plate-check

name	plate-check
description	Weekly plate check — pulls from Gmail, Google Calendar, Reclaim, todo.md, and CLAUDE.md to give the user a comprehensive briefing, triage stale tasks, flag conflicts, and generate a visual dashboard. Use when the user wants a status update, weekly review, or says "what's on my plate".

Plate Check

A comprehensive weekly review that pulls from all of the user's systems, asks clarifying questions, then updates todo.md, comms.md, and generates a visual dashboard.html.

Setup note: Replace {{WORKSPACE}} below with your own workspace path (e.g., ~/notes/chat/ or ~/Documents/claude-workspace/). Replace {{PHONE}} with your iMessage-capable phone number (or remove the notify step entirely).

---

Step 1: Gather (parallel, read-only)

Collect data from all sources. Run these in parallel where possible.

1a. Local files

• Read todo.md at {{WORKSPACE}}/todo.md
• Read comms.md at {{WORKSPACE}}/comms.md
• Read the "CURRENT FOCUS" and "Active Projects" sections from ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md to understand stated priorities and definition of progress

1b. Gmail

• Use mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__gmail_search_messages to search for emails from the last 7 days
• Filter for actionable messages: from collaborators, advisors, students, institutions
• Ignore: newsletters, automated notifications, marketing, receipts
• For important threads, use gmail_read_thread to get full context
• Surface emails that need replies, especially those 3+ days old

1c. Google Calendar

• Use mcp__claude_ai_Google_Calendar__gcal_list_events to fetch events for the next 14 days
• Note: meetings, deadlines, blocked time, recurring commitments
• Calculate total meeting hours per day

1d. Reclaim tasks

• Use mcp__reclaim__get_tasks to fetch all active Reclaim tasks
• Use mcp__reclaim__get_events to fetch scheduled task blocks for next 14 days

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Step 2: Analyze

Cross-reference all sources and produce findings:

Conflicts & Overload

• Double-bookings: overlapping calendar events
• Overloaded days: days with 6+ hours of meetings (flag as "no deep work possible")
• Deadline collisions: multiple deliverables due the same day/week
• Missing time blocks: tasks with deadlines but no time scheduled in calendar or Reclaim
• Meetings without prep: important meetings (with advisors, collaborators) with nothing scheduled before them

Task Health

• Zombie tasks: items on todo.md that have been sitting for 2+ weeks with no progress markers. These need triage — done? still relevant? blocked?
• Orphan tasks: Reclaim tasks not reflected in todo.md, or vice versa
• Misaligned priorities: tasks consuming time that don't align with the "CURRENT FOCUS" priorities from CLAUDE.md

Email Triage

• Needs reply: emails from collaborators/advisors/students awaiting response, sorted by age
• Action items: emails containing requests, deadlines, or asks
• FYI only: important updates that don't need action

Urgency Categorization

Categorize everything into:

1. Hard deadlines (red) — immovable dates, submissions, reviews due
2. Time-sensitive (orange) — should happen this week or risks slipping
3. Important-not-urgent (yellow) — matters but can be scheduled for later
4. Can wait (green) — nice to do, no pressure

Alignment Check

• Compare actual task load against the "This Week's Definition of Progress" from CLAUDE.md
• Is the user spending time on what they said matters most?
• Are the top priorities (#1-4 from CURRENT FOCUS) actually getting calendar time?

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Step 3: Interactive Triage

IMPORTANT: Do NOT update any files yet. Ask the user first.

Present findings as a structured briefing, then ask targeted questions:

Briefing format

## Plate Check — [DATE]

### Your stated priorities (from CLAUDE.md):
1. ...
2. ...

### This week's definition of progress:
> [quoted from CLAUDE.md]

### Reality check:
- [Calendar hours breakdown]
- [Number of pending tasks]
- [Emails awaiting reply]

### Flags:
- [Conflicts, overload, zombies, misalignments]

### Questions for you:
1. [Specific triage question about zombie task]
2. [Scope question about competing deadlines]
3. [Reality check about overcommitted day]

Wait for the user's answers before proceeding.

