Comms

Family Context

Frame name: dinkleberg | Timezone: America/New_York Subscription: Calendar Plus (all features enabled)

When to Use This Skill

• Checking or sending email
• Creating, querying, or modifying calendar events
• Assigning or managing chores and rewards
• Adding items to grocery or to-do lists
• Meal planning
• Coordinating across surfaces (e.g., email -> calendar event -> Skylight)
• Heartbeat-driven inbox/calendar triage
• Any request involving family scheduling

Channel Reference

Gmail (gog)

Account: [email protected]

# Search inbox
gog gmail search 'newer_than:1d' --max 10

# Search individual messages
gog gmail messages search "in:inbox from:[email protected]" --max 20

# Send (plain text via stdin — preferred for multi-line)
gog gmail send --to [email protected] \
  --subject "Subject" \
  --body-file - <<'EOF'
Message body here.
EOF

# Send (HTML)
gog gmail send --to [email protected] \
  --subject "Subject" \
  --body-html "<p>Hello</p>"

# Draft (for approval workflow)
gog gmail drafts create --to [email protected] \
  --subject "Subject" --body-file ./message.txt

# Send draft
gog gmail drafts send <draftId>

# Reply
gog gmail send --to [email protected] \
  --subject "Re: Subject" --body "Reply" \
  --reply-to-message-id <msgId>

Important: Always confirm before sending email. Use draft workflow for non-trivial messages. --body does not interpret \n — use --body-file - with heredoc for multi-line.

Google Calendar (gog)

# List events
gog calendar events <calendarId> --from <iso> --to <iso>

# Create event
gog calendar create <calendarId> --summary "Title" \
  --from <iso> --to <iso> --event-color <1-11>

# Update event
gog calendar update <calendarId> <eventId> --summary "New Title"

# List available colors
gog calendar colors

Color conventions (Google Calendar):

Skylight Calendar (MCP)

All Skylight operations use mcp__skylight__* tools.

Calendar events:

• get_calendar_events — query by date/date range
• create_calendar_event — requires summary, startsAt, endsAt (ISO format)
• update_calendar_event — requires eventId
• delete_calendar_event — requires eventId
• Events sync bidirectionally with Google Calendar (~15 min delay)

Chores:

• get_chores — filter by assignee, date, status (pending/completed/all)
• create_chore — summary required; optional: assignee, date, time, recurring, recurrencePattern, rewardPoints
• update_chore — choreId required; change status, reassign, reschedule
• delete_chore — choreId required

Rewards (Plus):

• get_rewards / get_reward_points — view available rewards and balances
• create_reward — name and pointValue required
• update_reward / delete_reward — rewardId required
• redeem_reward / unredeem_reward — rewardId required

Lists:

• get_lists / get_list_items — view lists and contents
• create_list — label and kind (shopping/to_do) required
• create_list_item — label required; optional: listId/listName, section
• update_list_item — mark complete, rename, move section
• delete_list / delete_list_item — permanent removal

Meals (Plus):

• get_meal_categories / get_meal_sittings — view meal plan
• create_meal_sitting — date and mealCategoryId required
• create_recipe / update_recipe / delete_recipe — manage recipes
• get_recipes / get_recipe — browse saved recipes
• add_recipe_to_grocery_list — push ingredients to shopping list

Other:

• get_family_members — profiles and chore-chart membership
• get_devices — connected Skylight hardware
• get_frame_info — household config and feature flags
• get_source_calendars — which calendar services feed Skylight
• get_colors / get_avatars — customization options

Apple Reminders (remindctl)

remindctl today              # Today's reminders
remindctl tomorrow           # Tomorrow
remindctl week               # This week
remindctl overdue            # Past due
remindctl all                # Everything
remindctl list               # List all lists
remindctl add --title "Task" --list Personal --due tomorrow
remindctl complete <id>      # Complete by ID

Use for quick-capture tasks that should pop up on iPhone/iPad.

Apple Notes (memo)

memo notes                   # List all notes
memo notes -s "query"        # Search
memo notes -a "Title"        # Create note

Use for longer-form capture, meeting notes, ideas. Syncs to all Apple devices.

Cross-Surface Workflows

Scheduling an appointment

1. Check Google Calendar for conflicts (gog calendar events)
2. Create the event on Google Calendar (gog calendar create)
3. Event syncs to Skylight automatically via bidirectional sync
4. If phone reminder needed, create Apple Reminder (remindctl add)

Family chore assignment

1. Create chore on Skylight (create_chore with assignee and rewardPoints)
2. Chore appears on the Skylight display immediately
3. Query completion status later (get_chores --status all)
4. Points accrue automatically; redeem via redeem_reward

Email to action pipeline

1. Scan inbox (gog gmail search)
2. If event-worthy: create calendar event + Skylight sync
3. If action-item: create Apple Reminder or Skylight task
4. If needs response: draft reply (gog gmail drafts create), present for approval

Grocery and shopping coordination

1. Add items to Skylight shopping list (create_list_item)
2. Items appear on Skylight display and in Skylight mobile app
3. Family members can check off items from the display or app

Meal planning

1. Browse or create recipes (get_recipes, create_recipe)
2. Schedule meals (create_meal_sitting with date and category)
3. Push ingredients to grocery list (add_recipe_to_grocery_list)

Delegation Tiers

Three levels of autonomy, configured per channel:

Start conservative. Promote patterns to higher tiers as trust builds. Standing rules (when established) should be documented in references/standing-rules.md.

Heartbeat Integration

During periodic heartbeat checks, rotate through:

1. Email scan — urgent or time-sensitive messages
2. Calendar lookahead — events in next 24-48h
3. Chore status — overdue or unassigned chores
4. List check — items that need attention

Report only what's actionable. Stay quiet if nothing needs attention.

Safety

• Never send email without confirmation unless an autonomous standing rule explicitly covers it
• Never delete calendar events without confirmation
• Never redeem rewards without the relevant family member's intent
• Credential handling: all auth tokens live in .mcp.json (gitignored) or system keychain — never log or expose credentials
• Family privacy: in group/shared contexts, do not expose personal email content, calendar details, or family scheduling information