beancount-options

Turn natural-language options descriptions into correct beancount transactions.

This skill exists because options accounting in beancount has subtle mechanics that are easy to get wrong by hand: short-position cost basis lives in negative-quantity holdings, premium becomes part of stock cost basis on assignment, multi-leg trades need link grouping, and the four close paths (close, expire, assign, exercise) produce different P&L treatment. The skill takes a description, infers the strategy and outcome, generates the correct transaction(s), and — only after explicit confirmation — appends them to the user's ledger.

Prefer bea

Read beancount-init's references/bea-cli.md (from this skill's folder, ../beancount-init/references/bea-cli.md; a copy at references/bea-cli.md when this skill was installed alone) before running ledger commands: it defines explicit root/destination paths, JSON batches, checks, and safe retries. Without bea, use beancount-init's references/compatibility.md.

Write approved account opens and transactions through bea. Preserve cost basis, inferred postings, tags and links. Use structured JSON batches for explicit lots and the shared native add transaction --posting recipe for {} lot selection or total-cost syntax. Keep the strategy-specific reasoning and confirmation below.

Scope

Does: turn a described options trade or lifecycle event into new transactions, appended to the user's ledger after confirmation and validated through the root check.

Does not: modify or bulk-rewrite existing transactions; touch option, plugin, or include directives; compute wash sales, greeks, P&L curves, or other analytics; import broker statements (a different workflow); record other manual entries (beancount-add); record share, fund, or crypto trades or report realized gains (beancount-trade).

Workflow

Five phases, in order: Discover → Parse → Generate → Confirm + Write → Verify.

1. Discover

Local ledger files only. For a ledger hosted on Beancount.io, stop this skill and offer a separately requested hosted workflow or local clone (beancount-init's references/bea-cli.md, Hosted ledgers).

Before generating anything, learn the user's ledger. Look for beancount files in the working directory:

fd -e beancount -e bean . | head -20
# fallback: find . -maxdepth 4 \( -name '*.beancount' -o -name '*.bean' \)

The "main" file is typically the one with option, plugin, or include directives at the top, or the largest file with open directives. Once found, scan it for:

• Existing options accounts: ^[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2} open .*Option
• Existing brokerage hierarchy: ^[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2} open Assets:[^:]+:[^:]+: (capture the broker name segment)
• Existing option commodity symbols: any prior options-shaped commodities used in postings
• Existing config block: a comment block at the top starting with ;; beancount-options config
• Append target: the file where existing options entries currently live (could be the main file or an included subfile, possibly year-bucketed by date)

Report findings to the user before generating, so they can correct any misdetection. If discovery is ambiguous, ask:

• Where is your main beancount file?
• Have you been recording options trades before? (If yes, point to one — we'll match its style.)

If no prior options activity exists, propose:

• Account hierarchy: Assets:Brokerage:<BrokerName>:{Cash,Options,Stock} and Income:Trading:OptionPremium
• Commodity format: OCC-style (AAPL_PUT_20260620_00150000)
• Append target: the main file unless obvious sub-files exist

Persist the choice as a config comment block at the top of the main file:

;; beancount-options config
;; commodity_format: occ_v1
;; append_target: ./transactions/2026.beancount
;; broker_default: Robinhood

This is the contract going forward — re-read it on every invocation rather than re-detecting from scratch. Write the block as part of the first confirmed append (never before it); when prior options entries exist without one, propose adding it in that run's confirmation.

2. Parse

Reduce the user's description to a structured representation:

Field	Required	Notes
underlying	yes	Ticker symbol
strategy	yes	single-leg, vertical, calendar, condor, etc.
action	yes	open, close, expire, assign, exercise, roll
broker	yes	Ask if not specified or detectable
trade_date	yes	Default: today
legs[]	yes	Each leg: direction (long/short), type (call/put), strike, expiry, qty
premium_per_contract	open/close only	Net or per-leg, depending on input
fees	optional	Folded into cash leg

Parsing rules:

• If the user pastes a broker confirmation, extract fields directly. Brokers vary; common patterns include Sold to Open 1 AAPL Jun 20 '26 $150 Put @ 1.50.
• If conversational, identify what's stated and ask for what's missing. Don't guess premiums, strikes, or expiries — wrong basis math is harder to spot later than a follow-up question.
• For multi-leg trades, recommend pasting the full fill confirmation. If they describe leg-by-leg, gather all legs before generating.

