daily-plan

Purpose

Generate your daily plan with full context awareness. Automatically gathers information from your calendar, tasks, meetings, relationships, and weekly progress to create a focused plan with genuine situational awareness.

Usage

• /daily-plan — Create today's daily plan
• /daily-plan tomorrow — Plan for tomorrow (evening planning)
• /daily-plan --setup — Re-run integration setup

---

Tone Calibration

Before executing this command, read System/user-profile.yaml → communication section and adapt tone accordingly (see CLAUDE.md → "Communication Adaptation").

---

Step 0: Demo Mode Check

Before anything else, check if demo mode is active:

1. Read System/user-profile.yaml
2. Check demo_mode value
3. If demo_mode: true:
   • Display banner: "Demo Mode Active — Using sample data from System/Demo/"
   • Use demo paths and skip live integrations
4. If demo_mode: false: Proceed normally

---

Step 1: Background Checks (Silent)

Run these silently without user-facing output:

1. Update check: check_for_updates(force=False) - store notification if available
2. Self-learning checks: Run changelog and learning review scripts if due
3. Search index refresh: Run qmd update && qmd embed to refresh vault search index with any overnight changes (meetings processed, files edited, etc.). If qmd is not installed, skip silently.
4. People index refresh: Call build_people_index from Work MCP. This keeps the People Directory current so person lookups throughout the day are fast. Takes <2 seconds.
5. Innovation synthesis (silent): Call synthesize_changelog() and synthesize_learnings() from Improvements MCP. These run in background and populate the backlog — results are surfaced in Step 1.5 below.
6. Granola check (silent): Granola meeting sync uses the desktop app's stored credentials automatically. No migration check needed.

---

Step 1.5: Innovation Spotlight (Concierge)

After background checks complete, check for noteworthy backlog activity:

1. Call list_ideas(status="active", min_score=70) from Improvements MCP
2. Check System/.synthesis-state.json for recent synthesis activity (last 7 days)
3. If there are AI-authored or recently enriched ideas, pick the most impactful one

Surface as a brief spotlight in the plan output (1-2 lines max):

Innovation Spotlight: Claude Code shipped native memory (v2.1.32) — this could simplify idea-006 (Session Memory MCP). Run /dex-improve idea-006 to explore.

Rules:

• Show at most 1 spotlight per daily plan (don't overwhelm)
• Rotate through ideas — don't show the same one twice in a row
• Only show if there's genuine "Why Now?" urgency (new evidence in last 7 days)
• If no recent synthesis activity, skip this section entirely
• Never block the plan for this — it's a helpful aside, not a gate

---

Step 2: Morning Journal Check (If Enabled)

If journaling.morning: true in user-profile.yaml, check for today's morning journal and prompt if missing.

---

Step 3: Monday Weekly Planning Gate

If today is Monday and week isn't planned, offer to run /week-plan first.

---

Step 4: Yesterday's Review Check (Soft Gate)

Check for yesterday's review and extract context (open loops, tomorrow's focus, blocked items).

---

Step 5: Context Gathering (ENHANCED)

Gather context from all available sources. This is where the magic happens.

5.1 Midweek Progress Check (NEW)

Use: get_week_progress()

This is critical for genuine situational awareness. Extract:

• Day of week and days remaining
• Weekly priority status (complete / in_progress / not_started)
• Warnings for priorities with no activity

Surface this prominently:

"It's Wednesday. Here's where you are on this week's priorities:

1. ✅ Ship pricing page — Complete (finished Monday)
2. 🔄 Review proposal — In progress (2 of 5 tasks done)
3. ⚠️ Customer interviews — Not started (no activity yet)

You have 2 days left this week. Priority 3 needs attention."

5.2 Calendar Capacity Analysis (NEW)

Use: analyze_calendar_capacity(days_ahead=1, events=[...from calendar MCP...])

Understand the shape of today:

• Day type: stacked / moderate / open
• Meeting count and hours
• Free blocks available
• Recommendation: What kind of work fits today

Surface this:

"📅 Today's shape: Moderate (4 meetings, 3 hours total)

Free blocks:

• 8:00-9:30 AM (90 min) — Morning focus time
• 2:00-4:00 PM (120 min) — Afternoon block

Recommendation: Good for medium tasks and meeting prep. Deep work fits the 2-4pm block."

