Use case

The subscription-auditor agent skill

4 min read
The subscription-auditor skill is a pre-packaged prompt that calls BankBridge's get_recurring_charges, deduplicates by merchant, sorts by monthly cost, and flags likely-unused subscriptions. Install it as a Claude Code skill or save it as a system prompt in any MCP-speaking agent. Run every quarter. Finds 2–4 things to cancel.

What the skill does

The subscription-auditor skill bundles three prompts into one invocation. You say “run my subscription audit” and the agent:

  1. Calls get_recurring_charges with a 6-month lookback window.
  2. Groups by merchant, normalizes merchant-name variants, converts yearly charges to monthly equivalents, and sorts by cost.
  3. Flags likely-unused subscriptions using context (streaming service overlap, seasonal apps, free-trial-bump patterns).
  4. Renders a three-column table: merchant, monthly cost, action (keep / cancel / investigate).

The action column is the point. It turns a list of charges into a decisional list.

Install it

For Claude Code users, the skill lives in the public BankBridge Skills repo. Clone it and symlink into your skills directory:

git clone https://github.com/bankbridge-money/bankbridge-skills.git ~/bankbridge-skills
ln -s ~/bankbridge-skills/subscription-auditor ~/.claude/skills/

For other hosts, paste the prompt file into your system prompt slot. It's about 300 lines; no special syntax beyond the tool-name references.

Run it quarterly

Once per quarter is the sweet spot. More frequent and you're auditing the same unchanged list; less frequent and subscriptions have time to pile up unnoticed.

“Run my subscription audit.”

Output takes ~20 seconds. Go down the action column; cancel from each service's website; move on with your life. Re-run next quarter to confirm cancellations took effect.

Customize the thresholds

The default skill flags anything over $5/mo that it deems “likely unused.” You can tune:

  • Minimum flag threshold. Default $5/mo. Lower to catch the $2.99 apps; higher to reduce noise.
  • Lookback window. Default 6 months. Longer catches yearly subs; shorter runs faster.
  • “Likely unused” heuristic.The skill accepts a list of services you know you use so the agent doesn't flag them. Add your must-keeps to a keep.txt file next to the skill.

FAQ

What's a Claude Code skill?

A skill is a markdown file with YAML frontmatter that packages a reusable prompt + tool access. Drop it in ~/.claude/skills/ and Claude picks it up. Skills are how Jake personally runs his financial reviews.

Can I use this with ChatGPT or Cursor?

Not as a skill (those hosts don't support the Claude Code skill format yet). But the prompt itself works in any MCP-speaking agent — save it as a system prompt or pasted preamble.

Where's the open-source skill file?

In the public BankBridge Skills repo at github.com/bankbridge-money/bankbridge-skills. Six total skills; subscription-auditor is one of them.