Chores that can be shared by All or taken by One person

[chrisjantzen]

This was something I started looking into back when this was KidsChores, but never really found a great solution. Is there a way to make a chore optionally shared? But also have it be possible for 1 person to take that chore? We have 2 people in our household and sometimes we will share a task (e.g. putting dishes away or folding clothes), but other times one person will do the full chore. In our current system if we both do it the points are split between both of us and I'd really like to replicate something similar with ChoreOps.

[ccpk1]

Not a direct feature, no. That said, I'm trying to understand the logic that might be used to properly support that, and maybe you can tell me a little more about your use case.

My inclination would be to use a standard shared_all chore which will allow 1 or both of you to complete it. It is currently the only chore type that supports the requirement of the team style work. So if one of you claims it, that person would see it as completed for themself but would also see via the color and other detail that it is only partially complete until the other person completes it.

If the second person completes it, the chore shows as fully completed and you both are getting points... This is the standard happy path which I assume you are fine with.

But if the second person doesn't complete, then what would you like to happen?

• The chore goes overdue until they complete? (This is overdue handling option of overdue until complete)
• The chore goes overdue until the approval reset occurs? (This is also overdue handling and pending claim handling)
• The chore never goes overdue, but still resets to pending? (This is in overdue handling and pending claim handling)
• You want to give extra points to the person if they were the only person to complete it? (This could be accomplished through a custom automation that occurs at a specific time right before approval reset, or a few other mechanisms)

https://github.com/ccpk1/ChoreOps/wiki/Configuration%3A-Chores#pending-claim-action

Give it some thought and look at the options. Then let me know your ideal situation and I'll try to point you in the right direction.

[chrisjantzen]

Thanks ccpk1, appreciate the response! I think option 4 would work out well. What I'm trying to handle is when a task gets shared, for example, if we both empty the dishwasher together, or fold the laundry together. These are tasks that can be done by 2 people, but can also be just as easily done by one. I considered just creating separate tasks for the 2 scenarios, but that messes up scheduling that tasks on a recurring basis.

In the app we've been previously using, you would pick the people who completed a task before selecting the task, and then it would split the points amongst all of the people who completed it. This worked nicely, but I suspect with how ChoreOps works, that would be difficult to accomplish.

I think option 4 would work out. I can just set suitable tasks to be shared_all chores and then set them to half the expected amount of points. If 2 people complete it, they each get the expected amount of points. If 1 person completes it, then an automation (or one of the other mechanisms you suggested) could give them the points a second time to provide them with the full amount. The only downside I suppose would be that the displayed points on the dashboard would only show the half amount of points, but perhaps there's someway to modify the yaml to have it double points on any chores of that type.

If you have some pointers on how to go down this path I'd appreciate it.

Thanks again!

[ccpk1]

I didn't fully test this, but I'm hoping it gets you 90% of the way there. It would need to be setup for each chore you intend to have this behavior.

A workable approach today is to use a shared_all chore with half of the intended point value, then add a Home Assistant automation that awards the other half only when exactly one person completed the chore.

For example, if the full reward should be 50 points, configure the chore for 25 points and use the chore description to explain the behavior, such as: “Earn 50 pts for solo completion.” To enable chore description in the dashboard chores card use pref_show_chore_description

The automation should use just one of the shared chore sensors as the source of truth. For a shared chore, the relevant completion fields are chore-level data, so only checking one of the assigned-user chore status sensors is enough.

Example:

automation:
  - alias: ChoreOps solo top-up for Shared All - Bonus for Single
    id: choreops_solo_topup_shared_all_bonus_for_single
    mode: single
    trigger:
      - platform: time
        at: "23:59:50"

    variables:
      chore_sensor: sensor.lila_choreops_chore_status_shared_all_bonus_for_single
      completed_by: "{{ state_attr(chore_sensor, 'completed_by') or [] }}"
      last_completed: "{{ state_attr(chore_sensor, 'last_completed') }}"
      bonus_amount: "{{ state_attr(chore_sensor, 'default_points') | float(0) }}"

    condition:
      - condition: template
        value_template: >
          {{ completed_by is sequence and (completed_by | count) == 1 }}

      - condition: template
        value_template: >
          {{ last_completed is not none and last_completed != '' }}

      - condition: template
        value_template: >
          {{ bonus_amount > 0 }}

    action:
      - service: choreops.manual_adjust_points
        data:
          user_name: "{{ completed_by[0] }}"
          points_amount: "{{ bonus_amount }}"
          reason: "Solo completion top-up: Shared All - Bonus for Single"

Important caveats:

1. This is best treated as a one-off workaround for a specific chore, not a general-purpose feature.
2. The automation must be aligned with the chore’s approval reset timing. (at midnight?) It should run just before the approval reset happens, while completed_by still reflects the current cycle.
3. This is best suited for daily or weekly chores where the reset timing is predictable.
4. This only works when the chore is approved before reset, ideally with auto_approve would be easiest.
5. This will not work for chores that rely on pending claims being approved at reset, such as auto_approve_pending, because the same reset boundary is also what ends the cycle.
6. If the automation runs too often or at the wrong time it could award the bonus more than once before the chore resets.

[Tical84]

I've been looking for the same thing. This workaround should work but is a little clunky. I have two kids and lots of shared areas of the house so every shared area could either have one or both doing the chore as they help each other more often than they do their own individually.

Love the integration, my wife and I are pleasantly surprised how much easier getting them to do chores has been, haha.