Quotation Expertise

When to Use This Skill

Load this skill when you need to:

• Generate a client-facing quotation from Linear estimation data
• Calculate pricing from hour estimates and day rates
• Produce a PDF quotation document
• Email a quotation to a recipient

Common triggers:

• User says "prepare a quote", "generate a quotation", "create a quote"
• After estimation is complete and pricing is needed for a client
• When a PM needs to send costings to a stakeholder

Quick Reference

Constants

Estimation Source

Quotations are built from estimation data already in Linear. The estimation skill posts structured breakdowns as issue comments tagged [Discovery Estimate] or [Refined Estimate].

To find estimates: Read issue comments and look for the structured estimate format with the breakdown table (Area | Work | Hours | Role).

Rules

1. Always gather inputs interactively. Never assume day rates or scope — ask the user.
2. Day rates can be flat or per-role. Ask whether a single rate applies to all work, or different rates for SE, UX, QA, PM.
3. Source hours from Linear estimates. Pull the breakdown from issue comments — do not re-estimate.
4. Calculate in hours, present in days and cost. Hours are the base unit. Convert to days (÷6) and cost (days × rate).
5. Round days up to nearest half-day. 7 hours = 1.5 days, not 1.17 days. This keeps quotes clean.
6. Always include a validity period. Default 30 days from generation date.
7. Generate a unique reference number. Format: Q-{YYYY}-{NNN} where NNN is sequential.
8. Currency is GBP. Format as £X,XXX.XX. No multi-currency support in v1.
9. No discounts in v1. If asked, note it as a future enhancement.
10. No branding or T&Cs in v1. The quote is a clean, professional document without company branding.
11. Always ask for email address. Do not assume — ask the user where to send the PDF.
12. Email the PDF using af-send-emails-gmail. After generating the PDF, send it to the recipient via Gmail API. Load the email-sending skill for the sending workflow.

Workflow: Generate a Quotation

When: User requests a quotation for estimated work.

Procedure:

Step 1: Gather Inputs

Ask the user for:

1. Scope — Which Linear issue(s) to quote? Options:

   • A single feature issue (e.g., AF-42)
   • A parent feature with sub-issues
   • Multiple specific issues (comma-separated)

2. Day rate — Ask: "What day rate should I use? Single rate for all work, or different rates by role?"

   • Flat rate example: £650/day for all work
   • Per-role example: SE £650/day, UX £550/day, QA £500/day, PM £600/day

3. Recipient email — Where to send the finished PDF

4. Optional overrides:

   • Validity period (default: 30 days)
   • Custom quote reference
   • Additional notes to include

Step 2: Extract Estimation Data

For each issue in scope:

# Read the issue and its comments
linearis issues read {ISSUE-ID}

Parse the estimation comment to extract:

• Functional area breakdown (FE, BE, INFRA, TEST, UX, DOCS)
• Hours per area
• Role assignments (SE, UX, QA, PM)
• Total hours
• Assumptions and risks

If the issue has sub-issues with individual estimates, gather all sub-issue estimates and roll up.

If no estimate exists: Stop and tell the user. Suggest running the estimation skill first.

Step 3: Calculate Pricing

For each line item:

days = ceil_to_half(hours / 6)
cost = days × day_rate_for_role

Where ceil_to_half rounds up to the nearest 0.5:

• 4 hours → 1 day (4/6 = 0.67, rounds to 1.0)
• 7 hours → 1.5 days (7/6 = 1.17, rounds to 1.5)
• 10 hours → 2 days (10/6 = 1.67, rounds to 2.0)

Sum all line items for the total.

Step 4: Generate Quotation Markdown

Use the structured output format below. Write the Markdown to a file:

/tmp/quotation-{REFERENCE}.md

Step 5: Convert to PDF

cd /tmp && md-to-pdf quotation-{REFERENCE}.md --launch-options '{"args": ["--no-sandbox", "--disable-setuid-sandbox"]}'

The --launch-options flag is required on the GiDev server for Puppeteer/Chromium. The PDF is written alongside the Markdown file (same name, .pdf extension).

