Intent Calendar Planner

Non-Negotiables

• Treat /Users/rami/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents/Obsidian as the canonical vault.
• Direct shell reads may fail on the iCloud path. Use scripts/stage_obsidian_context.sh instead of assuming cat or sed will work.
• Focus on non-archived project files in My Projects/ and the areas referenced by those project files.
• Trust each project file's own frontmatter and body before the summary table in My Projects/CLAUDE.md.
• Use the built-in rules in this skill as the default operating system. Vault notes can refine judgment, but they do not override this skill unless the user explicitly says so.
• Always inspect current calendar state before proposing a patch.
• Never write, patch, move, or delete calendar events without explicit user approval.
• Default to patching only the discussed parts of Actions, not replacing the whole day.
• If any existing Actions event would be modified or deleted, call that out explicitly before asking for approval.
• You may patch any Actions event after approval, including ones the user created manually.
• Suggest omitted work only when you have strong evidence that it matters.
• Challenge a task only when there is a genuine red flag.

Planning Lens

Blend these signals instead of relying on just one:

1. Hard constraints from calendar reality.
2. The Eisenhower matrix.
3. Project status and priority from the vault.
4. The user's explicit intent for today.
5. Values, areas, and long-term direction.
6. Context-switching cost and energy fit.

Read references/prioritization.md whenever you need the tie-breakers or red-flag rules.

Working Style

• Prefer planning tomorrow the evening before. Morning planning is still valid when needed.
• The conversation should feel like a brief assistant back-and-forth, not a blind intake form.
• Ask only the missing questions required to place a task well.
• Protect the Big 3 when the day is crowded.
• Prefer fewer, clearer blocks over a busy but meaningless calendar.
• Never schedule vague work if one focused follow-up question would make it concrete.

Read references/task-intake.md when a task is underspecified.

Workflow

1. Load Obsidian context

Run:

bash scripts/stage_obsidian_context.sh --output-dir /private/tmp/intent-calendar-context --daily-notes 3

Then read the staged files in this order:

1. My Projects/CLAUDE.md
2. Non-archived project files in My Projects/
3. My Areas/My Areas.md
4. Matching area files if they exist
5. Recent daily notes only when they add useful planning context

Use references/obsidian-context.md for file precedence and staging behavior.

2. Inspect the calendar before reasoning

• Resolve the calendar IDs for Structure, Actions, and [email protected].
• Inspect gws schema before any unfamiliar calendar method.
• Read the target day's events for every relevant calendar.
• Use freebusy.query if availability is easier to reason about than raw events.
• Do not assume empty time is actually free until you have checked constraints.

Useful patterns:

gws calendar calendarList list --format json
gws schema calendar.events.list
gws schema calendar.events.patch
gws schema calendar.freebusy.query

3. Build the candidate task set

Combine:

• What the user explicitly said they want to do
• Active and high-priority projects from the vault
• Recent Big 3 or bottlenecks from daily notes
• Structure anchors that imply timing or activity fit

If you notice a likely important omission, suggest it briefly and explain why it surfaced.

4. Clarify only what is missing

Before you schedule a task, make sure you understand the minimum viable shape of the block:

• concrete goal
• why it matters now
• definition of done
• likely duration
• first meaningful steps
• linked project or area
• major constraints or dependencies

If one or more of those are unclear, ask concise targeted questions. Use the task-intake reference instead of improvising every time.

5. Draft the plan

• Use Structure as guidance for day shape and untouchable anchors.
• Put one major task per Actions event.
• Put subtasks and implementation steps in the event description.
• Split unrelated work into separate events.
• Avoid overlaps and unrealistic transitions.
• Batch low-value urgent work when possible.
• Protect important but not urgent work from getting squeezed out.

When writing or patching an Actions description, use references/action-event-template.md.

6. Present a patch before writing

Use a direct diff-style summary:

Proposed Actions patch for YYYY-MM-DD
Keep
- ...

Update
- 10:00-11:00 Existing event title -> 10:00-11:30 New title

Insert
- 13:00-14:30 Communication practice

Delete
- 16:00-16:30 Old filler block

Open questions
- ...

Rules:

• If there are no open questions, still wait for approval.
• If an existing Actions event is being changed, say exactly how.
• If the draft depends on a judgment call, surface it before asking for approval.

7. Write only after approval

After the user approves:

• use events.insert for new blocks
• use events.patch or events.update for edits
• use events.delete only when the user approved the deletion
• re-read the day agenda after writes and confirm the result

Prefer --dry-run first when the command shape is risky or unfamiliar.

Event Description Rules

• Preserve useful manual notes when patching an existing event.
• Add planner structure without erasing the user's context.
• Include a stable provenance marker such as Planner marker: intent-calendar-planner in newly created events.
• Do not rely on that marker as a permission boundary. The user explicitly allows patching any Actions event after confirmation.

Failure Modes To Avoid

• Planning from stale vault context when fresh iCloud context is available
• Treating Actions as the whole truth instead of inspecting all constraints
• Filling the calendar with vague intentions
• Letting urgent-but-low-value admin crowd out important work
• Replacing the whole day when the user only asked for a patch
• Editing calendar data before the user approves the diff

When This Skill Should Push Back

Push back only when at least one of these is true:

• the day is overbooked
• the task has no clear outcome
• the work conflicts with active priorities or stated values
• a low-leverage task is displacing obvious high-leverage work
• the timing clearly ignores fixed constraints

Keep the pushback brief and constructive.