Budgets were the one part of the app a connected agent could not see. It
could
list transactions, categories and labels, but "am I still inside my food
budget
this month" had no answer, and setting a budget up meant leaving the
conversation. This adds the four tools that close that gap.
## Tools
| Tool | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `list_budgets` | Every budget with the period in progress: allocated,
carried over, spent, remaining, plus the categories and labels it tracks
|
| `create_budget` | A limit per period over categories and/or labels, or
the single catch-all budget |
| `update_budget` | Rename, or change the limit |
| `delete_budget` | Remove a budget; the transactions it was watching
are untouched |
Budgets hang off the user rather than off a space — that is how the app
already
decides which budgets a transaction feeds — so these tools take no
`space`
argument and cover the whole account, like the cashflow and net-worth
ones.
`update_budget` deliberately only takes `name` and `allocated_amount`.
The web
edit dialog locks the period length, start day and rollover behind an
explicit
message ("budgets are calculated historically"), and for good reason:
changing
them afterwards lets the next generated period overlap the one in
progress, so
the same transaction gets counted twice. To change those, or the tracked
categories, the agent deletes the budget and creates it again.
## Shared service, and one web behaviour change
Creating a budget seeds two periods and dispatches the historical
backfill for
both; that logic now lives in `BudgetService`, called by
`BudgetController` and
by the tools, instead of being copied into the MCP layer.
**This changes one thing on the web:** editing a budget's amount now
applies to
the period in progress as well as future ones. The old filter was
`start_date >= today`, which skipped a period that had already started —
so on
any day but the first of the period, saving a new amount appeared to do
nothing.
The edit dialog already promised the new behaviour ("This will update
the
allocated amount for the current and future periods") and prefills the
current
period's amount, so the code was the side that was wrong. Covered by a
new test
in `BudgetTest`.
## Fix: a start day that could hang period generation
`period_start_day` means a day of the month for monthly budgets and a
day of the
week for weekly ones. A weekly budget carrying a value above 6 sent
`calculatePeriodDates()` into `while ($date->dayOfWeek !== $dayOfWeek)`,
walking
backwards forever looking for a day that cannot exist. The web form caps
the
input at 6, but the server-side rule never did, so the tools were the
first
surface that could reach it — and once such a row exists, the daily
`budgets:generate-periods` command hits it and stops generating periods
**for
every user**.
Two changes: the tools validate the range against `period_type`, and the
generator takes the value modulo 7 so no caller can spin. Verified
against a row
doctored to `weekly` + `15`: it now resolves to a normal week instead of
hanging.
## Reviews
Both review passes ran; the notable ones applied beyond the two above:
- `remaining_amount` no longer adds the carried-over amount. The budget
cards,
the spending chart and the limit emails all measure against the
allocated
amount alone, so the old formula meant an agent quoting a number no
screen
shows. `carried_over_amount` is still reported as its own field.
- The period reports `processing_historical`, so an agent can tell
"nothing
spent" from "backfill still running" instead of trusting a prose caveat.
- The category/label hints say the ids must be ones the user owns —
`list_categories` is space-scoped and can return a co-member's, which a
budget
cannot track.
- Request id normalisation moved onto `McpTool` as `requestedIds()`,
shared with
`labelsInSpace`, which no longer runs a query just to build an empty
result.
Deliberately not applied: the "at least one category or label" and "only
one
catch-all" rules stay duplicated between `StoreBudgetRequest` and
`create_budget`. Unifying them would change the web error key
`selection`, which
the create dialog renders, and the two audiences want different wording
— the
agent gets told what to send next.
## QA
Driven over the real `/mcp` endpoint with a Sanctum token, since there
is no UI
surface:
- `tools/list` advertises all four with the right annotations and
schemas
(`delete_budget` destructive, `list_budgets` read-only).
- `create_budget` → the response comes back with `processing_historical:
true`;
after draining the queue, the €120 transaction already on the account is
attached and `spent_amount` reads 12000, `remaining_amount` 38000.
- `update_budget` to 60000 → the August period moves to 60000, the
closed July
period keeps 50000.
- `delete_budget` → gone from `list_budgets`, transaction still there.
- Refused as expected: a read-only token, a weekly budget with
`period_start_day`
15, a budget tracking nothing, and an unknown budget id.
