pf-shift-scheduler

Weekly shift schedule builder with labor cost forecasting, coverage gap analysis, and multi-jurisdiction labor law compliance — Alternative to 7shifts

Installation

1. Download the pf-shift-scheduler.plugin file
2. Open Claude Desktop and navigate to Settings > Plugins
3. Click Install Plugin and select the downloaded .plugin file
4. The plugin will be installed and available immediately

Note: All data stays local on your machine. No external API calls or cloud storage required.

Why This Exists

Restaurant scheduling is a 3-hour manual chore that eats up your week. You're spending $1,740–4,188/year on tools like 7shifts, When I Work, or Homebase just to avoid doing schedules in a spreadsheet.

pf-shift-scheduler eliminates both problems: 15-minute scheduling, Included with your subscription.

• Import your staff and availability once
• Build optimized schedules in 1 click
• Identify budget overages and coverage gaps before they become problems
• Run automated labor law compliance audits (FLSA, state, and local regulations)
• Share shift notifications without yet another app

All data stays local. No subscription, no per-employee pricing, no learning curve.

Quick Start

1. Setup — Register your business, budget, staff roles, and jurisdiction

   shift-setup
   

2. Import Staff — Add employees and their availability (CSV or manually)

   shift-import [staff-file.csv]
   

3. Build Schedule — Assign shifts for the week with coverage requirements

   shift-build
   

4. Get Forecast — Review labor costs, overtime premiums, and budget variance

   shift-forecast
   

5. Analyze Gaps — Identify coverage holes and overtime risks

   shift-analyze
   

6. Compliance Audit — Run labor law compliance checks for your jurisdiction

   shift-compliance
   

7. Notify Staff — Generate ready-to-send shift notifications with compliance disclosures

   shift-notify
   

Or run the full pipeline in one command:

shift-run [week-start-date] [staff-file.csv]

Commands

Command	Purpose	Output
shift-setup	Initialize workspace, configure jurisdiction	.shift/config.json
shift-import	Import staff with FLSA classification	processing/shift-staff.json
shift-build	Build weekly schedule with compliance flags	outbound/weekly-schedule.xlsx
shift-forecast	Calculate labor costs with OT premiums	outbound/labor-forecast.xlsx
shift-analyze	Identify gaps, risks, and compliance issues	outbound/gap-report.md
shift-compliance	Run multi-jurisdiction labor law audit	outbound/compliance-report.md
shift-notify	Generate compliance-aware notifications	outbound/staff-notifications.md
shift-scheduler-dashboard	Interactive visual dashboard — "show me"	Dashboard display
shift-run	Execute full pipeline	All above outputs
shift-status	Show pipeline progress	Terminal display

How It Works

Pipeline Stages (each builds on the previous):

1. shift-setup: Initialize workspace, configure business profile and jurisdiction
2. shift-import: Load staff roster with FLSA classification, minor status, and tip eligibility
3. shift-build: Run greedy algorithm with clopening detection, minor hour enforcement, and fairness metrics
4. shift-forecast: Calculate labor costs with overtime premiums, tip credit offsets, and industry benchmarks
5. shift-analyze: Identify coverage gaps, overtime risks, meal/rest break compliance, and predictive scheduling notice
6. shift-compliance: Run comprehensive labor law audit (FLSA, state, local) with compliance scorecard
7. shift-notify: Generate compliance-aware notifications with advance notice timestamps and break entitlements

Each stage saves its output as JSON + Excel/Markdown files in $WORKSPACE/.shift/outbound/.

Resume Logic: If a stage is complete, running it again is skipped (unless inputs changed). Run shift-run --dry-run to preview changes without executing.

What It's an Alternative To

Feature	7shifts	When I Work	Homebase	pf-shift-scheduler
Cost per year	$1,740–4,188	$1,200–3,600	$1,440–3,600	included with your subscription
Per-employee pricing	Yes ($3/mo each)	Yes (varies)	Yes (varies)	No
App required	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Real-time swap/call-out	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Staff notifications	SMS/push	SMS/push	SMS/push	Email/text only
Time clock	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Forecasting	Basic	No	Yes	Yes (with OT premiums)
Gap analysis	No	No	No	Yes
Labor law compliance audit	No	No	No	Yes (multi-jurisdiction)
Clopening detection	No	No	No	Yes
Predictive scheduling checks	No	No	No	Yes
Minor labor compliance	No	No	No	Yes
Meal/rest break validation	No	No	No	Yes
Local data storage	No	No	No	Yes
No login required	No	No	No	Yes

Key Differentiators

• Included with subscription — No subscription, no per-employee surcharges, no API limits
• Labor law compliance — Automated audits for FLSA, state overtime, meal/rest breaks, predictive scheduling, clopening, and minor labor across 7+ jurisdictions
• Local data — Schedules stored on your device; never uploaded
• No login — No account required, no dependency on cloud infrastructure
• Smart analysis — Identifies coverage gaps, overtime violations, and compliance risks before they happen
• Compliance-aware notifications — Staff notifications include advance notice timestamps, break entitlements, and minor employee restrictions
• Industry benchmarks — Labor cost analysis with NRA 30-35% labor-to-revenue targets and BLS wage comparisons

