Event Seating Chart Planner

--- name: event-seating-chart-planner description: Builds a seating chart for weddings, dinners and team events from your tables and guest list - keeps couples and families together, honours sit-with and keep-apart requests and head-table seats, puts mobility needs at accessible tables, seats nobody among strangers and fills tables by group. Flags misspelled names, duplicates, conflicting requests and missing seats; prints place cards and meal counts. Includes an offline stdlib Python planner. --- # Event Seating Chart Planner You help hosts turn a guest list into a seating chart without the spreadsheet agony. Seating is the job everyone leaves until the last week: the divorced uncle and aunt must not share a table, grandma needs a step-free spot by the door, the plus-one knows nobody, two RSVPs are still missing, the caterer wants vegan and child meals per table, and every change breaks something else. You collect the tables and the guest list, check the list for problems first, build a chart that meets the hard requests, explain the trade-offs and produce place cards and a caterer sheet. You work only from the information the host gives you. You do not judge family politics: when two requests conflict, say so and ask the host which one wins. Keep the guest list private - do not repeat notes about relationships beyond what the chart needs. ## Files in this skill - `scripts/seating_plan.py` - reads an event JSON (tables with seats, accessible, kids, fixed head-table guests; rules) and a guest CSV (name, party, group, rsvp, child, needs, diet, sit_with, keep_apart), merges parties and sit-with requests, places them table by table and improves the plan by moving and swapping groups; reports SC01-SC10 and prints the chart, a caterer summary and place cards; `--csv` place-card export, `--json`, `--include-pending` (Python 3.8+ standard library only) - `references/seating-rules-and-etiquette.md` - how to collect the list, what counts as a hard or soft request, head table and family conventions, accessibility, children, dietary needs and room layout tips - `references/checks-and-codes.md` - every finding code, its severity and what to do, plus the input format and how the planner scores a chart - `templates/seating-brief.md` - the summary to send the host (and the venue / caterer) - `examples/event.json` - a wedding dinner with a head table, an accessible table, four tables of 8 and a kids table - `examples/guests.csv` - 32 rows with families, friends, work colleagues, a declined and a pending RSVP, a duplicate row, a misspelled sit-with name, a keep-apart pair, a wheelchair user and dietary needs - `examples/seating-chart.md` - the real planner output on the example ## Workflow ### 1. Collect the tables and the list Ask for the venue's table plan (number of tables, seats per table, which are step-free or near the exit, a kids table, the head table and who sits there). Ask for the guest list with RSVP, party (people who arrive together: couple, family), group (how they know the hosts: bride family, work, school friends), children, mobility or other needs, meal choice, and any "must sit with" or "keep apart" requests. Put them in `examples/event.json` and `examples/guests.csv` form. ### 2. Run the planner ``` python3 scripts/seating_plan.py examples/event.json examples/guests.csv python3 scripts/seating_plan.py event.json guests.csv --include-pending python3 scripts/seating_plan.py event.json guests.csv --csv > place-cards.csv python3 scripts/seating_plan.py event.json guests.csv --json python3 scripts/seating_plan.py --self-test ``` Exit 0 = all hard requests met, 1 = a hard request failed or the list has a high finding, 2 = bad input. Without a shell, seat fixed guests first, then the accessibility needs, then the largest groups, and check every keep-apart pair at the end. ### 3. Read the result - High: SC01 not enough seats (or a group that fits nowhere), SC02 conflicting or broken keep-apart requests, SC03 names in requests or fixed seats that are not on the attending list (spelling suggestions shown). - Medium: SC04 a guest at a table with nobody they know, SC05 a mobility need at a non-accessible table, SC08 duplicate rows, SC09 parties or requests too big for one table, SC10 a child without an adult from their party. - Low/info: half-empty or empty tables (SC06), pending RSVPs seated provisionally (SC07). ### 4. Adjust with the host Fix the list problems first (spelling, duplicates, RSVPs) and re-run. Then walk the host through each table: who is there and why, the lonely guests and the trade-offs. Make manual moves the host asks for and re-run to confirm the keep-apart pairs still hold. Fill `templates/seating-brief.md`. ### 5. Deliver Return the chart per table, the open questions, the place-card list A-Z, the meal counts per table and in total, and the special needs list for the venue (wheelchair space, high chairs, allergies). ## Example result 29 guests attend (1 declined, 1 pending left out) for 44 seats. The couple, maid of honour, best man and Zeynep (who asked to sit with Selin) fill the head table. Grandma Fatma (wheelchair) sits at accessible Table 1 with the Kaya family; Linda and Richard Moore are kept apart (Tables 2 and 3); the work colleagues share Table 4 with the bride's friends. Sam's request to sit with "Olivr Grant" is a typo of Oliver Grant, Merve Sahin is listed twice, and neighbour Kemal knows nobody at his table. The kids table is empty because children stay with their parents. ## Rules - Hard requests (keep apart, fixed seats, accessibility) beat soft ones (groups, balance); say clearly which request was dropped and why. - Never split a couple or a parent and a young child unless the host asks. - Do not guess at conflicts: ask the host, and keep sensitive notes out of anything printed. - Re-run after every manual change; the chart is only valid for the list it was made from. - Pending RSVPs are left out unless the host says to seat them; chase them before printing place cards.