5.3 Meeting Intelligence (NEW)

For each meeting today:

Use: get_meeting_context(meeting_title="...", attendees=[...])

Get genuine context, not just attendee names:

• Related project: What project is this connected to?
• Project status: What's outstanding? What's blocked?
• Outstanding tasks with attendees: What do you owe them? What do they owe you?
• Prep suggestions: What should you review before this meeting?

Surface this with surprise and delight:

"📍 Meeting: Acme Quarterly Review (2pm with Sarah Chen, Mike Ross)

Related project: Acme Implementation (Phase 2)

• Status: On track, but pricing section still in draft
• Outstanding: You owe Sarah the pricing proposal

Prep suggestion: Review proposal draft, prepare pricing options. Block 30 min before this meeting?"

5.4 Commitment Tracking (NEW)

Use: get_commitments_due(date_range="today")

Surface things you said you'd do:

"⚡ Commitments due today:

• You told Mike you'd get back to him by Wednesday (from Monday 1:1)
• Follow up on competitive analysis (from Acme meeting)"

5.5 Task Scheduling Suggestions (NEW)

Use: suggest_task_scheduling(include_all_tasks=False, calendar_events=[...])

Match tasks to available time based on effort classification:

"📋 Scheduling suggestions:

Task	Effort	Suggested Time
Write Q1 strategy doc	Deep work (2-3h)	Tomorrow (you have a 3h morning block)
Review Sarah's proposal	Medium (1h)	Today 2-3pm (before Acme meeting)
Reply to Mike	Quick (15min)	Between meetings

⚠️ Heads up: You have 2 deep work tasks but today's too fragmented. Consider protecting tomorrow morning."

5.6 Semantic Context Enrichment (if QMD available)

This step runs automatically when QMD is installed via /enable-semantic-search. It adds a semantic search layer on top of the standard context gathering to surface connections that keyword search misses.

Check if QMD MCP tools are available by calling qmd_status. If available:

1. For each meeting today, run:

   qmd_search(query="[meeting topic] [attendee names]", limit=3)
   

   Surface: past discussions, related decisions, relevant commitments that share meaning but not keywords with this meeting. Example: a meeting about "customer onboarding" finds notes about "activation rates" and "time to value".

2. For each weekly priority that's lagging, run:

   qmd_search(query="[priority description]", limit=3)
   

   Surface: vault content that advances or relates to this priority but wouldn't appear in a keyword search. Especially useful for finding forgotten context about stalled work.

3. Cross-topic connection scan:

   qmd_search(query="[today's key themes combined]", limit=5)
   

   Surface: unexpected connections between today's meetings, tasks, and priorities. This is where semantic search shines — finding that a 2pm customer call relates to a PRD you wrote last month using completely different terminology.

4. Merge with existing context — only add genuinely new insights. Don't duplicate what Steps 5.1-5.5 already found. Mark semantic results with their source so the plan output can distinguish them.

What this enables in the plan output:

• Meeting context sections include "Also relevant:" with thematically related past discussions
• Priority recommendations cite relevant vault content discovered by meaning
• "Heads Up" section catches connections between seemingly unrelated items
• Focus recommendations are informed by deeper vault knowledge

If QMD is not available: Skip silently. Steps 5.1-5.5 and 5.7 provide full context via standard methods.

---

5.7 Reminders Completion Sync (Dex Today → Dex)

Check if any tasks were completed on phone since the last plan:

Use: reminders_list_completed(list_name="Dex Today")

For each completed item:

• Match to a Dex task by title
• Update task status via Work MCP: update_task_status(task_title="...", status="d")
• Surface what was synced:

"📱 Synced from phone:

• ✅ "Follow up with Hero Coders" — marked done in Dex"

If nothing to sync: Skip silently.

5.8 Email Intelligence (if Gmail connected)

Check System/integrations/config.yaml for google-workspace.enabled: true.

