Day

The daily bookend for a Todoist-driven day. One Todoist project per run. The morning brief pins a must-do set; the session then runs in day mode until /day wrap: Kyle reports outcomes in plain language and the skill logs them, keeps a parking lot for tangents, and posts pace check-ins on a session cron. A project can add a hook (.claude/day.md) that supplies extra sources, outcome vocabulary, the polish list, and a wrap step; without one the skill runs on Todoist alone.

Prime directive: progress on the list beats improvement of the system. The skill never sends anything; Kyle sends.

Arguments

• /day — start today, or resume it if daily/<today>.md already exists.
• /day <project> — same, naming the Todoist project.
• /day wrap — close the day (/day <project> wrap also works).

Phase 0 — Resolve the project, the hook, the log

1. Load the tools in one ToolSearch call: mcp__todoist__todoist_search_tasks, todoist_complete_task, todoist_update_task, todoist_create_task, todoist_list_projects, CronCreate, CronList, CronDelete, plus whatever the hook's sources need (Calendar, Gmail).
2. Project, first hit wins: the argument → .claude/day.md in the CWD (project: line) → the CWD's CLAUDE.md naming a Todoist project → todoist_list_projects and one question.
3. Hook: read .claude/day.md if present (format in references/hook-template.md). No hook → generic vocabulary, window 09:00–17:00, no extra sources.
4. Log directory: daily/ in the folder that resolved the project (create it); a project with no folder uses ~/Projects/_daily/<project-slug>/. Today's file is daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md. If the argument is wrap → Wrap. Else if the file exists → Resume. Else → Start.

Phase 1 — Start: the brief

Read, in parallel where possible:

• Todoist: todoist_search_tasks, filter #<project> & (today | overdue), limit 200. Project names with spaces work unquoted.
• The newest prior day log in the directory: its ## Wrap (carry-overs, tomorrow's first task), its ## Parking lot, and whether it wrapped at all. More than one day old → the brief opens with that fact and names the hook's reentry skill; the light sources below are not a sweep.
• The hook's extra morning sources (today's calendar blocks for the window; a light overnight mail check for names on today's list).

Post the brief, in this order and nothing more:

1. <Weekday date> · <project> · window <from the hook or calendar>, then the gap line if any.
2. Overnight — replies, bounces, anything the hook's sources surfaced that names a task on today's list. Bites first. "Nothing new" is a valid line.
3. Carried over — from the prior wrap.
4. Today — every returned task in due-time order, overdue ones flagged with their original date. Task names only; ids go in the log file.
5. Parking lot — the prior day's unworked items, one line each.
6. Bite — only when the hook has a ## Bite section: follow it. One term, one recall question, nothing more. No section → no line.
7. Briefs — only when the hook has a ## Briefs section: follow it. It names the pre-built briefs file, says how to list what it covers, and how to fill a gap. No section → no line.
8. One question: which one to three of these make today a win?

Kyle's answer is the must-do set. Then write the log file (format below) with Goal (from the hook), Must-do, and the Plan table, and arm the check-in cron (see Day mode).

Done when: every task Todoist returned is in the Plan table, the Must-do line is filled, and CronList shows the day's job. Answering a question Kyle asks about a task is part of the brief; doing work on one is day mode.

Phase 2 — Day mode

Day mode holds from the brief until /day wrap. Four behaviors run at once.

Log

A message that reports what happened to a task is a log entry: "Santucci voicemail, Hometown Hero wants photos, Zack email sent." For each outcome in the message:

1. Match it to a Plan task by name. Two candidates → ask which. No candidate → ask whether it is a new task (create it in the project) or a note (log only).
2. Apply the Todoist action. The hook's outcome vocabulary decides; the generic vocabulary is done → complete · later / call back / no answer → re-date (ask the date unless the vocabulary supplies one) · new → create in the project, one task per item · note → log only. An outcome with no result stated ("talked to Santucci") gets one question before Todoist changes.
3. Apply the hook's file updates for that outcome.
4. Append - HH:MM <task>: <outcome>. <action taken>. under ## Log; tick the Must-do box if it was one.
5. Confirm in one line per outcome, naming the task and the action.

Questions get answers, not log lines. Done when: every outcome in the message has a log line and an applied action, or a question back.

A reply to the bite's recall question is confirmed in one line and recorded exactly as the hook's ## Bite section says. It is never a log line and never touches Todoist.

Brief

A request for what to say on a listed dial — "brief me on X", "what do I say to X", "what's the opener for X" — invokes the call-brief skill. Never write the briefing inline. It's on-list under the Gate below (a task's own script is a direct dependency of that task), so it gets done, but it gets done through the skill.

