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BillTracker/FUTURE.md

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Bill Tracker — Future Improvements

This document tracks potential future enhancements for Bill Tracker.

Last Updated: 2026-05-30
Current Version: v0.34.2

How to Use This Document

This file is a living document. Agents should:

  1. Read this file before proposing changes
  2. Add new recommendations with priority levels
  3. Never add completed items — move those to HISTORY.md instead
  4. Reference this file when dispatching improvement tasks
  5. Only Ripley can remove items from this list. Notify Ripley if something needs to be removed.

Priority Format

All items must include the priority emoji in their heading, matching the section they belong to:

Priority Emoji Heading Format
CRITICAL 🔴 ### 🔴 Title — CRITICAL
HIGH 🟠 ### 🟠 Title — HIGH
MEDIUM 🟡 ### 🟡 Title — MEDIUM
LOW 🔵 ### 🔵 Title — LOW
NICE TO HAVE 💭 ### 💭 Title — NICE TO HAVE

Items are grouped under their priority section heading (## 🔴 CRITICAL, ## 🟠 HIGH, etc.) and sorted most-impactful-first within each tier.

Pending Recommendations

🟡 MEDIUM

🟡 Projected Cash Flow — MEDIUM

Priority: MEDIUM
Added: 2026-05-16 by Ripley (from _null's prioritized roadmap)

Description: Show users what's coming: "You'll have $X left before the 15th", "Upcoming bills before next paycheck", and a "Safe-to-spend" estimate based on starting amount, unpaid bills, and scheduled income. Fits naturally with the existing 1st/15th bucket model.

Scope:

  • "Remaining after bills" projection per bucket (1st half / 15th half)
  • "Upcoming bills before next paycheck" list
  • "Safe-to-spend" estimate based on starting balance minus unpaid bills
  • Scheduled income support (payday amounts)

Rationale:

  • The 1st/15th bucket model is already built — cash flow projection is the natural next step
  • Most valuable feature for day-to-day money management
  • Turns a bill tracker into a financial planning tool

Implementation Notes:

  • Requires user to enter starting balance and payday amounts (new settings fields)
  • Calculate: starting amount - unpaid bills due before next payday = safe-to-spend
  • Files to modify: TrackerPage.jsx, routes/tracker.js, user_settings table (new fields)
  • Estimated effort: 8-10 hours

🟡 Recurring Payment Rules — MEDIUM

Priority: MEDIUM
Added: 2026-05-16 by Ripley (from _null's prioritized roadmap)

Status: Partial — infrastructure built (auto_mark_paid column, confirm/dismiss APIs, UI for suggestions), but no proactive suggestion scheduler generating payments on due date.

Description: Auto-mark certain bills as paid on due date if autodraft_status = assumed_paid. Or create suggested payments awaiting confirmation. Good for autopay-heavy users.

Scope:

  • Bills with autopay/autodraft get a "suggested payment" on their due date
  • User confirms or dismisses the suggestion
  • Auto-mark option: bills can be set to automatically mark as paid on due date

Implementation Notes:

  • ✅ auto_mark_paid column + bill edit checkbox
  • ✅ applyAutopaySuggestions() in trackerService handles auto-mark + suggestion generation
  • ✅ Confirm (POST /api/payments/autopay-suggestions/:billId/confirm) and dismiss (POST /.../dismiss) endpoints
  • ✅ Suggestion UI in TrackerPage with badge + confirm/dismiss buttons
  • ❌ No proactive suggestion engine — only runs when tracker loads
  • ❌ No scheduled task/cron to evaluate bills and create suggestions on due date
  • Estimated effort remaining: 2-3 hours

🟡 Calendar Agenda Mode — MEDIUM

Priority: MEDIUM
Added: 2026-05-16 by Ripley (from _null's prioritized roadmap)

Description: Replace the month-grid calendar with an agenda view: Today / This Week / Next 14 Days. Group bills by "needs action," "autopay," "already paid." More useful when actually paying bills.

