TrackerHacker

Adds a column of the sheet's own after its last one, for the sheet's formulas or the answers to its questions to fill (a Category the sheet asks about, a Status). TrackerHacker leaves it alone: hacks don't write it. For a column hacks should fill, publish a new version of the track's schema instead (publish_schema).

Adds rows the person tells you about to a track, like a purchase they made in cash. Each row is an object of column keys (from list_tracks) to values; dates as YYYY-MM-DD. All rows are written, or none: a value that doesn't fit its column, or a row a blocking rule keeps out, is refused with the reason. On the person's own tracks, give the row key column (rowKey in list_tracks) to update the row with that key instead of adding one. For an email or webhook body, use send_message instead, so the track's hacks read it.

Writes the person's answer to one of their sheet's questions (from list_todo), as if they tapped it in To do. Only answer what the person told you. value is the choice's text, a list of choices for multi_choose, true or false for confirm, or the text, number or date (YYYY-MM-DD). Approvals and repeat checks can't be answered here.

Moves a track to another layout for its schema (a ready-made template like a monthly budget, by its id), or to its template's newest version: adds the tabs it brings and sets each column's allowed values. The person's rows and own tabs stay as they are. list_tracks shows templateUpdate when a newer version is out, labelled like semver: patch changes only words, minor adds tabs or allowed values, major is for another schema version or takes allowed values away (rows already there may stop fitting). Ask the person before moving their sheet, and say which kind it is.

What needs attention across all the person's tracks: hacks that stopped matching their senders' messages (the sender probably changed its emails), messages waiting in each Inbox, sheets TrackerHacker lost access to, and this week's failures. Good for a scheduled check. Each problem says what to do next. suggestions, which aren't problems, name columns a hack could fill but leaves empty (often a column a new minor version of the schema added): offer them to the person.

Makes a Google Sheet the person already has into one of their tracks, from its link, so hacks can write to it: a copy of a template sheet (like a budget someone shared) keeps its own tabs and formulas; any other sheet gets the tabs a track writes to beside its own. Google lets TrackerHacker open a sheet only once the person confirms it, so this usually gives back a confirm_link: send it to the person, who taps one button and picks the sheet in Google's picker, then call list_tracks to see it. If the sheet is already shared as Editor with TrackerHacker's service account, it's connected at once.

Use this when the person wants something tracked over time and no ready-made track or shared template fits. Makes a new kind of sheet with the columns the person agreed to: show them the columns first and wait for a yes or their changes. Rows come from forwarded emails (source email, then a hack: test_hack and save_hack), from an app or Shortcut posting JSON (source webhook), or from the phone's health data (source health: the TrackerHacker phone app fills health columns from Apple Health or Health Connect; read_guide page health first). Tell the person every line of tell_the_person.

Removes messages from the track's Inbox that will never be rows, like newsletters or one-off mails, so check_tracks stops counting them. Give each as read_inbox listed it (row, time, subject). Tell the person what you cleared. Don't clear a message a hack should read: build the hack instead.

Searches the hacks people share with the community, by sender (like chase.com) or name. Each has its fields, how many people use copies, how many of those read a message in the last 30 days (working) or stopped matching (stopped), and an example message. Before building a hack for a sender, look here: a shared one that's working saves the person an AI suggestion. With communityHackId instead, one hack in full: its template and all its examples, to test_hack on the person's own messages before use_community_hack.

Template sheets people share: whole sheets built for something (a budget, a shop's orders), with their tabs, formulas, Glance cards and questions. install_template builds one in the person's Google Drive; each also has a copyUrl for copying it in Google Sheets. Filter with words from its name or description.

Gives each column of a track's sheet the date or number format its schema promises (dates as dates, money with two decimals), for the rows already there as well as new ones, and takes bold off the rows below the header. Use it when dates or times show as plain numbers like 46334 or 46334.43681, or after publish_schema changed a field's format. Values aren't changed. Google Sheets only.

The track's form for adding a row by hand: its fields, its design (title, intro, thanks, askName, and each field's question, help, or hidden value), and its link for people without an account, if it has one.

The cards the track's sheet shows in the app (its Glance tab): each card's cells as written, formulas included, and what they show now (shown). Also the sheet's tabs and its data tab's columns, for writing formulas, and whether cards that turn warn or bad notify the person (alerts).