Writing one freehand produces loose prose in the plan-table voice, which is the wrong artifact: call-brief puts the bullets Kyle actually glances at mid-call above the script, and a hand-written brief drops that layer every time. One contact per invocation. If he names two, run it twice.

If the hook's ## Briefs section names a file that already holds a brief for that contact, print that section verbatim instead; call-brief runs only when the hook's section says the brief is stale (the task changed after the file was built, or overnight mail names the contact).

The brief goes to chat, not the log. What lands under ## Log is the outcome after he dials, per Log above.

Gate

On-list is: a Plan task; a direct dependency of one (its script, draft, number, or a question about the lead); a consequence of a logged outcome (the photo request after a bite); or an item in the hook's always-on-list duties. On-list work Kyle asks for gets done and logged.

Anything else gets exactly one line and a choice:

• Off-list: Not on today's list. Park it, or swap it for <the next due task>?
• Polish (the hook's polish list, plus: rebuilding an artifact that already works, rewording, restyling, re-tiering, reformatting, improving tooling or this skill inside the window): That's polish. Next up is <task>. Park it for the wrap?

Kyle's reply resolves it. Park → one line under ## Parking lot, back to the next task. Swap → name the displaced task, re-date it, do the thing, log it. Do it anyway → do it, log it as Detour (override) with the minutes spent. The gate fires once per item; an overridden item is on-list for the rest of the day. Questions never trigger the gate.

Check-ins

At the brief, create one recurring cron for every hour of the working window: minute 52, hours from the window's first start hour through its last end hour inclusive, so the final firing lands just after the window closes and doubles as the wrap nudge. Example for 08:00–11:00 plus 11:30–13:30: 52 8-13 * * *. Crons are session-only and expire after seven days, so each morning arms a fresh one and wrap deletes it. Closing the terminal kills it; Resume re-arms it.

The cron prompt is self-contained, because the session may have compacted by the time it fires:

Day-mode check-in for <project>. Read <absolute log path> and run todoist_search_tasks
with filter "#<project> & (today | overdue)". Reply in three lines: (1) done since the
last check-in, from the log; (2) next up: the earliest due task with no log line; (3)
pace: tasks due by now vs. tasks with a log line. If this is the second consecutive
check-in with no new log line, add one question asking what happened with the tasks due
since the last log line. If the log already has a "## Wrap" section, delete this cron
job (CronList, then CronDelete) and reply with one line saying the day is wrapped.
Nothing else.

Resume

/day when today's log exists: read it and Todoist, post three lines (done · next up · pace), re-arm the cron if CronList is empty, and the session is back in day mode. If ## Wrap exists already, say the day is wrapped and continue only if Kyle asks, appending ## Reopened (HH:MM).

Phase 3 — Wrap

1. CronList → CronDelete every day-mode job.
2. Re-run the Todoist filter. Plan tasks still open with no log line → one message asking what happened with them; log the answers.
3. Propose one re-date table for what is still open: task · proposed date (from the hook's cadence, else tomorrow at the same time) · reason. Apply on Kyle's approval, one todoist_update_task per row. Tasks he calls done → complete.
4. Append ## Wrap (HH:MM): must-do result in one line · done · slipped → new date · parking lot carried forward · tomorrow's first task.
5. Run the hook's wrap step.
6. Print the log path.

Done when: no Plan task is open without a date, ## Wrap exists, and CronList is empty. Nothing was sent.

The day log

# 2026-09-08 · A2C Auctions
Goal: one consignor with photos in Zach's inbox by 9/30
Must-do: [ ] Drew text + call · [ ] Native Roots plant · [ ] Groundwork / Bret Peace

## Plan (08:02) · window 08:00–11:00, 11:30–13:30
| Due | Task | Todoist id | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | Send the staged Zach email (Drafts) | 6h7GG2w7rChgMqcr | |

## Log
- 08:41 Santucci call: voicemail. Completed; chaser-send task due 09:41; second-angle task 10/8.
- 09:20 Detour (override): rebuilt the Bayou City opener. 12 min.

## Parking lot
- 09:05 Recolor the Call Sheet headers (polish)

## Wrap (13:40)
Must-do: 2 of 3. Drew reached, photos promised; Native Roots name obtained; Groundwork slipped → Wed 9/9 13:00.

Ids live in the file so the log is exact; in chat, tasks are named.

The hook

.claude/day.md in the project folder, read only by this skill. Write a new one from references/hook-template.md: project and id, window, goal, re-entry skill, extra morning sources, outcome vocabulary, always-on-list duties, polish list, wrap step. The hook restates a project's cadence rules for speed; the project's own files stay the source of truth, and a disagreement is fixed in the hook.

Red flags