Rationale:

  • Month grids are pretty but not actionable
  • Agenda mode answers "what do I need to do right now?"
  • Groups by status makes it immediately clear what needs attention

Implementation Notes:

  • New view toggle on CalendarPage: Grid vs Agenda
  • Agenda shows: Overdue → Today → This Week → Next 14 Days
  • Each group sorted by due date, with action status badges
  • Files to modify: CalendarPage.jsx, routes/calendar.js
  • Estimated effort: 6-8 hours

🟡 Filtered Exports — MEDIUM

Priority: MEDIUM (upgraded from LOW)
Added: 2026-05-11 by Ripley (from _null's prioritized roadmap)

Description: Export only utilities, debts, overdue, date range, tax-relevant categories. Currently exports everything with no filtering.

Rationale:

  • Users need "all Q1 utility bills" or "overdue payments this year" for reconciliation and tax prep
  • /api/export/user-excel exports everything — no query params for date range, category, or status

Implementation Notes:

  • Add query params to export endpoints: category_id, start, end, status (paid/unpaid/overdue)
  • Files to modify: routes/export.js, client/pages/DataPage.jsx
  • Estimated effort: 6 hours

🔵 LOW

🔵 Payment Method Tracking and Summary — LOW

Priority: LOW
Added: 2026-05-11 by Ripley

Description: The payments table has a method column (free-text) but no way to see "how much did I pay via autopay vs manual vs credit card this month."

Implementation Notes:

  • Standardize payment methods: enum or controlled list (autopay, bank_transfer, credit_card, check, cash, other)
  • Add payment method breakdown to analytics or summary page
  • Files to modify: routes/payments.js, AnalyticsPage.jsx, schema migration
  • Estimated effort: 4-6 hours

🔵 No Keyboard Navigation or Shortcuts — LOW

Added: 2026-05-11 by Ripley

Status: Partial — Esc closes modals ✅, Cmd+K opens command palette ✅, arrow key tracker navigation ❌

Description: Only a skip link exists for keyboard accessibility. No Cmd+K to find a bill, no Esc to close modals, no arrow keys to navigate the tracker grid.

Implementation Notes:

  • ✅ Esc closes any open modal/dialog (via Radix Dialog default)
  • ✅ Cmd+K / Ctrl+K opens command palette (CommandPalette.jsx)
  • ❌ Arrow keys navigate tracker rows when grid is focused
  • Remaining effort: 1-2 hours

🔵 Add comprehensive unit and integration tests

Added: 2026-05-08 by Scarlett

Description: Currently no unit tests exist for components or hooks. The only testing is functional tests in test-functional.js.

Implementation Notes:

  • Set up Jest + React Testing Library (or vitest)
  • Test key components: BillModal, TrackerPage row, BillsTableInner
  • Test hooks: useAuth, custom form hooks
  • Test utility functions in client/lib/utils.js
  • Estimated effort: 8-12 hours for baseline coverage

🔵 Custom Bill Grouping Criteria

Added: 2026-05-30 by Codex Origin: Split from "Missing Bill Grouping and Reorganization API" after persistent bill ordering was implemented.

Description: Bills can now be reordered and remembered on the tracker page, but users still cannot define custom tracker groupings beyond the existing due-date buckets.

Implementation Notes:

  • Add user-defined grouping settings for tracker sections
  • Decide whether grouping is global or per-user/per-view
  • Preserve manual sort_order inside each custom group
  • Estimated effort: 3-5 hours

💭 NICE TO HAVE

💭 Add consistent form state management pattern

Priority: MEH
Added: 2026-05-08 by Scarlett

Description: Form state management is inconsistent across components. Some use useState for each field, others use form libraries.

Implementation Notes:

  • Consider react-hook-form for complex forms
  • Create reusable form field components (InputField, SelectField, etc.)
  • Standardize validation approach
  • Estimated effort: 4-6 hours