The questions the track's sheet asks the person in To do (its To do tab): each row's cells as written, formulas included, and what it asks now (asking). Also the sheet's tabs and its data tab's columns, for writing formulas.

A track's blocking rules (rows they keep out of the sheet) and the columns a rule can name, with their types.

A schema's versions, newest last, with every field (key, label, meaning, type, required, enumValues, auto, format, aliases). list_tracks gives each track's schemaId. Built-in schemas can't be changed; the person's own (mine) can, with publish_schema.

The private link other apps (Zapier, IFTTT, iOS Shortcuts, a script, a shop) post JSON or text to, to add rows through the track's hacks. Made the first time it's asked for. Treat it like a password: give it only to the person, for the app they're connecting, in a code block so it's copied whole.

Whether Forward from Gmail automatically is offered and on, and the link the person opens to turn it on with one Allow tap, on any device. Instead of a Gmail filter, TrackerHacker then picks up mail from the person's hacks' senders in their Gmail within seconds of it arriving (senderList), plus up to 25 such emails from the last 30 days. It opens only those messages and stores none; it is not a way to read their email (for that, use your own Gmail connection). Save the hack before giving the link, so the person sees their sheet fill. Only they can tap Allow. To turn it off, stop_gmail_forwarding.

Every version kept of a hack, newest first, with its template, senders and subject words. TrackerHacker numbers them itself: major when the template stopped reading the emails the one before read or dropped a field, minor when it reads them and more, patch when it reads the same. To go back to one, save_hack it with hackId: that's saved as the next version, so nothing is lost.

Builds a new sheet in the person's Google Drive from a template sheet people share (from find_templates), once the person has seen its columns and said yes, and makes it one of their tracks: its tabs, formulas, Glance cards, questions and example rows come along, and its form. Charts, colours and other formatting don't: for those the person copies it in Google Sheets (copyUrl) and connects the copy. A template with a formula that reaches outside the sheet is refused.

Use this first when the person wants to track, log or keep a record of something that keeps happening (bank transactions, Amazon orders, Shopify orders, Stripe payments, steps). Lists the ready-made tracks TrackerHacker sets up in one step: each is one kind of sheet with fixed columns (sheet.columns) and one kind of row (row: "one row per …"), and its questions only pick the source, so a bank, PayPal and Venmo fill the same sheet. Use one only when its row is the same thing the person wants a row for and its columns hold it; otherwise find_templates or create_custom_track.

What the person's sheets are asking them now (To do in the app), by track: each question's id, prompt, type and choices. Answer one with answer_question when the person tells you the answer. Approvals and repeat checks are theirs to answer in the app.

The person's tracks (sheets), each with its id, link, columns, the hacks that fill it and this week's numbers, plus the Google account you're connected to (signedInAs) and their TrackerHacker email address for forwarding. Call this first.

Publishes the next version of one of the person's own schemas (from get_schema, where mine is true), kept private. Give the whole schema with its new version: the same major version with minor + 1 to add optional fields or loosen one, so every track on it keeps working; major + 1 for a change that breaks hacks or sheets (removing a field, making one required), then upgrade_track moves each track. TrackerHacker refuses a version that breaks its contract without a new major. Making a schema public or shared with a team is the person's tap in the app.

Quick-add buttons on the app's Home, for something the person adds often ("Coffee $4", "Walked the dog"): each opens a track's form with answers filled in, or with instant adds its row in one tap, dated when tapped (then preset must fill every required column but the date). action list shows them all; add makes one for a track (label, preset, instant); remove takes one away by its quickAddId from list.

How TrackerHacker works and how to write hacks, mappings, rules, cards and questions, one page at a time. Pages: overview (Read first: the words (track, hack, mapping, Inbox) and the usual order of calls.); templates (Before writing or checking a text template: fields, types, date formats, skips, lists, and how to make one that lasts.); json (When messages arrive as JSON (a webhook, Zapier, a Shortcut).); mappings (Before save_hack with a mapping: field, const, negate, cents, required columns, row keys.); rules (When the person wants some rows kept out (small amounts, another account, a sender).); actions (Before set_questions or answer_question: the To do tab, and how formulas ask the person things in To do.); glance (Before set_glance or reminders: the numbers a sheet shows in the app, and when the person is notified.); health (Before create_custom_track with source health: the values, parts and units, and how often a row comes.); sharing (Before building a hack (look for a shared one first), and before share_hack or share_template.); fixing (When a hack stopped matching, messages wait in the Inbox, or for a scheduled check.); privacy (What to keep out of templates and sheets, and what assistants can't do.). Leave out page for the list.

