brief

name	brief
description	Morning briefing. Reads today's plan, GCal schedule, and backlog. Suggests first action using Eisenhower inference. Offers to plan inline if no plan was written by shutdown.
invocation_pattern	/brief
auto_invoked	false

Brief Skill

Morning briefing ritual. Surfaces the day's plan, fixed events, and floating work — then suggests where to start.

---

Step 1: Gather Context (run in parallel)

Today's daily note: Read daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md (today's date). Extract the ## Plan section if present.

Today's calendar:

get_calendar_events({ days: 1 })

Backlog:

list_events({ filter: 'backlog' })

---

Step 2: Check for Plan

If ## Plan is found → proceed to Step 3.

If no ## Plan found: Display:

⚠️ No plan found for today — shutdown wasn't run last night.

Want to do a quick planning session now? I'll pull your GCal, backlog, and active GSD phases.

If yes → run the planning flow:

1. Scan for active GSD phases: find ~/ -name "STATE.md" -path "*/.planning/*" 2>/dev/null — read each, extract project name + current phase + status
2. Show context (calendar + backlog + GSD phases)
3. Discuss conversationally, then write ## Plan to today's daily note using the same hybrid format as shutdown (prose intention + optional ### Personal + project-grouped checkboxes — no tasks in the narrative prose)
4. Continue to Step 3 with the freshly written plan

If no → continue to Step 3 without a plan.

---

Step 3: Display the Briefing

Format:

# Brief — {date} ({day of week})

## Plan

{contents of ## Plan section — verbatim, inside a code block so [ ] and [x] render correctly}

(if no plan: "No plan for today.")

## Schedule ({count} events)
HH:MM — Title (calendar)
...
(if none: "Nothing scheduled — free day")

## Backlog ({count} items)
- Title [🔴 urgent] [⭐ important]
...
(up to 8 items, prioritize urgent+important first)

Display rules

• Plan section: always wrap in a fenced code block — Claude Code terminal strips [ ] from GFM task lists, so verbatim display is required
• Times in the timezone set in your VAULT_TIMEZONE env var (HH:MM format)
• Calendar in parentheses: (work), (health), (family), (personal), (content)
• Backlog: max 8 items, urgent flag = 🔴, important flag = ⭐
• No "Next 2 Days" section — brief is focused on today only

---

Step 4: Suggest First Action

After displaying the briefing, synthesize everything (plan tasks, calendar events, backlog) and suggest what to tackle first.

Inference rules:

• Fixed calendar events are constraints — don't suggest work that overlaps
• Plan tasks are pre-committed intentions — weight them heavily
• Backlog items with urgent: true + important: true override plan if not already covered
• For ambiguous items (no flags, unclear scope), ask: "Is [task] urgent today or can it wait?"

End with a concrete suggestion:

I'd start with [task] — [one-sentence reasoning].

If the total number of open items (unchecked plan tasks + backlog items) is 5 or more, append:

Want me to map everything with the Eisenhower matrix?

Otherwise, skip the Eisenhower offer — it adds no value when the path forward is already obvious.

---

Step 5: Eisenhower Matrix (on request only)

Only display if the user says yes.

Map all items (plan tasks + backlog + any unblocked GSD work) to quadrants:

## Eisenhower Map

**Q1 — Do First** (urgent + important)
- [item]

**Q2 — Schedule** (important, not urgent)
- [item]

**Q3 — Delegate / Defer** (urgent, not important)
- [item]

**Q4 — Drop** (not urgent, not important)
- [item]

Classification rules:

• Use urgent/important frontmatter flags from backlog events where available
• For plan tasks and calendar events, infer from context:
  • Deadlines, meetings, client work → urgent
  • Deep work, learning, building → important but rarely urgent
  • Admin, notifications, minor errands → urgent but not important
  • Speculative/nice-to-have → neither
• If genuinely unsure about an item → ask before placing it
• After displaying: "Anything to reclassify?"