- `mcp_tool_calls` recorded only the four calls that did something, not
the
rejections.
`chatgpt-app-submission.json` gains the four tools with their hint
justifications, plus a budget test case, so the submitted manifest keeps
matching
what the server serves (`ToolAnnotationsTest` enforces the count).
## Sentry
Fixes
**[PHP-LARAVEL-39](https://whisper-money.sentry.io/issues/PHP-LARAVEL-39)**
— `UniqueConstraintViolationException` (1062) on
`budget_periods_budget_id_start_date_unique`. 7 events over 6 days, 0
users (background command), regressed.
## Root cause
`BudgetPeriodService::generatePeriod()` did a blind
`BudgetPeriod::create()`. The scheduled `budgets:generate-periods`
command reaches `generatePeriod()` from three paths (`handle()` +
`closePeriod()`), each computing the next start date as `max(end_date) +
1 day`. Across **overlapping or repeated runs** two paths compute the
same `start_date`, and the second insert collides with the unique key:
```
insert into budget_periods (budget_id, start_date, ...) values (019ea713..., 2026-06-30 00:00:00, ...)
-> 1062 Duplicate entry '019ea713...-2026-06-30'
```
## Fix
Make creation idempotent on the `(budget_id, start_date)` unique key via
`firstOrCreate()`. It delegates to Laravel's `createOrFirst()`, which
catches the unique violation and re-queries — so the call is
**concurrency-safe** and the command is safe to re-run. Period dates are
normalized to start-of-day so the lookup matches the stored date key.
## Test
`generatePeriod is idempotent when a period already exists for the start
date` — reproduces the 1062 (verified failing against the pre-fix code
with the exact `BudgetPeriodService.php:26` stack), passes after the
fix. Returns the existing period, no duplicate row.
## Notes
Behavior change: when the next period already exists, `generatePeriod()`
now returns it unchanged instead of throwing. `closePeriod()` still
updates `carried_over_amount` on the returned period.
## Summary
Budgets previously tracked a single category **or** label (mutually
exclusive). This lets a budget span **multiple** categories and labels
at once, all pooling spend against one allocated amount per period.
Scope decided with the requester:
- **Shared pool** — one allocated amount; any tracked category/label
counts against it.
- **Multi categories + multi labels** on a single budget.
- **Create-only** — tracking is chosen at creation and locked afterward
(edit dialog shows it read-only).
## Changes
**Backend**
- New `budget_category` + `budget_label` pivot tables; data migration
copies existing `category_id`/`label_id` into them, then drops those
columns.
- `Budget` model: `categories()` / `labels()` belongsToMany.
- `BudgetTransactionService` matches transactions across **all** tracked
categories OR labels (live assignment + historical backfill).
- `StoreBudgetRequest` accepts `category_ids` / `label_ids` arrays,
requires ≥1 across both, validates ownership. `update` no longer touches
tracking.
**Frontend**
- Reusable `MultiSelect` (popover + command + badge).
- Create dialog uses multi-selects; cards and show page render tracked
categories/labels as badges; edit dialog shows them read-only.
- Dexie bumped to v10 (drops unused per-category allocations table, adds
`budget_labels`).
## Testing
- Updated all budget/transaction/listener/browser tests for the pivot
model; added cases for multi-category matching, mixed category+label
pooling, and store validation (empty selection + foreign-ownership).
- Added the new `__()` strings to `lang/es.json`.
- Local `pint`, `lint`, `format` pass. Relying on CI for the full suite.
## Summary
- Add yearly budget period option on backend and frontend
- Generate yearly budget periods for Jan 1 through Dec 31
- Add feature coverage for yearly budget creation and period generation
## Tests
- vendor/bin/pint --dirty --format agent
- php artisan test --compact tests/Feature/BudgetPeriodServiceTest.php
tests/Feature/BudgetTest.php
## Notes
- npm run types fails on existing unrelated TypeScript errors: missing
generated Wayfinder modules and pre-existing type mismatches
## Why merge this
Production bug
**[PHP-LARAVEL-1B](https://whisper-money.sentry.io/issues/PHP-LARAVEL-1B)**
— `/budgets/{budget}` throws a 500 (`UniqueConstraintViolationException`
on `budget_periods_budget_id_start_date_unique`) for the affected user.
Page is unusable for them until fixed.