3. Generate

Each strategy + outcome maps to a transaction template. Read the matching references/<strategy>.md file before generating, even if the pattern feels obvious. References encode edge cases you might miss.

Universal generation rules — apply unless a reference file overrides:

• Cost basis is per CONTRACT, not per share. Each option contract is 1 unit in beancount. The unit's cost basis equals the gross dollar premium (premium × 100). For a $1.50 premium contract: {150.00 USD}, NOT {1.50 USD}.
  • Why: -1 X {1.50 USD} has posting weight -$1.50, but the cash leg is +$150. The transaction won't balance. Per-contract basis ({150.00 USD}) does balance against a per-contract cash leg.
• Cost basis on shorts: negative units, basis = gross premium × 100 per contract.
• Cost basis on longs: positive units, basis = gross premium × 100 per contract.
• Fees: explicit Expenses:Trading:Fees posting. Cash leg = net premium (gross − fees for STO/STC, gross + fees for BTO/BTC). Don't fold fees into cost basis. This keeps cost basis as a clean dollar number, which makes assignment arithmetic produce clean per-share stock basis (strike − premium-per-share = whole cents).
• Multi-leg open in one fill: one transaction, all legs as separate postings, single shared ^link.
• Multi-leg close: same — one transaction per fill ticket, linked.
• Roll: two transactions (close then open), each with its own ^link. Don't combine. See references/rolling.md.
• Assignment: option closes at $0; resulting stock opens with cost basis adjusted for the original premium. No income line for the option itself. See references/assignment.md.
• Exercise (long option you exercised): mirror of assignment — premium adjusts stock basis, no separate option income. See references/exercise.md.
• Expiration: identical to a close at $0 premium.
• {} disposal requires the held lot: a -100 AAPL {} posting matches an existing stock lot in that account. If the shares aren't booked in the ledger yet, book (or ask about) the purchase first — otherwise bea check fails with the unintuitive Too many missing numbers for currency group 'USD'.

4. Confirm + Write

Show the target path, any new open directives, and the transactions exactly as they will be written, then ask:

Target file: ./transactions/2026.beancount

New account opens (if any):
2026-05-01 open Assets:Brokerage:Robinhood:Options
2026-05-01 open Income:Trading:OptionPremium USD
2026-05-01 open Expenses:Trading:Fees USD

Proposed transaction:
2026-05-01 * "STO AAPL 150P 6/20" ^aapl-150p-20260620
  Assets:Brokerage:Robinhood:Cash                              149.35 USD
  Assets:Brokerage:Robinhood:Options    -1 AAPL_PUT_20260620_00150000 {150.00 USD}
  Expenses:Trading:Fees                                          0.65 USD

Append to ./transactions/2026.beancount? (yes/no)

On yes, open the approved new accounts with the shared add open recipe, then write the confirmed batch:

bea --file "$ledger" --json --no-input add transactions --from "$batch" --into "$target"

Use the proposed destination, including for year-bucketed files; validate through the root ledger. Native lot-selection transactions use the shared add transaction --posting recipe with the same root and destination. Update only the reviewed config comment block. On no, revise the proposal. Never write before confirmation. If a command fails, inspect earlier successful writes before retrying the batch.

5. Verify

Verify the root ledger after writing:

bea --file "$ledger" --json --no-input check

Use beancount-init's references/compatibility.md only when bea is absent.

If the check reports any errors (transaction does not balance, lot booking failure, undeclared account, etc.), report the exact check output instead of success, propose a fix when the error identifies the cause, and leave the written entries in place so the user can see what failed.

This step exists because the cost-basis arithmetic is subtle, especially for assignment, exercise, and multi-leg trades. Catching an error now is much cheaper than discovering it later during 1099-B reconciliation.

If no checker is available, report the result as unvalidated and suggest installing bea; manual posting weights do not establish correct lot booking.

