Mandatory Chores
Mandatory chores are chores a child is expected to do — not optional, not just "nice to have". When a mandatory chore isn't completed in time, TaskMate doesn't silently take points away. Instead it raises a review item for the parent, who decides what happens next.
Mandatory is set per chore — there is no global on/off switch.
Open the chore editor (Admin Panel → Chores → Edit chore). Turn on the "Mandatory chore" toggle. A "Penalty points if missed" number field appears below it — set the points a parent can choose to deduct if the chore is missed. Leave it at 0 for no penalty option.
In YAML / storage this is two chore fields:
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
mandatory |
bool | Whether the chore is mandatory |
mandatory_penalty_points |
int | Points a parent may deduct if missed (0 = no penalty option) |
If a mandatory chore isn't completed before its time-of-day period ends, TaskMate records a per-child miss and raises a review item for the parent. Points are never auto-deducted — the parent always chooses what to do.
Detection runs at the end of each period. A midnight pass handles Anytime chores (which have no period boundary during the day), and a catch-up scan runs after Home Assistant restarts — so a restart across a period boundary won't cause a miss to be skipped.
See Chore Scheduling for how time-of-day periods work.
The review item appears on the Approvals Card under a section titled "Mandatory — needs review", at the top of the card.
Each miss offers three parent actions, each backed by a service:
| Action | Service | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Apply Penalty | taskmate.apply_mandatory_penalty |
Deducts the configured penalty points and clears the review item. The Apply-penalty button only appears when the chore's penalty points are greater than 0. |
| Postpone | taskmate.postpone_mandatory_chore |
Gives the chore the next period today, rolling to tomorrow after the last period. Repeatable, and applies no penalty. |
| Dismiss | taskmate.dismiss_mandatory_chore |
Clears the review item with no penalty. |
Every one of these services takes a single parameter:
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
miss_id |
string | The ID of the mandatory-miss review item |
The penalty deducted by Apply Penalty is fixed — see Penalties for how penalties show up in the activity log.
A mandatory chore is shown distinctly on the child card so kids can see at a glance what's non-negotiable: a red left stripe, a light-red tint, and a "⚠ Mandatory" badge.
sensor.pending_approvals carries the open misses:
| Attribute | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
mandatory_misses |
list | Open mandatory-miss review items |
pending_mandatory_misses |
int | Count of open misses |
Each entry in mandatory_misses has these fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
id |
Miss ID — pass this as miss_id to the services above |
chore_id |
ID of the missed chore |
child_id |
ID of the child who missed it |
chore_name |
Display name of the chore |
child_name |
Display name of the child |
due_date |
ISO date the chore was missed |
period_id |
The time period that closed (anytime for all-day chores) |
penalty_points |
Points snapshotted at creation (so later chore edits don't change an open miss) |
postpone_count |
How many times the miss has been postponed |
created_at |
When the miss was raised |
- Penalties — fixed, named point deductions
- Approvals Card — where misses are reviewed
- Chores — the chore editor and chore fields
- Chore Scheduling — time-of-day periods and recurrence
-
Services —
apply_mandatory_penalty,postpone_mandatory_chore,dismiss_mandatory_chore