Habit Tracker

By The Agent Ledger — AI workflows for solopreneurs.

Goals tell you where you're going. Habits determine whether you actually get there.

This skill gives your agent a persistent, structured framework for tracking daily habits — logging completions, maintaining streaks, calculating weekly averages, and surfacing accountability nudges before behaviors erode.

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What This Skill Does

• Logs daily habit completions in a structured state file
• Tracks streaks and calculates 7-day / 30-day completion rates
• Surfaces overdue habits during heartbeat checks
• Generates weekly habit reports with trend analysis
• Integrates with goal-tracker (habits → outcomes), solopreneur-assistant (weekly review), and financial-tracker (revenue-correlated habits)

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Quick Setup (5 Minutes)

Step 1: Add to AGENTS.md

Paste this into your AGENTS.md standing instructions:

## Habit Tracking
- State file: `habit-state.json` (habit definitions + daily log)
- Log completions when I report them (e.g., "did my writing today", "workout done")
- During heartbeat: check for habits not yet logged today; surface any that are overdue by >2 hours past their usual time
- On Sundays: generate a weekly habit report automatically
- Never nag more than once per session per habit
- Use the habit-tracker skill for all habit-related commands

Step 2: Create Your State File

Ask your agent: "Set up my habit tracker with the following habits: [list them]"

The agent will create habit-state.json:

{
  "habits": [
    {
      "id": "writing",
      "name": "Daily Writing",
      "description": "500+ words of focused writing",
      "target_days": ["mon","tue","wed","thu","fri"],
      "usual_time": "08:00",
      "category": "creative",
      "linked_goal": "publish-newsletter-weekly"
    },
    {
      "id": "exercise",
      "name": "Exercise",
      "description": "30+ min movement",
      "target_days": ["mon","tue","wed","thu","fri","sat","sun"],
      "usual_time": "07:00",
      "category": "health",
      "linked_goal": null
    },
    {
      "id": "outreach",
      "name": "1 Outreach",
      "description": "Send 1 meaningful outreach message (partnership, collab, sales)",
      "target_days": ["mon","tue","wed","thu","fri"],
      "usual_time": "10:00",
      "category": "business",
      "linked_goal": "grow-revenue-q2"
    }
  ],
  "log": {},
  "streaks": {},
  "last_weekly_report": null
}

Fields:

Field	Description
id	Unique slug (used in commands)
name	Human-readable label
description	What "done" looks like (be specific)
target_days	Days this habit applies
usual_time	Expected completion time (for overdue detection)
category	creative / health / business / learning / other
linked_goal	Optional goal-tracker goal id

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Daily Log Format

Completions are stored in habit-state.json under "log" by date:

"log": {
  "2026-03-08": {
    "writing": { "done": true, "note": "wrote intro for issue #4", "logged_at": "08:42" },
    "exercise": { "done": true, "note": "30 min run", "logged_at": "07:15" },
    "outreach": { "done": false, "note": "skipped — travel day" }
  }
}

Note field: Optional but valuable. The agent captures what you actually did — useful for weekly review and for correlating habits with outcomes.

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Usage Patterns

Log a Completion

"Writing done — finished the draft introduction." "Mark exercise complete, 45 min bike ride." "Outreach done — emailed [name redacted] about collab."

Agent response format:

✅ Writing logged (08:42)
Streak: 5 days 🔥
7-day rate: 86%

Log a Skip (with Context)

"Skipping outreach today — traveling." "No exercise — sick day."

Agent logs done: false with your note. Skips with context don't break streaks on non-target days.

Check Today's Status

"Habit status for today."

Agent response format:

📋 Habit Status — Sunday, March 8

✅ Exercise (07:15) — 30 min run
✅ Writing (08:42) — draft intro
⏳ Outreach — not logged yet (target: by 10:00)

Today: 2/3 done (67%)

Check Your Streaks

"What are my current streaks?"

Agent response format:

🔥 Current Streaks

Writing:   ████████░ 8 days
Exercise:  ████░░░░░ 4 days
Outreach:  ██░░░░░░░ 2 days

Longest ever: Writing — 23 days (Jan 2026)

Weekly Habit Report

"Give me my weekly habit report."

Or triggered automatically on Sunday by heartbeat. See Weekly Report Format below.

Add a New Habit

"Add a new habit: 'Read 20 pages' every day, target time 9pm, category learning."

Pause/Resume a Habit

"Pause the outreach habit for this week — I'm on vacation." "Resume outreach habit starting Monday."

Agent sets "paused_until": "2026-03-15" in the habit definition.

Edit a Habit

"Change writing habit to target Mon/Wed/Fri only." "Update exercise description to '20+ min minimum.'"

