default):** render the recap as an HTML page in the house style — the cash verdict as the lead stat tile, the reminders sent and their projected collections in tabular-nums, and the staged run's totals with a pill on any flag left open. Projected cash is labeled projected. - **docx / md / notion / canva preference:** deliver the same content in that form — a DOCX or markdown file, a Notion page created via the connector (named destination, never overwriting), or a Canva Doc created via the Canva connector (a new design each run, named with the date; tables become lists); fall back to the visual artifact if Notion or Canva is not connected — and say that is why. - **Best for skill:** use the visual artifact — this output is one screen that answers "can I make