OpenAI’s 28 October 2026 API-credit announcement gives a concrete example of why a skill needs a freshness check. The benefit applies to eligible Pro and Business subscriptions, and unused credit expires at the end of the applicable billing cycle. A saved note saying “resets on the first of each month” can send a recurring report to the wrong date.
Mark what can expire
Keep the stable procedure separate from time-sensitive facts. For each changing item, record the official source, date checked, affected plan and condition that requires another check. Avoid “latest price” beside an undated number.
Give a fictional allowance reference a review deadline of 4 November and run the report for 5 November. The skill can still organize the input rows and prepare the review sheet. The allowance-dependent estimate should stay blank and say which source needs checking. If you refresh the reference, record the new check and the scope it covers.
Verify the failure path too
Test one case with a current reference and one deliberately marked out of date. The second should expose the missing check, not produce a confident estimate. Preserve the version used for an earlier report so its assumptions remain explainable. A checked-at date records a check; merely running the skill again is not evidence that its sources were refreshed.