Messages that reached a track but didn't make a row (no hack read them, or a rule blocked them), newest first, with why. Use them as examples for suggest_hack, or to see why a hack stopped matching. These are the person's own emails: use them only for setting up their hacks.

Reads the rows in a track's sheet, newest last, to answer the person's questions about them ("what did I spend on dining this month?") or to check that a hack wrote what it should. Each row has its number and its values by column name. Filter with where (each column name to text the value must contain). Up to 200 rows a call; pass olderBefore as before for the page above. These are the person's own rows: use them only to help them, and do the totals yourself or with set_glance, not by copying rows elsewhere.

A reminder nudges the person on their phone or browser at a time of day, on some days of the week, to add a row ("Log your weight"), with a button that opens the form with some answers filled in. action list shows a track's reminders; add makes one (label, days, time, and preset, skipIfLogged or summary); remove takes one away by its reminderId from list.

Reports a community hack someone else shares: broken (it reads messages wrong or writes wrong values), private_data (its template or examples hold a real person's details), or harmful. Say what you saw in details, without the person's own data. A private_data report, or three reports of any kind, takes it out of search at once until its author shares a fixed version, and the TrackerHacker team looks at it. Copies people already have stay theirs.

Runs the track's hacks over its Inbox again. Messages they now read become rows and leave the Inbox. Call after save_hack.

Saves a hack and attaches it to a track, so matching messages become rows from now on. Give hackId to change one that exists. mapping says which hack field fills which column, as {"column_key": {"kind": "field", "key": "hack_field"}} or {"kind": "const", "value": "..."}; leave it out to match fields to columns by name. Set senders so only those senders' messages are read, and subjects when a sender also sends other mail (statements, offers) that isn't for this hack.

Sends a report to the TrackerHacker team: a bug (a tool that fails or does something wrong), a hack to make, an idea (what TrackerHacker would need to support what the person wants), praise (what they like) or a complaint (what annoys them, though nothing is broken). Show the person the report and get their yes first. Say what you called, what you expected and what happened, in general terms: never their emails, sheet values, names, amounts, card, account or phone numbers (use zeros, like $0.00 or card 0000; other amounts or long numbers are refused). Up to 5 a day. The team can reply only if the person gives a replyTo address.

Hands an email (its From address, subject and text) or a JSON body to one of the person's own tracks, to be read by its hacks exactly as if they had forwarded it: the hacks' fixed rules make the rows, and schema checks, row keys, blocking rules and the Inbox all apply. Use this rather than add_rows for messages, so every row comes out the same way. A message no hack reads waits in the Inbox: then build a hack for it (suggest_hack, test_hack, save_hack) and rerun_inbox. The same message sent twice makes its rows once.

Whether a Glance card turning warn or bad notifies the people on the sheet, once until it turns back. On by default.

Whether Google Drive tells TrackerHacker when the person's sheets change, so what a sheet asks in its To do tab reaches them with nothing installed in the sheet. It's on for everyone unless they turned it off. Leave out on to read how it stands: whether it's on and how many sheets are watched. Pass on true to turn it on and watch every Google sheet now (also restarts watches that haven't started yet), or false to turn it off and stop every watch. The Sheets add-on reports changes sooner than Drive does. Sheets shared by link aren't watched.

Sets how the track's form asks for a row: {title, intro, thanks, askName, fields: [{key, label, help, hidden, value}]}, fields by column key in the order asked; a hidden field always gets its value. null goes back to the template's design.

Replaces the cards the track's sheet shows in the app (call get_glance first to keep the ones it has). Each card is {label, value, detail, group, tone, link}; any of them can be a sheet formula starting with =, so the sheet works out the number and whether it's good, warn or bad. A card that turns warn or bad notifies the person. Formulas can't use IMPORT functions, IMAGE, HYPERLINK or WEBSERVICE.

Replaces the questions in the track's To do tab (call get_questions first to keep the ones it has). Each is {id, prompt, type, options, target, group, context, to, for}; any of them can be a sheet formula starting with =, so the sheet decides when to ask (a formula giving an empty prompt asks nothing) and where the answer goes. Answers already given stay in their rows, so keep a question's row when changing it. Formulas can't use IMPORT functions, IMAGE, HYPERLINK or WEBSERVICE.

