Brain Daily

brain-daily: Daily Planning Workflow

Start the day with a structured overview of the user's Local Brain workspace. This is the "engage" phase — the daily habit that keeps work intentional.

Trigger Phrases

• "Good morning", "start my day", "morning briefing"
• "What should I focus on today?"
• "What's on my plate?" / "Catch me up" / "What's due?"

Pre-flight Check

Call get_brain_overview first. If the brain is empty (no projects, no dump items), do not run a briefing on nothing. Instead suggest:

> "Your brain is empty — let's set it up first. Tell me about what you're working on."

This naturally transitions to the brain-setup workflow.

Workflow

Step 1 — Fetch the Briefing

Call get_daily_briefing to retrieve:

• Overdue tasks (most urgent)
• Tasks due today
• High-priority open tasks
• In-progress work
• Blocked items
• Recent completions
• Inbox items awaiting refile

Step 2 — Summarize Clearly

Present a concise, scannable summary. Do not dump raw data.

Project Overview Table

Always start with a project overview table showing the distribution of tasks. Use the project_summaries data:

| Project            | Open | Backlog | Total |
|--------------------|------|---------|-------|
| agentic-project    |   15 |       6 |    21 |
| nsa2d              |    8 |       3 |    11 |
| ...                |  ... |     ... |   ... |

Open = actionable tasks (status: open, in-progress, blocked). Backlog = parked for later (status: backlog). This distinction is critical — backlog items are not on the user's plate today.

Actionable Items

After the table, list actionable items grouped by urgency. Only show items with status open, in-progress, or blocked — never backlog:

1. Overdue — flag prominently with task IDs and due dates
2. Due today — list with IDs
3. In progress — what is already underway
4. High priority (open) — P1 tasks that are open (not backlog), without due dates
5. Blocked — items needing unblock

Keep it to 10 actionable items max; offer to drill into a project if there's more.

Backlog Awareness

End with a single line like: "Backlog: 12 items across 4 projects parked for later." Do not list individual backlog items unless the user asks.

If everything is clear (nothing overdue, nothing due, low inbox): > "Clean slate today. Here's what's in progress and what you could pick up next."

Step 3 — Recommend a Focus

Based on the briefing:

• Suggest the single most important task to start with and explain why
• If inbox has > 5 items, suggest a quick triage pass first
• Flag any blocked tasks that might need a quick unblock

Step 4 — Offer Follow-up Actions

After the summary, offer natural next steps based on what the briefing revealed:

• Inbox items pending? → "Want to do a quick triage?" (transitions to brain-triage)
• Backlog needs planning? → "You have N items in backlog — want to promote some for this week?" (use update_todo to set status to "open")
• Clear top priority? → "Want to focus on [project]?" (set_context)
• Want to log the plan? → "I can create today's daily note." (create_daily_note)
• Tasks need updating? → "Want to update any statuses or priorities?" (update_todo)

Do not list all options every time. Offer the 1-2 most relevant based on the actual briefing state.

Tool Sequence

get_brain_overview()
  → if empty: suggest brain-setup, stop
get_daily_briefing()
  → present summary
  → recommend focus
  → (optionally) create_daily_note()
  → (optionally) set_context(project_name: ...)
  → (optionally) refile_item / update_todo / create_todo_in_project

Notes

• Use query_todos with due_before: today and status: open for precise overdue filtering if needed.
• Do not make changes without user confirmation for destructive actions.
• After the briefing, let the user steer. Offer options; do not auto-execute a full plan.
• Tone: crisp and energizing — like a good morning standup with a trusted colleague, not a status report.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: SanderMoon
• Source: SanderMoon/local-brain
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.