## Root cause
The Custom period type let users create budgets with arbitrary
`period_duration`. Combined with `calculatePeriodDates()`'s day-of-month
snap (`startDate->day(period_start_day)`), short durations produced
periods where `end_date == start_date == period_start_day`. On the next
visit after that day, regeneration computed a new period whose start
snapped backward to the same day → unique key collision.
Concrete trace from the Sentry event:
- Budget: `Seguro de Salud`, `period_type=custom, period_duration=1,
period_start_day=1`, created `2026-05-05`.
- Initial period created at budget creation: `start=2026-05-01,
end=2026-05-01` (already 4 days stale because Custom snapped
`now()=05-05` back to day 1, then `addDays(1).subDay()` produced same
date).
- Today `05-05` → `getCurrentPeriod()` returns null → `generatePeriod()`
snaps back to `05-01` again → `INSERT (budget_id, 05-01)` → 1062.
Verified in prod DB: this is the **only** budget in the entire database
with `period_type='custom'` and the only period row with `end_date <=
start_date`.
## Fix
Custom is the only period type that exposes this snap-back collision
(Monthly/Weekly/Biweekly all use a self-consistent advance). It also has
no defensible UX — every legitimate use case is covered by
Monthly/Weekly/Biweekly. So we remove it end-to-end:
- `BudgetPeriodType::Custom` enum case dropped.
- `BudgetPeriodService`: Custom branches removed from
`calculatePeriodDates()` and `calculateNextPeriodStartDate()`.
- `Budget` model: `period_duration` removed from `$fillable` and
`casts()`.
- `StoreBudgetRequest` / `UpdateBudgetRequest`: `period_duration` rule
removed.
- `BudgetController`: `period_duration` no longer passed in
store/update.
- Create + edit budget dialogs: Custom option and `period_duration`
input removed.
- `ResetDemoAccountCommand`: Custom switch case removed.
- `BudgetFactory`: `custom()` state and `period_duration` default
removed.
- `types/budget.ts`: `'custom'` removed from `BUDGET_PERIOD_TYPES` and
`Budget.period_duration` field dropped.
- Migration `2026_05_05_132023_convert_custom_budgets_to_monthly`:
rewrites any existing `custom` rows to `monthly` with
`period_duration=null, period_start_day=1` so the dropped enum case
can't crash on hydration.
Period generation logic for Monthly/Weekly/Biweekly is **unchanged**.
## Manual prod cleanup (separate, after merge)
The single buggy budget in prod will be deleted manually:
```sql
DELETE FROM budget_periods WHERE id = '019df7fd-6073-731b-9c08-f3723515292b';
DELETE FROM budgets WHERE id = '019df7fd-6071-7219-b190-ece22ccdb63f';
```
## Tests
`tests/Feature/BudgetPeriodServiceTest.php` covers Monthly + Weekly
advance and Monthly first-period generation. Existing
`BudgetPeriodDateTest` unaffected.
## Risk
- `period_duration` column kept in DB (nullable) to avoid data loss; no
migration needed.
- Migration ensures any environment with `period_type='custom'` rows is
converted before the enum case is removed, preventing hydration errors.
- No customers actively rely on Custom: prod query confirmed only the
single broken budget uses it, and that one is being deleted.
Fixes PHP-LARAVEL-1B
## 🚪 Why?
### Problem
PHPStan was running with a baseline of 56 suppressed errors, meaning
static analysis was not enforcing type safety across a significant
portion of the codebase. These errors were real type mismatches,
redundant null-safety operators, and incorrect PHPDoc annotations that
could mask bugs and make the code harder to reason about.
