Subscription Audit

Search Gmail and Slack via MCP to discover, extract, and report on all IT/AI/SaaS subscription fees.

Workflow

The audit involves these steps:

1. Search Gmail with tiered queries (high-yield first, then broader)
2. Search Slack for subscription references
3. Read thread details to extract exact amounts
4. Consolidate and deduplicate results
5. Generate the final audit report

Step 1: Search Gmail

Use gmail_search_messages via MCP. Run queries from references/search-queries.md, starting with Tier 1 (highest yield). Set max_results to 50–100 per query.

manus-mcp-cli tool call gmail_search_messages --server gmail --input '{"q": "<QUERY>", "max_results": 100}'

For each result file, extract thread IDs and subjects with Python:

import json
with open('<result_file>') as f:
    data = json.load(f)
for t in data.get('result', {}).get('threads', []):
    for msg in t.get('messages', []):
        h = msg.get('pickedHeaders', {})
        print(f"{t['id']} | {h.get('subject','')} | {h.get('from','')}")

Key Tier 1 queries (always run these):

• from:stripe.com receipt
• from:github.com receipt payment
• from:googleplay-noreply@google.com subscription
• from:anthropic.com OR from:mail.anthropic.com receipt invoice
• from:openai.com receipt invoice billing
• from:ionos OR from:godaddy OR from:namecheap OR from:cloudflare invoice domain

For the full query list with rationale, read references/search-queries.md.

Step 2: Search Slack

Use slack_search_public_and_private via MCP:

manus-mcp-cli tool call slack_search_public_and_private --server slack --input '{"query": "subscription invoice payment billing receipt", "limit": 20}'

Run 2–3 query variants. Slack rarely contains billing data but may reference costs in discussion.

Step 3: Read Thread Details

For threads identified as IT/AI subscriptions, read full content to extract amounts:

manus-mcp-cli tool call gmail_read_threads --server gmail --input '{"thread_ids": ["<id1>","<id2>"], "include_full_messages": true}'

Batch up to 10 thread IDs per call. From the plain text content, extract:

• Amount — look for £, $, € followed by digits
• Plan name — e.g. "Claude Pro", "Starter", "Team Plan"
• Billing period — e.g. "Jan 18 – Feb 18, 2026"
• Payment method — e.g. "Visa ending 8149"
• VAT — typically 20% for UK-based users

Step 4: Consolidate

Optionally run the consolidation script on saved MCP result files:

python3 /home/ubuntu/skills/subscription-audit/scripts/consolidate_results.py <output_dir> <json1> [json2 ...]

Group results by service provider. Deduplicate by thread ID. For each service, record:

Field	Source
Service name	Sender name or subject line
Category	AI Assistant, Developer Tools, Cloud/Hosting, AI Voice, etc.
Current plan	From receipt body
Monthly cost	From receipt body (convert USD→GBP if needed)
Payment method	From receipt body
Billing cycle	Monthly or Annual
First seen / last seen	Earliest and latest receipt dates

Step 5: Generate Report

Use templates/report_template.md as the structural guide. The report must include:

1. Executive Summary — service count, total monthly/annual cost, summary table
2. Detailed Analysis — one section per service with billing history
3. Conclusion — recommendations on cost optimisation

Look up the current USD→GBP exchange rate when converting amounts. Deliver the report as a Markdown file with the raw JSON data as a secondary attachment.

IT/AI Service Categories

When classifying subscriptions, use these categories:

Category	Examples
AI Assistant	Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT, Perplexity
AI Developer Tools	GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Replit
AI Voice / Media	ElevenLabs, Midjourney, Runway
Developer Tools	GitHub Plans, JetBrains, VS Code
Cloud / Hosting	AWS, Azure, Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vercel
Web Hosting / Domain	IONOS, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare
AI / Cloud Storage	Google AI Pro, iCloud+
Productivity	Notion, Figma, Slack Pro
Security / Network	Tailscale, VPN services