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Weekly Report Format

Generated every Sunday (or on-demand). Agent formats as:

📊 Weekly Habit Report — Week of March 2–8, 2026

COMPLETION RATES
Writing:   ████████░░  5/5 (100%) ↑ from 80%
Exercise:  ██████░░░░  5/7 (71%)  ↓ from 86%
Outreach:  ████░░░░░░  3/5 (60%)  → same

STREAKS (as of Sunday)
Writing:   8 days 🔥
Exercise:  4 days
Outreach:  2 days

PATTERNS
- Writing: perfect week. Best: mornings before 9am.
- Exercise: missed Tue + Thu. Pattern: skips on high-meeting days.
- Outreach: trailing off mid-week. Consider batching Mon/Wed/Fri.

LINKED GOALS
- Writing → publish-newsletter-weekly: on track ✅
- Outreach → grow-revenue-q2: below pace ⚠️

NEXT WEEK FOCUS
1 thing to protect: Writing streak (8 days — don't break it)
1 thing to fix: Outreach — schedule 3 specific slots in calendar

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Streak Calculation Rules

Situation	Streak Effect
Habit done on a target day	Streak +1
Habit not done on a target day	Streak resets to 0
Habit not done on a non-target day	No effect
Habit paused	Streak frozen (not broken)
Skip logged with a note	Resets streak (honesty policy)

Philosophy: The streak system is honest. A skip is a skip — no "rest day" loopholes on target days. But pausing for a vacation is legitimate and streak-safe.

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Heartbeat Integration

Add to HEARTBEAT.md:

## Habits
- Check `habit-state.json` for any habits not yet logged today
- If any target habit is >2 hours past its usual_time and not logged: surface it once
- On Sundays: generate and send the weekly habit report
- Never nag about the same habit twice in one session

Example heartbeat output:

⏰ Outreach habit not logged yet (target: by 10:00, now 12:15)
Today: Writing ✅ | Exercise ✅ | Outreach ⏳

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Cron Alternative

For a scheduled daily check-in (instead of heartbeat):

openclaw cron add \
  --name "habit-evening-check" \
  --cron "0 20 * * *" \
  --model "anthropic/claude-haiku" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Check habit-state.json. List any target habits not logged today. Keep it brief — just the unlogged ones and today's streak status." \
  --announce \
  --to "YOUR_TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
  --tz "America/Chicago"

---

Customization Options

Flexible Target Definitions

Beyond specific days, you can use natural patterns:

• "target_days": "weekdays" — Mon–Fri
• "target_days": "daily" — all 7 days
• "target_days": ["mon","wed","fri"] — specific days

Completion Windows

Add "window_hours": 2 to a habit definition to allow a grace period after usual_time before it's flagged overdue.

Habit Categories (Custom)

Default categories: creative, health, business, learning, other. Add yours by editing the categories array in habit-state.json:

"categories": ["creative", "health", "business", "learning", "mindfulness", "social", "other"]

Minimum Viable Habits

If tracking 6+ habits feels like another to-do list, try the 3-habit rule: pick exactly 3 habits — one creative, one health, one business. Track those until they're automatic, then expand.

Linking Habits to Goals

Use the linked_goal field to connect habits to your goal-tracker goal IDs. The weekly report will show whether your habit pace supports your goal timeline.

Multi-Context Tracking

If you run multiple businesses, use category prefixes:

"id": "biz1-writing"
"id": "biz2-outreach"

Weekly reports can then break down by category.

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Integration Map

Skill	How It Connects
goal-tracker	Habits link to goals; weekly report flags goal pace alignment
solopreneur-assistant	Weekly review includes habit completion rates
financial-tracker	Correlate revenue habits (outreach, content) with income data
decision-log	Log habit system design decisions (why these 3 habits?)
content-calendar	Writing habit powers content pipeline; completion log is proof-of-work
daily-briefing	Morning brief can include today's habit targets

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Habit log getting unwieldy	Ask agent to archive entries older than 90 days to habit-archive-YYYY.json
Streaks feel punitive	Switch to a 7-day rolling average as your primary metric instead
Agent not detecting overdue habits	Verify usual_time is set and heartbeat instructions include the habit check
Too many habits, not tracking	Apply the 3-habit rule — reduce to 3, track for 30 days, then expand
Paused habit still flagged	Confirm paused_until date is in the future in habit-state.json
Linked goal not found	Verify the goal ID matches exactly what's in your goal-tracker state file

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Privacy Note

All habit data stays in habit-state.json — local to your workspace. The agent never:

• Sends habit data to external services
• Posts completions publicly without explicit instruction
• Shares your habit log with other sessions or agents

Your consistency is your business.

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Habit Tracker by The Agent Ledger Building AI-native workflows for solopreneurs. Subscribe for weekly skills, playbooks, and automation ideas →

License: CC BY-NC 4.0 — Free for personal use. Not for resale or redistribution in paid products.