madappgang/gtd-capture

GTD Capture Skill — Proactive Capture Trigger Detection

When This Skill Applies

Apply this skill whenever you detect any of the following semantic signals in the user's messages or code:

Explicit Capture Signals (→ Inbox)

• "I need to ___", "we need to ___", "you need to ___"
• "we should ___", "I should ___", "we ought to ___"
• "remind me to ___", "don't forget ___", "remember to ___"
• "TODO:", "FIXME:", "HACK:", "NOTE: action required"
• "must ___", "have to ___", "got to ___"

Waiting For Signals (→ Waiting list)

• "waiting on ___", "waiting for ___", "blocked by ___"
• "once ___ is done", "after ___ finishes", "depends on ___"
• "need ___ to respond", "need ___ from ___"

Deferral Signals (→ Someday/Maybe)

• "someday", "eventually", "later", "at some point"
• "when we have time", "would be nice to", "might want to"
• "tech debt", "backlog item", "refactor (not now)"
• "future improvement", "nice to have"

Frequency Guard

Maximum 2 capture suggestions per session. After 2 suggestions, stop offering — do not suggest a third time.

Track mentally whether you have already offered capture in this session.

How to Suggest

When you detect a capture signal, offer ONE of these phrasings (pick based on signal type):

Inbox capture:

Capture to GTD inbox? → "[detected text]" [y/N]

Waiting For capture:

Add to Waiting For: "[detected text]"? [y/N]

Someday/Maybe capture:

Add to Someday/Maybe: "[detected text]"? [y/N]

Response to User's Answer

If user says "y" or "yes": Run the Bash command to append to tasks.json:

CWD=$(pwd)
GTD_LIB="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/gtd-lib.sh"
source "$GTD_LIB"
gtd_init
ID=$(gtd_new_id)
NOW=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")
TASK_JSON=$(jq -n --arg id "$ID" --arg subject "<detected text>" --arg list "<inbox|waiting|someday>" --arg created "$NOW" \
  '{id: $id, subject: $subject, list: $list, context: [], parentId: null, energy: null, timeEstimate: null, waitingOn: null, dueDate: null, created: $created, modified: $created, completed: null, notes: ""}')
echo "$TASK_JSON" | gtd_append_task
bun run "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/gtd-display.ts" capture "$ID" "<detected text>" --list "<inbox|waiting|someday>"

If user says "n", ignores it, or doesn't respond: Drop it silently. Never repeat the suggestion for the same item.

Opt-Out

Check GTD_SUGGESTIONS environment variable:

• off or disabled: Never suggest captures. Skip this skill entirely.
• minimal: Only suggest at session start via hook. Skip in-conversation suggestions.
• on (default): Full proactive capture enabled.

Key Principles

1. Never interrupt flow: Offer capture as a one-line aside, not a multi-paragraph interruption.
2. Default to no-action: The [y/N] default is N — the user decides whether to capture.
3. Be specific: Always pre-fill the detected text so the user can confirm or edit, not retype.
4. Stay quiet when healthy: If the user is clearly in deep focus (long code changes, no conversation), suppress suggestions.
5. Capture the intent, not the exact words: Rephrase to start with an action verb if the detected text is not action-oriented. E.g., "Redis clustering" → "Investigate Redis clustering options".