Replaces a track's blocking rules with this list (call get_rules first to keep the ones it has). Each rule is {block: "if"|"unless", match: "all"|"any", action: "inbox"|"drop", conditions: [{field, op, value}]}; field is a column key or "@sender". Values compare as written in the sheet, sign included.

Makes the link that lets anyone who has it add a row to the track through its form (volunteers logging hours, guests signing up), with a bot check. Ask the person first and tell them who they plan to give it to: anyone with the link can add rows. Made once: asking again gives the same link. The person turns it off or replaces it in the app.

Shares one of the person's hacks with everyone, or shares it again after a fix so everyone using a copy can take it. Give 1 to 5 example messages it reads, with every value made up: never the person's own messages. TrackerHacker refuses examples holding anything from the person's sheets or mail, addresses other than the sender's or example.com, and templates with a name or account number as fixed text. Works only if the person turned on "Let my assistant share what it builds" in Settings; otherwise tell them where it is.

Shares one of the person's sheets as a template others copy: its tabs, formulas, Glance cards and form go with it; each share is the next version. Only a sheet with nothing of the person's own, since a copy carries everything: set up a fresh track for sharing (start_tracking with forSharing) and add example rows with add_rows and example: true; any other rows get the share refused. Public needs the sheet's schema public, which only the person can do in the app. Works only if the person turned on "Let my assistant share what it builds" in Settings.

Use this when the person wants a sheet that keeps itself up to date from their emails or apps ("track my Amazon orders", "log my card spending"). Call it once the person has seen its columns and said yes. Sets up a ready-made track: makes the sheet in the person's Google Drive and attaches the hacks that fill it, so new messages become rows without you. Give a starter id from list_ready_made, or the person's words. If they already have that ready-made's sheet, the new source is added to it (created is false) and answers about the sheet's look are ignored; say so. Tell the person every line of tell_the_person. Not for copying a few emails into a sheet once.

Turns off Forward from Gmail automatically and revokes Google's grant. Mail forwarded to their TrackerHacker address keeps working. Only when the person asks; turning it back on is their own Allow tap (the link from gmail_forwarding).

Suggests a hack (a template that reads one kind of message) from an example email or JSON body, for a track. It's checked against similar messages waiting in the track's Inbox. A fallback: write the template yourself first and check it with test_hack, and call this only after two tries fail. Each call uses one of the person's daily AI suggestions, and assistants get 3 a day. Check the answer with test_hack, then save it with save_hack.

Shows what a hack template reads from example messages, without saving anything. Templates are the message's fixed text with {{field:type}} where values go (types: text, number, currency, date, datetime, boolean, url), {{...}} for parts that change but aren't wanted, and {{#each}}...{{/each}} around a repeating list. A json template is an example JSON body with values replaced by {{field:type}}.

Stops listing one of the person's community hacks. Copies people already made stay theirs.

Stops listing one of the person's template sheets. Copies people already made are theirs.

Brings a hack the person copied from the community up to the latest version its author shared (list_tracks or check_tracks says when there is one). A copy nobody changed takes a minor or patch version by itself, so this is for a major version (it reads different emails, or changes fields: test_hack it on read_inbox's messages first) or a copy the person changed: the author's template and senders replace the copy's. Refused if the new version would no longer fill the columns its sheets need.

Changes cells of one row in the person's own track, when they correct something ("that burrito was 750 calories, not 600"): read_rows first for the row's number and values, then give values (each column to its new value) and was (each of those columns to the value read_rows showed), so a row that changed since isn't overwritten. Values are checked like added rows'. Only change what the person asked to; don't add a second row for a correction.

Moves a track to the next major version of its schema: renames the sheet's headers the version renames and moves its hacks' mappings. Refused, with what to change, when a hack wouldn't fill the new version's required columns: fix those hacks first.

Copies a community hack into the person's account and attaches it to a track, mapping its fields to columns by name unless you give a mapping (as in save_hack). The copy is theirs; when its author shares a fix, update_hack_from_community brings it in.

TrackerHacker drafts a fix when a hack stops matching (draftedFix in check_tracks), and waits for the person in To do. When the person asks you to: use it (after test_hack on read_inbox's messages from its senders shows it reads them), then rerun_inbox; or turn it down, keeping the hack as it is.