a-record-is-never-erased

Summary

An expense can be removed. The record that somebody removed it cannot.

Why it matters

This is a shared ledger. A number that changes with no visible cause is how a splitter loses trust, and the person who benefits from a quiet deletion is never the person who notices it.

Implications

• Every edit and deletion renders permanently in the activity log, struck through and muted, never hidden.
• Automation does not get an exemption: a recurring rule's expenses each carry an entry naming the rule, and the banner on spending offers an Undo.
• The one thing that IS deleted for real is a receipt photo. Keeping the record does not require keeping a picture, and an image nobody can reach from any screen is a bill somebody forgot they uploaded.
• Deleting an account leaves shared-group expenses in place — removing them would change what other people are owed — and renames you to "Removed user".

Related

• expense — where the log is read
• delete-account
• spending

Sources

• src/app/expense/[id].tsx
• src/app/account.tsx