If enabled and MCP healthy:

1. Get unread count and priority emails from monitored labels
2. Flag emails needing reply (> 48h since received, from key contacts in 05-Areas/People/)
3. Surface email threads with today's meeting attendees

Include in plan:

"Email: [X] unread, [Y] need replies. [Z] threads with today's meeting attendees."

If unhealthy: skip silently (graceful degradation -- no error to user).

5.9 Teams Intelligence (if Teams connected)

Check System/integrations/config.yaml for teams.enabled: true.

If enabled and MCP healthy:

1. Get unread messages from priority channels
2. Surface DMs needing response
3. Check for mentions

Include in plan:

"Teams: [X] unread chats, [Y] mentions. [Z] threads with today's meeting attendees."

If BOTH Slack and Teams enabled:

• Show both digests, clearly labeled: "Slack: ..." and "Teams: ..."
• Deduplicate if the same person appears in both (merge context, label the source)
• Present side by side in the plan output under a combined "Chat Intelligence" heading

If unhealthy: skip silently (graceful degradation -- no error to user).

5.10a Mobile Capture Check (Dex Inbox)

Use: reminders_list_items(list_name="Dex Inbox")

If items found, surface:

📱 Captured on phone (3 items in Dex Inbox):

1. "Follow up with Peter about roadmap" — captured yesterday 4:32pm
2. "Look into Rovo for in-app guides" — captured today 2:15pm
3. "Send Anastasia the productized offering doc" — captured today 11:45am

Triage these now? I'll help assign pillars and priorities.

Triage flow:

• Present each item
• Infer pillar (using existing smart pillar inference)
• Confirm with user
• Create task via Work MCP process_inbox_with_dedup
• Mark Reminder as complete via reminders_complete_item

If Dex Inbox is empty: Skip silently (no "0 items captured" noise).

5.10b Standard Context Gathering

Also gather:

• Calendar: Today's meetings with times and attendees
• Tasks: P0, P1, started-but-not-completed, overdue
• Week Priorities: This week's Top 3
• Work Summary: Quarterly goals context (if enabled)
• People: Context for meeting attendees
• Self-Learning Alerts: Changelog updates, pending learnings

---

Step 6: Synthesis

Combine all gathered context into actionable recommendations:

Focus Recommendation

Generate 3 recommended focus items based on:

• P0 tasks (highest weight)
• Weekly priority alignment (especially lagging priorities!)
• Meeting prep needs
• Commitments due

The system should actively recommend, not just list:

"Based on your week progress and today's shape, I recommend focusing on:

1. Prep for Acme meeting — Priority 2 is lagging and this meeting is critical
2. Reply to Mike — Commitment due today
3. Task X from Priority 1 — Keeps momentum on your shipped priority"

Meeting Prep (Enhanced)

For each meeting, show:

• Who's attending + People/ context
• Related project status
• Outstanding tasks with attendees
• Suggested prep time and what to prepare

Heads Up (Enhanced)

Flag potential issues:

• Weekly priorities with no activity (midweek warning)
• Commitments due today
• Back-to-back meetings
• P0 items with no time blocked
• Deep work tasks with no suitable slot this week

---

Step 7: Generate Daily Plan

Create 07-Archives/Plans/YYYY-MM-DD.md:

---
date: YYYY-MM-DD
type: daily-plan
integrations_used: [calendar, tasks, people, work-intelligence]
---

# Daily Plan — {{Day}}, {{Month}} {{DD}}

## TL;DR
- {{1-2 sentence summary including week progress}}
- {{X}} meetings today, day is {{stacked/moderate/open}}
- {{Key focus area based on week priorities}}

---

## 📊 Week Progress (Midweek Check)

**Day {{X}} of 5** — {{days_remaining}} days left this week

| Priority | Status | Notes |
|----------|--------|-------|
| {{Priority 1}} | ✅ Complete | Finished {{day}} |
| {{Priority 2}} | 🔄 In progress | {{X}} of {{Y}} tasks done |
| {{Priority 3}} | ⚠️ Not started | Needs attention |

