schedule-followup

name	schedule-followup
description	Schedule a follow-up pulse for later checking. Use when user says 'remind me', 'check back', 'follow up', something needs verification later, or waiting for a response/action. Handles both aperiodic pulses (non-hour times) and Diary entries (hour-aligned times).
disable-model-invocation	false

Schedule Follow-Up

Schedule future wake-ups for checking on tasks, responses, or events.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when:

• 🔔 User says "remind me..." or "check back in..."
• ⏰ User says "follow up on..." or "ping me about..."
• 📬 Waiting for a response (email, message, PR review)
• ✅ Need to verify something later (task completion, event outcome)
• 🔄 Periodic checks needed (every hour, daily, weekly)
• 📅 Time-sensitive item coming up (meeting in 30 min)

Workflow

1. Parse the Request

Extract from $ARGUMENTS or context:

• What to follow up on (the task/item)
• When to follow up (time/duration)
• Why following up (what to check/verify)
• Priority level (how urgent)

Examples:

• "Remind me to call John at 2:30 PM" → What: call John, When: 2:30 PM, Why: make the call
• "Check if Sarah replied in an hour" → What: Sarah's response, When: 1 hour, Why: verify reply
• "Follow up on the PR review tomorrow morning" → What: PR review, When: tomorrow 8-9 AM, Why: check status

2. Decide: Aperiodic Pulse vs Diary Entry

Use Aperiodic Pulse when:

• Time is NOT on the hour (e.g., 2:30 PM, 6:45 AM, 11:15 PM)
• Urgent and can't wait for next periodic pulse
• Specific deadline or time-sensitive

Use Diary Entry when:

• Time IS on the hour (8:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 6:00 PM)
• Part of daily routine
• Can be bundled with other periodic checks

Why this matters: Aperiodic pulses at hour-aligned times will collide with automatic periodic pulses, causing duplicate wake-ups.

3. Determine Priority

Map urgency to priority levels:

Critical (🚨):

• Safety/emergency related
• User explicitly said "URGENT" or "ASAP"
• Financial/legal deadline

High (🔔):

• User is waiting/blocked
• Important meeting/call reminder
• Time-sensitive (within 2 hours)

Normal (⏰):

• Standard reminders
• Non-urgent follow-ups
• Daily routine checks

Low (📋):

• Nice-to-have checks
• Long-term follow-ups (weeks/months)

4. Build the Follow-Up

For Aperiodic Pulses:

Use schedule_pulse() MCP tool:

schedule_pulse(
  scheduled_at="[parsed time]",
  prompt="[what to check/do]",
  priority="[critical/high/normal/low]",
  sticky_notes=["[context line 1]", "[context line 2]"]
)

Prompt format: Be specific about what to do when pulse fires:

• ✅ "Check if Sarah replied to the ski trip message in group chat"
• ✅ "Remind user to call John at 555-1234 re: project proposal"
• ❌ "Follow up" (too vague)
• ❌ "Reminder" (what for?)

Sticky notes: Include context you'll need later:

• Original request from user
• Relevant details (names, numbers, links)
• Why this matters (connection to goals)

Example:

schedule_pulse(
  scheduled_at="in 1 hour",
  prompt="Check if Sarah replied to ski trip proposal in group chat",
  priority="normal",
  sticky_notes=[
    "User asked group about weekend trip to Mammoth",
    "Waiting for Alex and Jamie to confirm",
    "Need to book by Friday if going"
  ]
)

For Diary Entries:

Append to Diary/YYYY-MM-DD.md:

## Scheduled for [TIME]
- **Task**: [what to do]
- **Context**: [why/details]
- **Priority**: [level]

Example:

## Scheduled for 08:00 AM
- **Task**: Remind user about team standup at 9 AM
- **Context**: Weekly standup, user sometimes forgets
- **Priority**: Normal

## Scheduled for 14:00 PM
- **Task**: Check if PR #123 was reviewed
- **Context**: Blocking deployment, need review by EOD
- **Priority**: High

5. Confirm to User

Send confirmation via send_notification() or direct response:

• Priority: silent or normal (don't interrupt)
• Content: What, when, why

Examples:

✓ Set follow-up: Check Sarah's response in 1 hour
I'll ping you at 3:15 PM if no reply yet.

✓ Reminder added to Diary for tomorrow 8 AM:
"Call John re: project proposal"
The periodic pulse will remind you then.

✓ Scheduled 3 follow-ups:
• In 30 min: Check PR review status
• At 2 PM: Remind about client call
• Tomorrow 9 AM: Review weekend plans

I've got you covered!

6. Log the Follow-Up

Append to Diary/YYYY-MM-DD.md:

[HH:MM] Scheduled follow-up
- What: [description]
- When: [time]
- Type: [aperiodic pulse / diary entry]
- Priority: [level]
- Reason: [user request or proactive]

Time Parsing Examples

Relative times:

• "in 30 minutes" → 30 minutes from now
• "in 2 hours" → 2 hours from now
• "tomorrow" → Tomorrow at 8 AM (or Diary entry)
• "next week" → Next Monday at 9 AM

Absolute times:

• "at 2:30 PM" → Today at 2:30 PM
• "tomorrow at 9 AM" → Tomorrow at 9:00 AM
• "Friday at 3 PM" → This Friday at 3:00 PM

Ambiguous times:

• "this afternoon" → Today at 2 PM
• "tonight" → Today at 8 PM
• "tomorrow morning" → Tomorrow at 8 AM (Diary entry)
• "end of day" → Today at 6 PM (Diary entry)

Recurring:

• "every hour" → Multiple aperiodic pulses OR note in Responsibilities/
• "daily at 8 AM" → Diary entry + update Responsibilities/
• "weekly" → Suggest Goal/Responsibility instead

Edge Cases

User says "remind me later" (vague):

• Ask: "When would you like me to remind you? (e.g., in 1 hour, tomorrow morning)"
• Offer common options: 1 hour, end of day, tomorrow morning

Time conflict with existing pulse:

• Check list_upcoming_pulses()
• If same time/purpose, don't duplicate
• Merge context if relevant

Past time ("remind me at 2 PM" but it's already 3 PM):

• Clarify: "It's already 3 PM. Did you mean tomorrow at 2 PM?"
• Or assume: "tomorrow at 2 PM"

Recurring follow-ups:

• For daily/weekly: Suggest adding to Responsibilities/
• For short-term (every hour for 3 hours): Schedule multiple pulses
• Document pattern in Goals/ if long-term

User cancels or changes mind:

• Use cancel_pulse(pulse_id) for aperiodic
• Edit Diary/ entry if diary-based
• Confirm cancellation: "✓ Cancelled reminder about [X]"

Quick Reference

Time Type	Hour-Aligned?	Method	Example
2:30 PM today	No	Aperiodic pulse	schedule_pulse("today at 2:30 PM", ...)
8:00 AM tomorrow	Yes	Diary entry	Append to tomorrow's Diary
In 45 minutes	Maybe	Check result time, choose method	If lands on hour → Diary, else → Pulse
Next Monday 9 AM	Yes	Diary entry	Append to Monday's Diary
In 2 hours	Maybe	Calculate, then choose	If result is hour-aligned → Diary

Tips

• Be specific in prompts - Future you needs context
• Use sticky notes liberally - Better too much context than too little
• Confirm to user - Show what was scheduled
• Check for duplicates - Don't schedule twice
• Prioritize correctly - Don't make everything high priority

The goal is for the user to: ✅ Trust you'll remember (mental load reduced) ✅ Know exactly when you'll follow up ✅ Be reminded at the right time ✅ Have full context when reminder fires