nicsuzor/briefing-bundle

Briefing Bundle Skill

Generate a morning briefing document from the daily note. The bundle presents decisions with coversheets and recommendations, pre-drafts emails, includes calendar context, and provides annotation targets for Nic to mark up. It is consumed in a single sitting and processed back into the system.

This skill produces a separate document from the daily note. The daily note is a living progress tracker; the bundle is a morning-only decision brief. See [[specs/daily-briefing-bundle.md]] for the full specification and rationale.

Invocation

/bundle         # Generate today's briefing bundle

Prerequisite: Run /daily first. The bundle reads the daily note — it does not re-query data sources the daily note already covers.

CRITICAL BOUNDARY

This skill generates a document. It does NOT execute decisions.

• Generating the bundle ≠ acting on its contents
• Email drafts are staged in Outlook as drafts, never auto-sent
• Task status changes only happen during annotation processing (/process-bundle)
• The bundle is ephemeral — actions persist in PKB and Outlook, not in the bundle file

Pipeline

1. Gather data

From the daily note (read, do not re-query):

Read $ACA_DATA/daily/YYYYMMDD-daily.md

Extract:

• Focus section → decision items, overdue tasks, priority recommendations
• FYI section → items for FYI section of bundle
• Carryover section → items to carry forward
• Open PRs section → any needing human review

From synthesis.json (if available):

Read $ACA_DATA/dashboard/synthesis.json

From yesterday's bundle (if exists):

Read $ACA_DATA/daily/YYYYMMDD-bundle.md  # yesterday's date

Check for unprocessed annotations → carry forward un-annotated items.

New queries (only what the daily note doesn't provide):

For each item that will become a decision coversheet:

# Full task context for coversheet
task = mcp__pkb__get_task(id=task_id)

# Related emails for draft threading
email = mcp__outlook__messages_get(entry_id=entry_id)

For calendar:

# Today + tomorrow
today = mcp__outlook__calendar_list_today()
upcoming = mcp__outlook__calendar_list_upcoming(days=2)

2. Classify and filter

From all gathered items, classify each into exactly one bundle section:

| Section | Criteria | | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | Decisions | Status=waiting/review, assigned to nic, needs human judgment | | Calendar | Meetings today + tomorrow, with prep context | | Emails | Items needing a reply (not just FYI) | | FYI | Informational items from daily note FYI section | | Carryover | Items from previous days still open |

Filter rules:

• Target 5-15 total items. If >15, trim lowest-priority FYIs first.
• Technical tasks that don't need human judgment (CI fixes, code review) → exclude unless blocking.
• Items already resolved since the daily note was generated → exclude.

3. Build coversheets

For each Decision item, generate a coversheet using the template in [[references/coversheet-template]].

The editorial work happens here. This is the step that makes the bundle different from the daily note. For each item:

1. Read the full task body (get_task)
2. Read related emails if the task references an email thread
3. Write a one-line decision summary — not a task description, but what Nic needs to decide
4. Make a recommendation — explicit, justified in one sentence. Never "it depends"
5. Assess stakes — what happens if deferred another week
6. Write 3-5 bullet points of context — the minimum needed to act. If you're writing more than 5, you're including too much
7. Draft an email if the decision requires a reply. Complete draft in Nic's voice per STYLE.md

Coversheet quality rules:

• Max 15 non-blank lines above the fold (before <details>)
• Supporting detail goes in collapsed <details> sections
• The coversheet alone must be sufficient to decide. No "see task for details"
• Include the Outlook entry_id in email drafts for threading

4. Build remaining sections

Calendar: For each meeting today/tomorrow, include: time, title, attendee names with brief context (role/relationship), prep notes if applicable, and any documents to pre-read. Flag free blocks: "2hr free block 10am-12pm — suitable for deep work."

Emails: For items needing replies that aren't tied to a decision coversheet, use the email draft template in [[references/email-template]]. Full drafts, not talking points.

FYI: Compress each to 2-3 sentences. Group by project (OSB, QUT, academic). Each gets <!-- @nic: noted -->. Items that might generate a task include a suggested title: <!-- @nic: task: [suggested title] -->.

Carryover: Items from previous days, ordered by age (oldest first). Each gets a checkbox. Items carried 3+ consecutive days get: "⚠️ Carried N days — decide: act, defer, or cancel?"

5. Write Executive Summary

Written LAST (after all sections are assembled). Max 10 lines containing:

1. Item counts by type: "3 decisions, 2 meetings, 4 emails, 3 FYIs"
2. The single most urgent item (bold), with why
3. Calendar shape: "3 meetings, 2hr free block 10am-12pm"
4. Recommended work sequence: numbered, 1-3 sentences
5. Annotation quick-reference: approved | send | decline | defer to DATE | noted | task: [title]

6. Self-review

Before writing the file, verify:

• [ ] All task IDs resolve (test with get_task)
• [ ] Every decision has a bold recommended action
• [ ] Every item has a checkbox and annotation target
• [ ] No coversheet exceeds 15 lines above the fold
• [ ] No duplicate items across sections
• [ ] Total items 5-15 (warn if outside, fail if >25)
• [ ] Email drafts use "Hi [Name]" salutation and "Best" or "Cheers" sign-off
• [ ] Executive Summary is ≤10 lines and contains recommended sequence

Log issues in frontmatter qa_issues. If critical issues found (broken task IDs, missing recommendations), fix and re-check (max 2 iterations).

7. Export

Write bundle to: $ACA_DATA/daily/YYYYMMDD-bundle.md

Use the bundle template from [[references/bundle-template]] for the overall structure.

Output to terminal:

Bundle generated: daily/YYYYMMDD-bundle.md
N decisions, N emails, N FYIs, N carryover items
Most urgent: [item description]
Open in Obsidian to review and annotate, then run /process-bundle.

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Section Order (fixed)

Energy-intensive first, passive last:

1. Executive Summary
2. Decisions
3. Calendar
4. Emails
5. FYI
6. Carryover
7. Done (empty finish line)

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Error Handling

| Failure | Behaviour | | ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Daily note doesn't exist | HALT with: "Run /daily first — the bundle reads the daily note" | | Outlook unavailable | Generate without email drafts/calendar. Note: "Email/calendar unavailable" in Executive Summary | | PKB unavailable | Generate from daily note text only — no task enrichment | | No decision items found | Generate bundle with calendar + FYI only. Note in summary: "No decisions today" | | Task ID doesn't resolve | Exclude item, log in qa_issues |

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Templates

See [[references/coversheet-template]] for the decision coversheet format. See [[references/email-template]] for the email draft format. See [[references/bundle-template]] for the overall bundle structure.