Guide · Agent skill
How to use the CardBenefits credit card benefits tracker skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
CardBenefits is an agent skill that keeps a personal record of your credit cards, their perks and annual credits, and your points and miles balances, then answers questions from those records. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to phrase requests so it runs, and what it needs from you. By the end you will be able to set it up and ask it which card to use, which credits you are leaving unused, and how to spend your points.
Credit Card Benefits Trackerdanielmiessler/LifeOS · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the CardBenefits ZIP from the skill's page in this directory.
- 2Install the skill. Unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ or a project's .claude/skills/ folder, or upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills in the Claude apps.
- 3Create your data files. Follow Setup.md to create Cards.md, Points.md, Playbook.md and Credits.md in the CardBenefits user folder.
- 4Enter your cards and balances. List each card with its perks and annual credits, and record your current points and miles balances with dates.
- 5Ask a question. Make a request such as which card to use for a purchase or what credits are unused, and check that the answer names the card and source.
- 6Refresh perks when they change. Ask the agent to refresh card perks so it verifies the details against issuer sites and updates the last-verified dates.
What is an agent skill, and what does CardBenefits do?
An agent skill is a folder of instructions and reference files that an AI agent loads when a request matches the skill's purpose. CardBenefits gives the agent a fixed procedure for credit card questions instead of relying on what it remembers about cards.
Once installed, the skill reads four data files you maintain: Cards.md (your cards, perks and annual credits), Points.md (balances, valuations and transfer partners), Playbook.md (cross-card strategy) and Credits.md (a ledger and deadline calendar). Answers come from those files, and anything stale or unverified is flagged rather than presented as fact.
- Which card to use for a purchase, with the reason
- Unused, expiring and unregistered credits, with dollars at risk
- Points and miles redemption ideas based on your own balances
- Refreshing perk details from issuer sites when you ask
Install the CardBenefits skill
Download the CardBenefits ZIP from the skill's page in this directory. Then choose one of the two install methods below.
For Claude Code, unzip the file into ~/.claude/skills/ to make the skill available everywhere, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder to limit it to that project. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload the ZIP under Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP
Set up your four data files
The skill is procedure only. Your personal card data lives in your own folder at <configRoot>/LIFEOS/USER/CUSTOMIZATIONS/SKILLS/CardBenefits/, where configRoot is $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR when that variable is set, and otherwise ~/.claude. Follow Setup.md, which is included with the skill, to create Cards.md, Points.md, Playbook.md and Credits.md. Setup.md includes a worked example of each file and a proof command to check the setup.
If Cards.md is missing, the skill stops and points you to Setup.md instead of answering from memory. Do not put account numbers in these files; refer to accounts by a label instead.
- Cards.md: issuer, product variant, annual fee, points program, and each perk with a last-verified date
- Points.md: current balances, redemption values, transfer partners and travel preferences
- Playbook.md: category-to-card matrix, stacking plays and transfer matrix
- Credits.md: unified credit ledger and deadline calendar
Ask for what you need in plain language
You do not need special commands. The skill is triggered by requests that match its routing. Phrases from its description include: credit card benefits, card perks, which card should I use, annual credits, unused credits, expiring credits, my points, my miles, update my points balance, redeem points, transfer partners, plan a trip with points, and refresh card perks.
Each kind of request goes to a specific routine. Telling the balance you have or a new balance updates Points.md. Asking for a trip plan runs the redemption planner. Asking about leftover credits runs the credit sweep.
- Which card should I use for this flight?
- I have 120K bank points, what could a trip to Lisbon look like?
- What credits am I leaving on the table this year?
- My airline miles balance is now a new number, update it
- Refresh the perks for my travel card
Understand what it will and will not do
The skill makes plans and flags problems. It does not move money, transfer points or make bookings on its own. Where a separate booking skill is installed, that skill can carry out a plan only after you approve the itemized total. Otherwise you carry out the booking yourself.
The skill also does not do spending totals, expense tracking, bookkeeping, or analysis of payments data. Balances are entered by you because issuers offer no API for reward balances, so a number you have not updated may be out of date. Perk lists also need periodic web verification, which happens only when you ask for a refresh. The skill runs no scripts, but it does use the network when you request a perk refresh.
- Balances change only when you report or confirm them
- Perks change only after a web-verified refresh
- Credit status changes only when you confirm usage
- Annual fees on your cards should be checked against statements, since grandfathered pricing can differ from marketing pages
What people use it for
- Deciding which card to use for a purchase based on earn rates and protections listed in your own Cards.md
- Catching annual or monthly credits that expire before you use them, with dollars at risk stated up front
- Planning a trip with bank, airline or hotel points, using the transfer partners and valuations in your Points.md
- Keeping a current record of balances and flagging old numbers before they are used in a plan
Frequently asked questions
Is the CardBenefits skill free to use?
The source for this skill lists its license as MIT, which is a permissive open-source license. Check the license file in the downloaded package for the full terms before you redistribute it.
What do I need to run the CardBenefits skill?
You need the skill installed and a user data folder containing Cards.md, Points.md, Playbook.md and Credits.md, created by following Setup.md. For perk refreshes you also need web access, because the skill checks issuer sites when you ask for it.
Does CardBenefits connect to my bank or card accounts?
No. The skill does not sync live accounts. You enter balances and card details yourself, and it flags any figure that is old or unverified, since issuers offer no API for reward balances.
Can CardBenefits book flights or hotels for me?
No. It only plans. Any booking would depend on a separate booking skill that you have installed, and it would act only after you approve the itemized total. Otherwise you book the trip yourself.
How is CardBenefits different from a budgeting app?
It is built for card perks, credits and points rather than spending. It explicitly excludes spending totals, expense tracking, bookkeeping and payments data, so it will not show where your money goes.
Why does the skill say a perk is stale or UNVERIFIED?
Perk lists change as issuers update premium cards. If a perk's last-verified date in Cards.md is more than 90 days old or is marked UNVERIFIED, the skill flags it and suggests a refresh before relying on it.
New agent skills, repos and AI tools — every week
The best new skills and open-source projects, the fastest-growing repos, and one free prompt. Five minutes to read. Unsubscribe anytime.
Our verdict
CardBenefits suits people with several travel or rewards cards who want to stop missing credits and want redemption ideas based on their own balances, and who are willing to keep a short set of local files up to date. It is a poor fit if you want automatic account syncing, budgeting, or automatic bookings, because it does none of those.
Download the skill