we-promise/sure · warning · Assistant::Error

'#{ref}' is the unallocated remainder of budgeted_spending a

Error message

'#{ref}' is the unallocated remainder of budgeted_spending and cannot be set directly. Adjust budgeted_spending or category amounts instead.

What it means

Raised by find_budget_category! when the requested category reference case-insensitively matches one of Category.all_uncategorized_names. "Uncategorized" is not a stored category: it is the derived remainder of budget.budgeted_spending minus the sum of per-category allocations, so writing it directly is refused to keep the invariant that it equals the remainder.

Source

Thrown at app/models/assistant/function/update_budget.rb:165

  private
    def parse_amount!(raw, label)
      value = Float(raw)
      raise Assistant::Error, "#{label} must be a non-negative number." if !value.finite? || value.negative?
      value
    rescue ArgumentError, TypeError
      raise Assistant::Error, "#{label} must be a non-negative number."
    end

    def find_budget_category!(budget, ref)
      ref = ref.to_s.strip
      raise Assistant::Error, "Each categories entry needs a category name or id." if ref.blank?

      category = valid_uuid?(ref) ? family.categories.find_by(id: ref) : nil
      category ||= family.categories.where("LOWER(name) = ?", ref.downcase).first

      if category.nil?
        if Category.all_uncategorized_names.any? { |name| name.casecmp?(ref) }
          raise Assistant::Error, "'#{ref}' is the unallocated remainder of budgeted_spending and cannot be set directly. Adjust budgeted_spending or category amounts instead."
        end
        raise Assistant::Error, "Category '#{ref}' not found. Use get_categories to list categories."
      end

      budget.budget_categories.find_by(category_id: category.id) ||
        raise(Assistant::Error, "No budget row exists for category '#{category.name}' in #{budget.to_param}.")
    end

    def format_money(value)
      Money.new(value || 0, family.currency).format
    end

    def error(key, message)
      { success: false, error: key, message: message }
    end
end

View on GitHub (pinned to e69894adb9)

Solutions

1. To shrink the leftover, lower budgeted_spending: update_budget({ month: ..., budgeted_spending: <smaller total> }).
2. To allocate the leftover, raise amounts on real categories (or create them first) — their sum then consumes the remainder.
3. Tell the model up front (the tool description already states it) that the Uncategorized bucket is derived and not directly settable.

Example fix

# before
update_budget.call({ "categories" => [{ "category" => "Uncategorized", "amount" => 500 }] })

# after — grow a real category and/or shrink the total instead
update_budget.call({
  "budgeted_spending" => 6000,
  "categories" => [{ "category" => "Groceries", "amount" => 900 }]
})

reserved = Category.all_uncategorized_names.map(&:downcase)
if reserved.include?(ref.to_s.downcase)
  raise ArgumentError, "uncategorized is derived — adjust budgeted_spending or real categories"
end

# Ruby
def uncategorized_ref?(ref)
  Category.all_uncategorized_names.any? { |name| name.casecmp?(ref.to_s) }
end

When it happens

Trigger: update_budget with categories: [{ "category" => "Uncategorized", "amount" => 500 }] (any case — the check uses casecmp?) reaches app/models/assistant/function/update_budget.rb:164-166 because no real category matched the name, but a reserved uncategorized name did.

Common situations: LLM or user trying to earmark the leftover bucket; families whose budgeted_spending exceeds sum of category amounts so the model 'helpfully' allocates the difference to Uncategorized; localized uncategorized names being matched through all_uncategorized_names.

Related errors

• #{label} must be a non-negative number.
• Each categories entry needs a category name or id.
• Invalid month: #{raw}. Use YYYY-MM or MMM-YYYY.
• Category '#{ref}' not found. Use get_categories to list cate
• Assistant exceeded the tool-call limit of #{max_tool_call_it

AI-assisted analysis of we-promise/sure@e69894adb9 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f727a7ec6133d322. Report an issue: GitHub.