| name | start-workday |
| description | Start the workday. Calendar check, inbox overview, day planning, action menu. Use when: 'start workday', 'morning review', 'let's start the day' on a work day (Tue-Fri). For Mondays, use /start-work-week instead. |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
Start Workday (Tue-Fri morning, ~10 min)
You are running the user's workday startup. Follow these steps in order, presenting findings conversationally. Present options — never mandates.
The startup has four phases: Ground (capture current state), Orient (see everything), Choose (collaboratively select), Commit (write decisions).
Phase 1: Ground (capture current state — no system data yet)
Step 1: Daily note setup
Read today's daily note. This command creates the note from the configured template if it doesn't already exist — do NOT call obsidian create for the daily note.
obsidian daily:read vault="{{VAULT_NAME}}"
Read yesterday's daily note for context (especially Reflection and Observations sections).
Step 2: Morning check-in
Guide through 3 prompts and write responses to ## Morning State in today's daily note:
- "How are you feeling right now?"
- "What feels most alive for you right now?"
- "What would make today feel good?"
Update energy and mood frontmatter with natural-language values (e.g., "steady", "foggy", "optimistic").
These answers capture the user's current state. Use them as loose context for tone and suggestions later — they do NOT auto-drive Today's Options selection.
Step 3: Calendar check
Read today's events using mcp__apple-events__calendar_events (filter by today's date range). Summarize obligations and note open time blocks for deep work.
Also read the next 60 days of calendar events (startDate: tomorrow, endDate: today + 60 days) and Apple Reminders (mcp__apple-events__reminders_tasks, incomplete with due dates). These feed the ## Upcoming horizon overview in Step 9. Today's events inform action menu context but are NOT written to the daily note.
Step 4: Day-specific routines
Read [[Day-Specific Routines]]. Filter for today's day of the week + the ## Daily section. Present applicable items.
Phase 2: Orient (full system awareness — read-only, no decisions)
Step 5: Inbox overview (counts only — NOT processing)
Gather counts from all three inboxes:
- Drafts inbox:
mcp__drafts__drafts_inbox — count items
- Obsidian inbox:
obsidian search query="path:Inbox/" vault="{{VAULT_NAME}}" — count results
- Unread email:
mcp__mail__get_emails (unread, limit 1) — get unread count
Report: "X Drafts, Y inbox notes, Z unread emails. Full processing happens during deep review."
Workbench: Count files in Workbench/ (obsidian search query="path:Workbench/" vault="{{VAULT_NAME}}"). Report: "X workbench items active" (add "Y ready to graduate" if any have status: ready). Information-only — no processing.
Do NOT process inboxes here.
Step 6: Full project landscape
Read ALL active project notes (search by categories: ["[[Projects]]"] and status: active) + [[Action Pool]]. Check Apple Reminders for approaching deadlines.
Present a high-level dashboard. For each active project:
- Project name + area
- Brief status snapshot (open action count, any waiting/blocked items)
- Approaching deadlines or time-sensitive items
- Last notable activity (from Completed section dates)
Group by area (work first, then personal). Include Action Pool standalone items as their own section.
Carry-forward: Read yesterday's daily note ## Today's Options and note which items weren't completed (still - [ ], not in ## Done Today). Present carry-forward items inline with their parent projects rather than as a separate list.
This is a read-only overview — no recommendations yet. End with: "That's the full landscape. What stands out to you?"
Phase 3: Choose (collaborative — user drives)
Step 7: Action menu
Present a work-biased menu of suggested actions drawn from the landscape. Weight by enjoyable usefulness. Consider energy/calendar loosely. Highlight:
- Critical/deadline items
- Personal items the user tends to deprioritize
- Friction patterns from prior reviews
Stance awareness
Watch for these patterns and respond concretely (grounded in shadow-awareness rule — Tier 1 only):
- Lots of planning, little execution → "What's the very next physical action?"
- Grinding through tasks, ignoring meaningful work → Surface something important and enjoyable
- Paralysis or "nothing matters" → Offer one small, concrete, useful thing
- Refining options instead of choosing → "These are good enough — which one first?"
One observation max. If the user doesn't engage, drop it completely. Check off-switch criteria before surfacing (productive flow, low energy, already surfaced).
Frame as a discussion menu, not a final list. End with something like: "These are some options that stand out. What would you like on today's plate? Anything to add, drop, or swap?"
Step 8: Collaborative selection
Wait for user input. The user picks, adjusts, discusses. Iterate as needed.
This step is conversational — no vault writes happen here. Only proceed to Phase 4 once the user confirms their choices.
Phase 4: Commit (write based on user's choices)
Step 9: Write daily note dashboard + Intentions
Write the daily-note dashboard per the shared write-spec in .claude/shared/daily-startup-dashboard.md, with these parameters:
- Today's Options — groups Work / Personal / Quick; a work-biased menu of the items confirmed in Step 8, weighted by enjoyable usefulness.
- Upcoming — all critical items (work + personal); sources are the Step 3 60-day calendar scan and milestones spotted in Step 6.
- Intentions — the user's stated priorities and desired feel for the day.
- Inbox relevance pass — include unread email (
mcp__mail__search on chosen work topics).
Step 10: Yesterday's observations + Summary + Commit
If yesterday's daily note exists and doesn't already have an ## Observations section, append one with 2-3 sentences noting patterns Claude detected — energy trends, friction signals, mood patterns, or anything noteworthy from yesterday's data.
Defense pattern tracking (Tier 2 — appropriate in Observations): If yesterday's data shows a pattern from the shadow-awareness rule — repeated deferral of a specific action type, planning-heavy day with low completion, avoidance of a particular domain — note it using the Wise Feedback Structure (observation + capacity evidence). Cross-reference with prior Observations sections when the pattern spans multiple days. If a documented pattern didn't activate when expected (e.g., high-stakes day handled with ease), note the contradiction — this is highest-value data for the Defense Pattern Living Record.
Present a brief summary:
- Two-month horizon snapshot (written to
## Upcoming)
- Chosen actions by area (written to
## Today's Options)
- Any follow-ups or waiting items
- Day-specific routine items (written to
## Routines)
Commit all vault changes.
