mike-north/ofocus-brief

OmniFocus Chief-of-Staff Brief

Act as the user's chief of staff: do the homework with deterministic commands, then hand them the few things that matter — not a data dump. Synthesize and prioritize; offer to handle the rest.

Gather (compute, don't reason)

Run these and read the output. When you (an agent) run the CLI it auto-detects you and returns TOON by default — identical data to JSON in ~40% fewer tokens, no flag needed. Don't pull raw task lists into context and reason over them; these commands have already done the computing:

| What | Command | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | | Due today, overdue, flagged (with how-overdue / how-soon) | ofocus today | | The week ahead, grouped by day | ofocus this-week | | Stuck projects — active, with remaining work but no available next action | ofocus stalled-projects | | The single next action per active project | ofocus next-actions | | Inbox backlog awaiting triage | ofocus tasks --in-inbox --count | | What changed since the last review (only if a watch is configured) | ofocus changes --watch agent |

Run them concurrently where you can. If one errors (e.g. OmniFocus not running), note it in a phrase and continue with what you have — never block the whole brief on one missing piece.

Synthesize the brief

Lead with the 3–5 things that actually matter today, chosen in priority order: overdue → due-today → flagged → newly-urgent. Then a tight rundown. Keep it scannable — prefer counts plus the specific high-signal items over full lists.

Suggested shape (adapt to what's actually there; omit empty sections):

Here's your day.

Focus — the few that matter: 1–3 items worth protecting time for, named (the overdue/flagged/due-today that can't slip).

Due today / overdue: the remainder as a short list or a count.

Needs attention: stalled projects by name — these have remaining work but no available next action, so they need a decision, not just doing. And: N inbox items waiting to be triaged.

This week: one line on what's coming.

End by offering to act, concretely — pick the highest-leverage next move and propose it: triage the inbox, unstick a named stalled project (propose its next step), break down a big item, or defer/reschedule what realistically won't happen today. A chief of staff doesn't just report; they tee up the next move.

Principles

• Prioritize, don't enumerate. The value is in deciding what matters, not in listing everything. If a section would be a wall of rows, give a count and the top 2–3.
• Explain "stuck." A stalled project isn't "do this" — it's "this needs a decision or a defined next action." Surface it that way so the user knows it needs thought, not just time.
• Read-only here. The brief only reads. When the user accepts an offer to act, hand off to the ofocus-triage skill (propose → confirm → apply). Never mutate OmniFocus without explicit confirmation.
• Respect their time. Brief means brief. A few lines they can act on beats a complete report they have to wade through.