Overload Protocol

If the user's CLAUDE.md includes guidance about overload handling, follow it. Otherwise default to:

If the plate is clearly overloaded:

• Explicitly say so
• Propose what to cut or defer
• Recommend a "just do this one thing" focus for the week
• Be direct — concise output beats hedging

Time Awareness

• Respect any time constraints the user has documented in CLAUDE.md (family obligations, deep-work windows, bedtime norms, etc.)
• Factor these constraints into scheduling recommendations

---

Step 4: Update Files

After the user confirms, update three files:

4a. todo.md

Path: {{WORKSPACE}}/todo.md

• Add a clear ## THIS WEEK section at the top with 3-5 focus items
• Add new items surfaced from email or calendar (with source noted)
• Mark zombie tasks with [STALE — 2+ weeks] or archive per the user's answers
• Re-order by priority alignment
• Do NOT delete items without the user's approval — mark them for review instead

4b. comms.md

Path: {{WORKSPACE}}/comms.md

Prepend a dated briefing entry at the top:

## Plate Check — [DATE, TIME]

**Summary:** [1-2 sentence overview]

**Changes made to todo.md:**
- [List of additions, removals, reorderings]

**Key flags:**
- [Top 2-3 things the user should know]

**Next plate check:** [suggest when]

4c. dashboard.html

Path: {{WORKSPACE}}/dashboard.html

Generate a single self-contained HTML file (inline CSS/JS, zero external dependencies) with:

Design principles:

• Dark mode, monospace-accented aesthetic (JetBrains Mono for labels, Outfit/system for body)
• Noise texture overlay, subtle glows, smooth fade-in animations
• Responsive — works on laptop and phone
• No frameworks — vanilla HTML/CSS/JS only, but CAN use Google Fonts for JetBrains Mono + Outfit
• Color palette: red (#ff4d6a), orange (#ff8c42), yellow (#ffd166), green (#06d6a0), blue (#4ea8de), purple (#b388ff), cyan (#64dfdf) — each with dim variants at 20% opacity
• Cards with hover states, subtle borders, no heavy shadows — use glows sparingly for emphasis
• NEVER hardcode today's date — use JavaScript to derive it from new Date() with the user's timezone. The header date, "Today" badge in the timeline, and any relative labels (e.g., "today", "yesterday") must all be dynamic. Timeline day elements should use data-date="YYYY-MM-DD" attributes so JS can auto-highlight the current day.

Panels to include:

1. Header — Date, live clock, "Command Center" title with gradient text

2. Blockers Banner — Red-accented banner at top with pulsing glow. Shows active blockers and urgent items as chips. Only show truly blocking/urgent items.

3. Horizon Calendar — Monthly grid spanning ~6 months (current month through ~5 months out). Each month is a column. Show ONLY hard deadlines, conferences, talks, and key target dates — NOT daily meetings from Google Calendar. Color-code by type (deadline=red, conference=purple, talk=cyan, target=yellow, meeting=orange). Include a legend. This is a strategic view, not a daily schedule.

4. Projects Grid — 2-column grid of project cards grouped by category. Each card has: colored top border by priority, status dot, title, badge (JMP/Overdue/Waiting/Action/Handed Off), current status line, next action, and optionally a pipeline visualization (step → step → step with current highlighted).

5. This Week + Next Timeline — Sticky sidebar showing day-by-day events for the next ~2 weeks. Sourced from Google Calendar. Compact format: day label, bullet events with times. Mark today, flag overdue items. Include conference blocks.

6. Task Kanban — 4-column board: Overdue | This Week | Next Week | Later. Each task shows name, priority tag (P1/P2/P3), due date. Blocking tasks get red left border. Done tasks show strikethrough at reduced opacity.

7. Email Queue — Table of emails needing replies.

8. Zombie Tasks — items 2+ weeks stale, flagged for triage.

9. Recent Completions — what was finished recently.

10. Priorities Alignment — calendar-time vs stated priorities.

11. Grants/Jobs (Parked) — Dimmed section showing parked grant deadlines as chips, with the earliest deadline highlighted in red.

After writing the file, open it with:

open {{WORKSPACE}}/dashboard.html

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Step 5: Notify

Use the notify-me skill pattern to send an iMessage summary (optional — remove this step if you don't want phone notifications):

osascript -e 'tell application "Messages"
  set targetService to 1st service whose service type = iMessage
  set targetBuddy to buddy "{{PHONE}}" of targetService
  send "Plate check done. Dashboard is open. [1-line summary of biggest flag]" to targetBuddy
end tell'

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Error Handling

• If Gmail MCP is unavailable: skip email section, note it in the briefing
• If Calendar MCP is unavailable: skip calendar section, note it in the briefing
• If Reclaim MCP is unavailable: skip Reclaim section, note it in the briefing
• If todo.md doesn't exist: create it with a basic structure
• If comms.md doesn't exist: create it with the briefing entry
• Always complete the review with whatever sources ARE available — partial data is better than no review

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Quick Mode

If the user says "quick plate check" or "just the highlights":

• Skip the interactive triage (Step 3)
• Only update comms.md with a brief status
• Still generate the dashboard
• Don't modify todo.md