**This week's focus:** {{Recommendation based on lagging priorities}}

---

## 📅 Today's Shape

**Day type:** {{stacked/moderate/open}} ({{X}} meetings, {{Y}} hours)

**Free blocks:**
- {{Time range}}: {{Size}} — {{Recommended use}}

**Best for:** {{Quick tasks only / Medium tasks / Deep work opportunity}}

---

## ⚡ Commitments Due Today

- [ ] {{Commitment}} — from {{source}}
- [ ] {{Commitment}} — from {{source}}

---

## 🎯 Today's Focus

**If I only do three things today:**

1. [ ] {{Focus item 1}} — {{Pillar}} *(supports Week Priority #X)*
2. [ ] {{Focus item 2}} — {{Pillar}} *(supports Week Priority #Y)*
3. [ ] {{Focus item 3}} — {{Pillar}}

---

## 📍 Meetings (with Context)

### {{Time}} — {{Meeting Title}}

**Attendees:** {{Names}}
**Related project:** {{Project name}} ({{status}})
**Outstanding with them:**
- {{Task/commitment}}

**Prep needed:** {{What to review/prepare}}
**Suggested prep time:** {{Block X min before}}

---

### {{Time}} — {{Meeting Title}}

[Repeat for each meeting]

---

## 📋 Task Scheduling

| Task | Effort | Suggested Slot | Reason |
|------|--------|----------------|--------|
| {{Task}} | Deep work | {{Day/time}} | {{Reason}} |
| {{Task}} | Medium | {{Day/time}} | {{Reason}} |
| {{Task}} | Quick | Between meetings | Batch these |

{{If deep work capacity warning}}
> ⚠️ You have {{X}} deep work tasks but only {{Y}} suitable slots this week. Consider protecting time or deferring.

---

## ⚠️ Heads Up

- {{Warning about lagging weekly priority}}
- {{Commitment due today}}
- {{Back-to-back meetings}}
- {{Other flags}}

---

*Generated: {{timestamp}}*
*Week progress: {{X}}/{{Y}} priorities on track*

---

Step 7.5: Push Focus Tasks to Reminders (Dex → iPhone)

After generating the plan, push today's P0 and P1 focus tasks to Apple Reminders for native iOS notifications:

1. Clear yesterday's items:

   Use: reminders_clear_completed(list_name="Dex Today")
   

2. Push today's focus items: For each P0/P1 task in today's focus:

   Use: reminders_create_item(
       list_name="Dex Today",
       title="Task title",
       notes="From Dex daily plan",
       due_date="YYYY-MM-DD"
   )
   

3. Confirm silently:

   "📱 Pushed 3 focus tasks to iPhone Reminders (Dex Today)"

If Reminders MCP unavailable: Skip silently.

---

Step 8: Track Usage (Silent)

Update System/usage_log.md to mark daily planning as used.

Analytics (Silent):

Call track_event with event_name daily_plan_completed and properties:

• meetings_count: number of meetings today
• tasks_surfaced: number of tasks shown
• priorities_count: number of priorities

This only fires if the user has opted into analytics. No action needed if it returns "analytics_disabled".

---

Graceful Degradation

The plan works at multiple levels:

Full Context (All MCPs available)

• Complete week progress, meeting intelligence, scheduling suggestions
• Maximum "surprise and delight"

Partial Context (Work MCP only)

• Week progress and task scheduling
• No meeting context (prompt user to add manually)

Minimal Context (No MCPs)

• Interactive flow asking about priorities
• Basic daily note

---

MCP Dependencies (Updated)

Integration	MCP Server	Tools Used
Calendar	dex-calendar-mcp	calendar_get_today, calendar_get_events_with_attendees
Reminders	dex-calendar-mcp	reminders_list_items, reminders_complete_item, reminders_create_item, reminders_ensure_lists, reminders_list_completed, reminders_find_and_complete, reminders_clear_completed
Granola	dex-granola-mcp	get_recent_meetings
Work	dex-work-mcp	list_tasks, get_week_progress, get_meeting_context, get_commitments_due, analyze_calendar_capacity, suggest_task_scheduling
Improvements	dex-improvements-mcp	synthesize_changelog, synthesize_learnings, list_ideas
Google Workspace	google-workspace-mcp	Gmail query, email search (if enabled)
Teams	teams-mcp	teams_list_chats, teams_search_messages, teams_health_check (if enabled)