AI-Powered Features

• Multi-Jurisdiction Compliance Audit: Checks schedules against FLSA (29 USC §201-219), state overtime laws (Cal. Lab. Code §510), meal break requirements (Cal. Lab. Code §512, NY Lab. Law §162), rest break rules, predictive scheduling ordinances (NYC §20-1221, SF Art. 33F, ORS 653.412), clopening protections, and minor labor restrictions (29 CFR §570) — produces A-F compliance grade with citation-level detail
• Overtime Premium Forecasting: Calculates separate weekly OT (FLSA 1.5x), daily OT (CA 1.5x after 8hrs), and double-time (CA 2x after 12hrs) with cost impact per employee
• Coverage Gap Detection: Analyzes built schedules to identify unfilled shifts, role-specific coverage shortages, and dates with insufficient staffing
• Clopening & Split Shift Detection: Identifies close-to-open transitions with insufficient rest (SF 11-hr, OR/Chicago/Seattle 10-hr) and split shifts requiring premium pay (CA IWC Wage Orders)
• Predictive Scheduling Compliance: Tracks advance notice provision against jurisdiction requirements (14-day rule in NYC, SF, OR, Chicago, Seattle) with penalty exposure estimates
• Minor Employee Scheduling: Enforces federal (29 CFR §570.35) and state-specific work hour restrictions for employees under 18, including school day/non-school day limits and prohibited hours
• Labor Cost Intelligence: Calculates total payroll with tip credit offsets (FLSA §203(m)), split shift premiums, predictive scheduling penalties, and compares against NRA labor-to-revenue benchmarks and BLS OES industry wages
• Scheduling Fairness Metrics: Tracks workload distribution equity with fairness index (0-1 scale) based on EEOC scheduling equity guidance

Estimated Cost per Use

Disclaimer: Token estimates are approximate and based on typical usage patterns measured from skill prompt sizes. Actual costs vary with input data size, conversation length, and complexity. Estimates use Claude Sonnet 4.6 pricing ($3/1M input, $15/1M output). Cowork and Claude Desktop subscription users (Pro/Max/Team) are not charged per-token — these estimates apply only to direct Anthropic API usage. Running stages individually in fresh sessions uses fewer input tokens than running the full pipeline sequentially, because pipeline mode accumulates conversation history across stages.

Per skill (run individually in a fresh session):

Stage	Skill Prompt	User Input	Total Input	Output	Est. Cost
shift-analyze	~12.6K	~800	~16.3K	~6.0K	~$0.14
shift-import	~8.0K	~2.0K	~12.9K	~2.0K	~$0.07
shift-forecast	~7.3K	~800	~10.9K	~6.0K	~$0.12
shift-dashboard	~3.3K	~500	~6.6K	~8.0K	~$0.14
shift-compliance	~16.3K	~800	~20.1K	~6.0K	~$0.15
shift-build	~8.7K	~800	~12.4K	~6.0K	~$0.13
shift-notify	~7.4K	~800	~11.1K	~6.0K	~$0.12
Standalone total			~90.3K	~40.0K	~$0.87

Full pipeline (all stages in one session — context accumulates):

Stage	Base Input	+ History	Total Input	Output	Est. Cost
shift-analyze	~16.4K	0	~16.4K	~6.0K	~$0.14
shift-import	~13.0K	~6.8K	~19.8K	~2.0K	~$0.09
shift-forecast	~11.1K	~10.8K	~21.9K	~6.0K	~$0.16
shift-dashboard	~6.8K	~17.6K	~24.4K	~8.0K	~$0.19
shift-compliance	~20.1K	~26.1K	~46.2K	~6.0K	~$0.23
shift-build	~12.4K	~32.9K	~45.4K	~6.0K	~$0.23
shift-notify	~11.2K	~39.7K	~50.9K	~6.0K	~$0.24
Pipeline total			~225.0K	~40.0K	~$1.27

Running the full pipeline once typically costs $0.89–$1.66 in API tokens (Claude Sonnet 4.6).

Known Limitations & Workarounds

Limitation	Workaround
No real-time shift swap	Manually edit .xlsx before finalizing; regenerate forecast
No push notifications	Copy notifications; send via email/SMS manually or use Zapier/IFTTT to automate
No time clock integration	Use separate time tracking tool; cross-check with schedule weekly
No multi-location management	Run separate instance per location; consolidate in spreadsheet
No mobile app	Use web-based schedule viewer or print weekly schedule

Context & Performance Guide

Tested with:

• Up to 30 employees per schedule
• 7-day scheduling cycles
• Excel files <5 MB

Session tips:

• Keep sessions to <30 min per run (schedule building + analysis)
• For large teams (30+ staff), break import into two batches
• Archive completed schedules weekly to keep working directory clean
• Use shift-status to review outputs before distribution

Time estimates:

• Setup: 10 min
• Import staff: 5–15 min (depends on input method)
• Build schedule: 2–5 min
• Forecast & analyze: 2–3 min
• Compliance audit: 2–3 min
• Generate notifications: 1–2 min
• Total: 22–38 min for a complete week

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• openpyxl (for Excel generation)
• python-dateutil (for availability parsing)

Install dependencies:

pip3 install openpyxl python-dateutil

Important Disclaimers

• AI-Generated Content: This plugin uses AI (LLM) technology which can produce inaccurate or incomplete outputs. All content should be treated as a starting point and reviewed for accuracy before use.
• Not Professional Advice: Outputs do not constitute legal, financial, tax, medical, or other professional advice. Consult qualified professionals before making decisions based on generated content.
• No Compliance Guarantee: References to industry standards, regulations, or guidelines are for informational purposes only. This plugin does not guarantee compliance with any law or regulation. Users are responsible for verifying all outputs meet their specific regulatory requirements.
• No Endorsement or Affiliation: Mention of third-party products, standards, or organizations does not imply endorsement, partnership, or certification by those entities.