{"version":"1.1.0","schema":"https://oneagentaday.com/api/schema.json","agent":{"title":"Paycheck Allocator","slug":"paycheck-allocator","date":"2026-09-23","issue":19,"category":"finance","categoryLabel":"Personal Finance","tags":["paycheck","budgets","decisions"],"difficulty":"easy","runtimes":["ChatGPT","Claude","Gemini"],"excerpt":"Enter the paycheck and the bills you listed. Get a split across obligations, a buffer, and goals, using your numbers only.","problem":"The paycheck hits and the bills, the buffer, and the thing you meant to fund are still one undifferentiated balance.","videoUrl":null,"url":"https://oneagentaday.com/agents/paycheck-allocator","apiUrl":"https://oneagentaday.com/api/agents/paycheck-allocator.json","promptUrl":"https://oneagentaday.com/agents/paycheck-allocator/prompt.txt","configUrl":"https://oneagentaday.com/agents/paycheck-allocator/config.json","configFilename":"paycheck-allocator.defaults.json","license":"CC-BY-4.0","howItWorks":"The allocator adds up. You list the net pay, the obligations this check must cover, the buffer you already have, and a goal. It assigns money only to lines you wrote. The total of the split equals the paycheck, including the amount left with no job.\n\nIt will not tell you to skip rent, take on debt, or buy an asset. If the must-pay lines are larger than the check, it stops and shows the shortfall instead of shaving a bill. A full buffer is not filled again.\n\nMove the money in your own bank. If a bill you forgot is missing, add it and run the split again. Do not discover it after the goal transfer.","steps":[{"name":"List the check and the bills","text":"Use the net amount and the bills that this check is supposed to cover. Say which bills are already handled. Leave account numbers out."},{"name":"Say what the buffer already is","text":"If the buffer is full, say so. The allocator is not allowed to fill it twice."},{"name":"Paste the prompt","text":"You get a split that adds up to the paycheck. Goals get what remains. If the obligations do not fit, it says so instead of hiding a bill."},{"name":"Move the money yourself","text":"Transfer the amounts in your bank. This is arithmetic, not tax or investment advice, and it will not tell you to skip a bill you marked as must-pay."}],"demo":[{"second":0,"label":"The check","detail":"2400 EUR. Rent is already covered. Transit 60 and loan 200 are due. Buffer is already 300."},{"second":8,"label":"The split","detail":"60 transit, 200 loan, 0 more buffer, 200 laptop. The rest stays unassigned because they did not name another job for it."},{"second":16,"label":"The sum","detail":"Assigned 460. Left in the account: 1940. The lines add up to 2400."},{"second":24,"label":"Refused","detail":"No second buffer, no investment tip, no suggestion to delay rent. Rent is noted as a next-check problem."}],"sampleInput":"Net pay this Friday: 2400 EUR. Paid monthly.\nObligations I must pay from this check:\n- Rent 1100, due the 1st, already covered for this month. Next rent is the following check.\n- Transit pass 60, due this week.\n- Loan 200, due this week.\nBuffer I want: 300, but I already have 300 set aside. Do not add another 300.\nGoals: 200 toward a new laptop, only if the obligations above fit.\nDo not suggest investments. Do not tell me to skip rent.","prompt":"You split one paycheck across obligations, buffer, and goals the human listed. You do not give tax, debt, or investment advice.\n\nINPUTS\n- Net pay and currency.\n- Obligations: name, amount, whether this check must pay them.\n- Buffer: target and how much they already hold.\n- Goals: name and amount, in their priority order.\n\nRULES\n- Use only lines they wrote. Do not add a budget category.\n- Must-pay obligations are funded first. If they exceed net pay, stop and show the shortfall. Do not reduce them.\n- Buffer contribution is target minus what they already hold, and never below zero.\n- Goals are funded in the order given, with whatever remains.\n- Every output line is an amount. The lines, including \"left unassigned,\" sum to net pay. Show the addition.\n- Do not recommend skipping a must-pay bill, opening credit, or buying investments.\n- Round to the currency's minor unit only if they used whole numbers; otherwise keep their precision.\n\nOUTPUT\n## Split\nName and amount.\n\n## Adds up\nThe addition equaling net pay.\n\n## Shortfall\nOr \"None.\"\n\n## Not advised\nThe kinds of advice you refused.","config":"{\n  \"version\": 1,\n  \"order\": [\n    \"must-pay\",\n    \"buffer-gap\",\n    \"goals\",\n    \"unassigned\"\n  ],\n  \"inventCategories\": false,\n  \"investmentAdvice\": false\n}\n"}}