Shopify Admin Gift Card Liability Report

---
name: shopify-admin-gift-card-liability-report
role: finance
description: "Read-only: calculates total outstanding gift card balance as a financial liability, broken down by issue cohort and remaining balance band."
toolkit: shopify-admin, shopify-admin-execution
api_version: "2025-01"
graphql_operations:
  - giftCards:query
status: stable
compatibility: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI
---

## Purpose
Calculates the store's total outstanding gift card liability — the sum of unredeemed gift card balances that represent a future obligation to deliver goods. Breaks the liability down by **issue-month cohort** and **remaining-balance band** so finance can size the obligation, age it, and forecast breakage. This is the bookkeeping companion to `gift-card-balance-report` (which lists individual cards). Read-only — no mutations.

## Prerequisites
- Authenticated Shopify CLI session: `shopify store auth --store <domain> --scopes read_gift_cards`
- API scopes: `read_gift_cards`

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|---------|-------------|
| store | string | yes | — | Store domain (e.g., mystore.myshopify.com) |
| status | string | no | enabled | Filter by status: `enabled`, `disabled`, or `all` |
| balance_bands | array | no | `[10, 50, 100, 250, 500]` | Upper edges of balance bands (in store currency) for distribution table |
| stale_days | integer | no | 365 | Cards untouched longer than this are flagged as breakage candidates |
| as_of | string | no | today (UTC) | ISO date for the "as of" snapshot label on the report |
| format | string | no | human | Output format: `human` or `json` |

## Safety

> ℹ️ Read-only skill — no mutations are executed. The dollar figure produced is the deferred-revenue liability for accounting purposes; review with your accountant before booking journal entries.

## Liability Model

For every enabled gift card with `balance > 0`:

1. **Outstanding balance** = sum of `balance.amount` (the liability)
2. **Issue cohort** = year-month of `createdAt`
3. **Balance band** = first band edge ≥ remaining balance, or `>max` for cards above the largest edge
4. **Breakage candidate** = card with `balance > 0` and (`updatedAt` older than `stale_days` ago OR `expiresOn` within next 30 days)

Aggregations:
- Total outstanding (overall + per cohort + per band)
- Card counts per cohort and per band
- Weighted-average days since issue
- Breakage candidate total — useful for revenue recognition under ASC 606 / IFRS 15 for stores in jurisdictions where breakage can be recognized

## Workflow Steps

1. **OPERATION:** `giftCards` — query
   **Inputs:** `query: "status:<status> balance:>0"`, `first: 250`, select `id`, `balance`, `initialValue`, `createdAt`, `updatedAt`, `expiresOn`, `enabled`, `lastCharacters`, pagination cursor
   **Expected output:** All gift cards with positive balance; paginate until `hasNextPage: false`

2. For each card, compute issue cohort, balance band, and breakage flag

3. Aggregate totals: overall liability, per-cohort table, per-band table, breakage candidate subtotal

4. Compute redeemed-to-date as `Σ(initialValue - balance)` for context

## GraphQL Operations

```graphql
# giftCards:query — validated against api_version 2025-01
query GiftCardLiability($query: String, $after: String) {
  giftCards(first: 250, after: $after, query: $query) {
    edges {
      node {
        id
        balance {
          amount
          currencyCode
        }
        initialValue {
          amount
          currencyCode
        }
        enabled
        createdAt
        updatedAt
        expiresOn
        lastCharacters
        customer {
          id
          displayName
          defaultEmailAddress {
            emailAddress
          }
        }
      }
    }
    pageInfo {
      hasNextPage
      endCursor
    }
  }
}
```

## Session Tracking

**Claude MUST emit the following output at each stage. This is mandatory.**

**On start**, emit:
```
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║  SKILL: Gift Card Liability Report           ║
║  Store: <store domain>                       ║
║  As of: <YYYY-MM-DD>                         ║
║  Started: <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC>             ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝
```

**After each step**, emit:
```
[N/TOTAL] <QUERY|MUTATION>  <OperationName>
          → Params: <brief summary of key inputs>
          → Result: <count or outcome>
```

**On completion**, emit:

For `format: human` (default):
```
══════════════════════════════════════════════
GIFT CARD LIABILITY  (as of <date>)
  Active cards w/ balance:   <n>
  Total outstanding:         $<amount>
  Initial value issued:      $<amount>
  Redeemed to date:          $<amount>  (<pct>%)
  Breakage candidates:       <n>  ($<amount>)

  By issue cohort (YYYY-MM):
    2024-12  Cards: <n>  Liability: $<n>
    2025-01  Cards: <n>  Liability: $<n>

  By balance band:
    ≤ $10     Cards: <n>  Liability: $<n>
    ≤ $50     Cards: <n>  Liability: $<n>
    ≤ $100    Cards: <n>  Liability: $<n>
    > $500    Cards: <n>  Liability: $<n>

  Output: gift_card_liability_<date>.csv
══════════════════════════════════════════════
```

For `format: json`, emit:
```json
{
  "skill": "gift-card-liability-report",
  "store": "<domain>",
  "as_of": "<YYYY-MM-DD>",
  "active_with_balance": 0,
  "total_outstanding": 0,
  "initial_value_issued": 0,
  "redeemed_to_date": 0,
  "redemption_rate_pct": 0,
  "breakage_candidates_count": 0,
  "breakage_candidates_value": 0,
  "currency": "USD",
  "by_cohort": [],
  "by_band": [],
  "output_file": "gift_card_liability_<date>.csv"
}
```

## Output Format
CSV file `gift_card_liability_<YYYY-MM-DD>.csv` with columns:
`gift_card_id`, `last_characters`, `initial_value`, `balance`, `redeemed`, `currency`, `created_at`, `issue_cohort`, `balance_band`, `updated_at`, `expires_on`, `breakage_candidate`, `customer_email`

## Error Handling
| Error | Cause | Recovery |
|-------|-------|----------|
| `THROTTLED` | API rate limit exceeded | Wait 2 seconds, retry up to 3 times |
| No gift cards with positive balance | Store hasn't issued any, or all redeemed | Exit with $0 liability |
| Multi-currency cards | Cards issued in different presentment currencies | Group totals by currency code; do not sum across currencies |
| Card with `null` `expiresOn` | No expiry policy | Treat as non-expiring; do not include in expiry-based breakage |

## Best Practices
- Run on the **last day of every accounting period** so the figure aligns with your balance-sheet close.
- The total outstanding amount is the **deferred-revenue liability** — book it in your accounting system, do not treat issued gift cards as revenue.
- Breakage policy varies by jurisdiction; consult your accountant before recognizing breakage candidates as revenue. The `stale_days` and `expiresOn` flags here are inputs to that policy, not a substitute for it.
- Track the redemption-rate trend month over month — declining redemption can indicate a customer-experience issue (recipients can't find / remember their cards).
- Pair with `gift-card-issuance` to monitor flow: liability should increase by issuance and decrease by redemption + breakage.