Universal mechanics

Commodity naming

If existing options trades use a convention, conform to it. Otherwise default to OCC-style:

<UNDERLYING>_<TYPE>_<YYYYMMDD>_<STRIKE_PADDED>

STRIKE_PADDED is 8 digits: 5 dollars + 3 decimal places. Examples:

• $150 strike → 00150000
• $9.50 strike → 00009500
• $2,500 strike (e.g. AMZN pre-split) → 02500000

Full example: AAPL_PUT_20260620_00150000 for AAPL $150 put expiring June 20, 2026.

Optional commodity directive with metadata for queries:

2026-05-01 commodity AAPL_PUT_20260620_00150000
  underlying: "AAPL"
  expiry: 2026-06-20
  strike: 150.00 USD
  option_type: "PUT"

Account structure

Assets:Brokerage:<BrokerName>:Cash
Assets:Brokerage:<BrokerName>:Options
Assets:Brokerage:<BrokerName>:Stock
Income:Trading:OptionPremium
Income:Trading:CapitalGains
Expenses:Trading:Fees

Detect the broker name from existing accounts and preserve case. If the broker doesn't yet exist in the ledger, generate open directives alongside the trade.

The four outcomes

Outcome	Option position	Stock side-effect	Income line
Buy/Sell to close	→ 0	None	Yes (P&L = open premium − close premium)
Expire worthless	→ 0 at $0	None	Yes (full premium)
Assigned (short)	→ 0 at $0	Forced trade at strike	None — premium adjusts stock basis
Exercised (long)	→ 0 at $0	Voluntary trade at strike	None — premium adjusts stock basis

Trade date convention

Always use the trade date (date the order filled), not settlement. 1099-B reports trade date in both date columns; matching it now saves reconciliation pain later.

Fees

Use an explicit Expenses:Trading:Fees posting. The cash leg holds the net premium (gross premium ± fees, depending on direction); the option leg's cost basis holds the gross premium × 100.

Why this convention:

• Keeps cost basis as a clean whole-dollar number, so assignment math produces clean per-share stock basis (strike − premium-per-share = whole cents).
• Fees per trade are easy to query at year-end; net proceeds for 1099-B reconciliation are still recoverable (gross proceeds − fees).
• Folding fees into basis would produce fractional-cent stock basis values like $148.5065/share that are awkward to read.

Strategy routing

Identify the strategy and read the matching reference file before generating.

Strategy	Reference
Cash-secured put, naked put, naked call, long call, long put	references/single-leg.md
Covered call, protective put, collar, married put	references/stock-plus-option.md
Bull call spread, bear call spread, bull put spread, bear put spread, debit/credit spread	references/verticals.md
Iron condor, iron butterfly, condor, butterfly, broken-wing variants	references/condors-and-butterflies.md
Long/short straddle, long/short strangle	references/volatility-strategies.md
Calendar spread, double calendar, diagonal spread	references/calendars-and-diagonals.md
Wheel strategy (CSP→assign→CC→assign sequence)	references/wheel.md
Synthetic long/short, conversion, reversal, ratio spread, jade lizard	references/exotics.md

Outcome-specific:

• Assignment | references/assignment.md
• Exercise (long option) | references/exercise.md
• Rolling (BTC + STO same broker action) | references/rolling.md

Tax carve-outs:

• Index options (SPX, NDX, RUT, VIX, XSP) — Section 1256 | references/section-1256.md
• Wash sales | references/wash-sales.md
• Multi-broker considerations | references/multi-broker.md

If a description doesn't fit cleanly into one of these, default to single-leg or verticals and ask the user to confirm the strategy name.

Edge cases worth surfacing

• Fractional/sub-dollar strikes: handled by OCC's 3-decimal strike encoding.
• Adjusted contracts (post-split, post-merger): non-standard. Ask the user for the OCC symbol the broker assigned.
• Mini contracts (10-share multiplier): rare but exists. Ask explicitly if there's any chance.
• Same-day open and close: still two transactions.
• Partial closes: closing N of M open contracts is supported; remaining stay open at original basis.
• Index options: trigger Section 1256 reference; note 60/40 treatment and Form 6781 implications; this skill does not compute them.
• Dividends during a covered call holding period: dividends post separately to Income:Dividends. Qualified-CC rules can affect tax treatment of the dividend itself — see stock-plus-option reference.
• LEAPS held >1 year then closed: only options case where long-term capital gains apply for long positions. Short positions are always short-term regardless of holding period.