## 🔑 What?
### Changes
- Add `@property` PHPDoc annotations to `Account`, `BankingConnection`,
`ExchangeRate`, and `Transaction` models so Enum casts and typed columns
are visible to PHPStan
- Add `instanceof User` guards in `ScheduleDripEmailsListener`,
`SyncUserToResendListener`, and `FortifyServiceProvider` to properly
narrow `Authenticatable` to `App\Models\User`
- Remove redundant `?? false` and unnecessary nullsafe `?->value` in
`HandleInertiaRequests`
- Fix `SyncBankingConnectionJob`: use `->name` instead of `?->name` on
an always-loaded `bank` relation
- Remove `is_countable()` guard in `BalanceLookup` (parameter is always
`Collection|array`, both countable)
- Remove `?? []` / `?? default` fallbacks on fully-typed array keys
across `BalanceSyncService`, `BinanceBalanceSyncService`,
`BinanceClient`, `BitpandaBalanceSyncService`, `BitpandaClient`,
`IndexaCapitalClient`, `IndexaCapitalBalanceSyncService`, and
`AuthorizationController`
- Fix `BinanceClient::publicClient()` `retry()` call: use `when:` named
argument and `\Throwable` type hint to match `PendingRequest::retry()`
signature
- Update `IndexaCapitalClient::getPerformance()` `@return` to include
`portfolios` and `net_amounts` keys; simplify sync service to remove
dead null checks
- Replace nullsafe chain with ternary in `BudgetPeriodService`
- Replace `match` statement in `SetupMainUser` with `if/else` to
eliminate always-true comparison
- Clear `phpstan-baseline.neon` entirely (was 56 suppressed errors, now
0)
## ✅ Verification
### Tests
- Existing tests pass: PHPStan level 5 reports 0 errors with empty
baseline
## Why
### Problem
When a refund (positive transaction amount) is assigned to a budget, it
incorrectly **increases** the cumulative spending instead of
**reducing** it. This causes:
- The spending chart line to go **up** on refunds instead of down
- The "Spent" amount to be inflated
- The "Remaining" amount to be understated
- Period rollover calculations to carry over incorrect amounts
### Root Cause
`BudgetTransactionService` uses `abs($transaction->amount)` when
creating budget transactions, which forces all amounts to be positive —
including refunds. Since expenses are stored as negative in the
`transactions` table and refunds as positive, `abs()` treats both as
spending.
## What
### Changes
- Replace `abs($transaction->amount)` with `-$transaction->amount` in
both `assignTransaction()` and `assignHistoricalTransactionsToPeriod()`
— expenses (`-5000`) become positive spending (`5000`), refunds
(`+1000`) become negative spending (`-1000`)
- Remove redundant `abs()` in `BudgetPeriodService::closePeriod()`
rollover calculation
- Add data migration to fix existing `budget_transactions` rows where
the original transaction was a refund
- No frontend changes needed — the chart and budget card already sum
`t.amount` directly
## Verification
### Tests
- Updated `assignHistoricalTransactionsToPeriod stores negated
transaction amount for expenses` — verifies expense sign is preserved
- Added `assignHistoricalTransactionsToPeriod stores refund as negative
amount` — verifies refunds reduce spending
- Added `budget spending correctly reflects mix of expenses and refunds`
— verifies net spending (expense - refund)
- Added `assignTransaction stores refund as negative budget transaction
amount` — verifies real-time assignment handles refunds
## Overview
We're excited to introduce budgeting capabilities to Whisper Money! This
feature helps you take control of your finances by setting spending
limits and tracking your progress over time.
## Screenshots
<img width="1316" height="793" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ac394d36-cded-4ea4-9883-120785e260f1"
/>
<img width="1315" height="907" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7c682474-5aa7-4388-b626-29b56f5ebbef"
/>
<img width="1315" height="992" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/21eace45-23c6-472d-9aa0-0feb6db3fba4"
/>
## What's New
### Create Flexible Budgets
- Set budgets for specific categories or labels
- Choose from monthly, weekly, bi-weekly, or custom periods
- Set your own budget start date for better alignment with your pay
schedule
### Track Your Spending
- Visual spending charts show how much you've spent vs. your budget
- See at a glance which budgets are on track and which need attention
- View all transactions that count toward each budget
### Smart Budget Management
- **Carry Over**: Unused budget amounts automatically roll into the next
period
- **Reset**: Unused amounts return to your available money pool
- Edit or delete budgets anytime as your needs change
### Easy Access
- New Budgets section in the main navigation
- Quick overview cards showing budget status
- Detailed budget pages with spending history and transaction lists
## How It Works
1. Create a budget by selecting a category or label and setting your
spending limit
2. Your transactions are automatically matched to relevant budgets
3. Track your progress with visual charts and spending summaries
4. Adjust your budgets as needed to stay on track with your financial
goals
This feature is now available behind a feature flag and can be enabled
for users who want to start budgeting their expenses.
Víctor Falcón