Verify the PDF was created:

ls -la /tmp/quotation-{REFERENCE}.pdf

Step 6: Email the PDF

Load the af-send-emails-gmail skill and send the PDF to the recipient:

• To: The recipient email address gathered in Step 1
• Subject: Quotation {REFERENCE} — {Project/Feature Name}
• Body: Brief message introducing the quotation (e.g., "Please find attached the quotation for {scope description}.")
• Attachment: The generated PDF from Step 5

After sending, confirm delivery to the user with:

• A summary of the quotation (total cost, days, scope)
• The recipient email address it was sent to
• The local file path to the PDF (for reference)

Structured Output Format

Use this format for the quotation Markdown document:

# Quotation

**Reference:** Q-2026-001
**Date:** 6 February 2026
**Valid until:** 8 March 2026

---

## Prepared for

{Recipient name / company — ask user or leave as "Client"}

## Scope of Work

{Brief description of the work being quoted, derived from the Linear issue title and description}

## Pricing Breakdown

| # | Description | Days | Day Rate | Cost |
|---|-------------|------|----------|------|
| 1 | {Area/feature description} | X.X | £XXX | £X,XXX |
| 2 | {Area/feature description} | X.X | £XXX | £X,XXX |
| 3 | {Area/feature description} | X.X | £XXX | £X,XXX |
| | **Total** | **X.X** | | **£X,XXX** |

## Assumptions

- {From the estimation data}
- {Any additional assumptions}

## Notes

- All prices are in GBP and exclude VAT
- This quotation is valid for 30 days from the date above
- Estimates are based on current understanding of requirements; significant scope changes may require re-quotation

---

*Generated by AgentFlow*

Example Quotation

# Quotation

**Reference:** Q-2026-003
**Date:** 6 February 2026
**Valid until:** 8 March 2026

---

## Prepared for

Acme Ltd

## Scope of Work

User authentication system with login, registration, and password reset functionality.

## Pricing Breakdown

| # | Description | Days | Day Rate | Cost |
|---|-------------|------|----------|------|
| 1 | Backend API (auth endpoints, JWT, user model) | 1.5 | £650 | £975 |
| 2 | Frontend UI (login page, auth context, routes) | 1.0 | £650 | £650 |
| 3 | Infrastructure (Cognito, env vars, CORS) | 0.5 | £650 | £325 |
| 4 | Testing (unit + E2E tests) | 1.0 | £650 | £650 |
| 5 | Documentation (auth flow docs, API docs) | 0.5 | £650 | £325 |
| 6 | UX Design (login form Storybook story) | 0.5 | £550 | £275 |
| | **Total** | **5.0** | | **£3,200** |

## Assumptions

- Using AWS Cognito (not custom auth)
- Email/password auth only (no social login)

## Notes

- All prices are in GBP and exclude VAT
- This quotation is valid for 30 days from the date above
- Estimates are based on current understanding of requirements; significant scope changes may require re-quotation

---

*Generated by AgentFlow*

Common Pitfalls

1. No estimate on the issue. Always check for estimation comments before proceeding. If missing, run estimation first.
2. Stale estimates. Check the estimate date — if requirements have changed since the estimate, flag this to the user.
3. Forgetting VAT exclusion note. Always include "prices exclude VAT" in the notes.
4. Over-precise day rounding. Round to nearest 0.5 day, not to decimal places. Clients expect clean numbers.
5. Missing scope description. Don't just list line items — include a human-readable scope summary at the top.
6. Forgetting credential cleanup. The email-sending skill requires temporary credential files — always clean up after sending (the skill handles this, but verify).

Integration Points

Estimation skill (af-estimate-effort):

• Quotations consume estimation data — estimates must exist before quoting
• Hours, roles, and functional areas from the estimation skill map directly to quote line items

Linear API (af-query-linear-api):

• Read issue details and comments to extract estimates

Work management (af-manage-work-state):

• Track quotation generation as part of the discovery/requirements workflow

Email sending (af-send-emails-gmail):

• Sends the generated PDF to the recipient via Gmail API
• Sends as [email protected] using service account credentials from Doppler
• Subject format: Quotation {REFERENCE} — {Project/Feature Name}

Communications (af-send-notifications):

• Zulip notification when a quote is generated (optional)

Future Enhancements (Out of Scope for v1)

• Company branding (logo, colours, fonts) on PDF
• Standard terms and conditions section
• Discount support (percentage or fixed, per-line or total)
• Multi-currency support
• Quote versioning and revision tracking
• Digital signature / acceptance workflow
• Quote templates per client

Remember:

1. Always gather inputs interactively — never assume rates or scope
2. Source hours from existing Linear estimates — don't re-estimate
3. Calculate: hours → days (÷6, round to 0.5) → cost (days × rate)
4. Generate clean Markdown, convert to PDF with md-to-pdf
5. Email the PDF via af-send-emails-gmail (Gmail API, sends as [email protected])
6. Currency is GBP, validity is 30 days, no discounts in v1