Emergency Response

Determine urgency:

• Life/safety issue → CRITICAL
• Financial/legal deadline → CRITICAL
• Travel disruption → HIGH
• Work emergency → HIGH
• Ambiguous → Ask yourself: "Does user need to know THIS MINUTE?"

Gather context:

• What happened?
• When did it happen / when does user need to act?
• What information does user need to make a decision?
• What are the immediate options/actions?

2. Check Preferences

Read Preferences/Preferences.md:

• Emergency contacts? (family members who can call through)
• DND override rules? (what breaks through Do Not Disturb)
• Travel preferences? (auto-rebook flights? call airline?)
• Decision authority? (what can you handle vs user must decide)

3. Build Emergency Notification

Structure:

1. Alert Line (Clear, direct)

🚨 URGENT: [What happened in 5-8 words]

2. Critical Info (What user needs to know NOW)

- What: [The event]
- When: [Time/deadline]
- Impact: [Why this matters]

3. Immediate Options (2-3 actionable choices)

Options:
1. [Action A] - [Consequence]
2. [Action B] - [Consequence]
3. [Action C] - [Consequence]

4. What You've Done (Actions you've already taken)

✓ Already done:
- [Action 1]
- [Action 2]

5. Follow-Up (What happens next)

I'll [automatic follow-up action]

4. Send Critical Notification

Use send_notification():

• Priority: critical (🚨 - overrides Do Not Disturb)
• Format: MarkdownV2 or plain text for readability
• Length: Concise but complete (under 200 words)
• Tone: Calm, clear, action-oriented (NO panic)

Example:

🚨 URGENT: Flight UA123 delayed 3 hours

What:
• Your 6:45 AM flight to NYC now departs at 9:45 AM
• You'll miss your 10:30 AM meeting

Impact:
• Client presentation will need to reschedule
• Hotel check-in still okay (3 PM)

Options:
1. Take delayed flight → Reschedule client to afternoon
2. Book earlier flight ($200 change fee) → Make morning meeting
3. Cancel trip → Full refund, reschedule everything

✓ Already done:
• Found alternative UA flight at 7:30 AM (2 seats left)
• Draft email to client explaining situation

What do you want to do? I can book/email once you decide.

I'll check status again in 30 minutes.

5. Schedule Automatic Follow-Up

Use /schedule-followup or schedule_pulse():

• When: 15-30 minutes for critical, 1-2 hours for urgent
• What: Check if user responded, update situation, offer help
• Priority: high

Example:

schedule_pulse(
  scheduled_at="in 30 minutes",
  prompt="Follow up on flight delay emergency - check if user made decision",
  priority="high"
)

6. Log Emergency

Append to Diary/YYYY-MM-DD.md:

[HH:MM] 🚨 EMERGENCY: [Brief description]
Context: [What happened]
Notification sent: [What user was told]
Options provided: [What choices given]
Follow-up scheduled: [When checking back]
Status: [Waiting for user response]

Response Patterns

Flight Delay/Cancellation

🚨 URGENT: Flight [number] [status]

• Original: [time] → New: [time] or Cancelled
• Impact: [what meetings/plans affected]

Options:
1. Alternative flights: [list with times]
2. Refund + reschedule trip
3. Wait it out if minor delay

✓ Checked: [other flights, hotel policy, etc.]

Need help booking or rescheduling?

Family Emergency Message

🚨 URGENT: Message from [family member]

• Received: [X minutes ago]
• They said: "[quote key part]"
• Marked as: [Emergency/Urgent]

Immediate action:
Call them at [number] NOW

✓ Already done:
• Cleared your next 30 minutes on calendar
• Located their contact info

I'll hold all non-critical notifications.

System Failure

🚨 CRITICAL: [System] is down

• What: [service/system name]
• Impact: [who/what affected]
• Since: [how long]

Immediate:
[Specific action needed from user]

✓ Status:
• [What you've checked]
• [Current state]

I'm monitoring and will update every [interval].

Deadline Crisis

🚨 URGENT: [Task] due in [time]

• Deadline: [exact time]
• Status: [current state]
• Gap: [what's missing]

Options:
1. Rush completion - [what's needed, how long]
2. Request extension - [who to contact]
3. Submit partial - [what's ready]

I can [help action - draft email, gather materials, etc.]

What's the call?

Guidelines

DO:

• ✅ Be calm and clear (user may be stressed)
• ✅ Provide specific options (not just "what do you want?")
• ✅ Show what you've already handled
• ✅ Set up automatic follow-up
• ✅ Clear user's immediate calendar if needed

DON'T:

• ❌ Panic or use excessive caps/exclamation marks
• ❌ Provide too many options (max 3)
• ❌ Give vague information
• ❌ Forget to follow up
• ❌ Cry wolf (only use for real emergencies)

Tone calibration:

• Life/safety: Direct, calm, supportive
• Travel: Helpful, solution-focused
• Work: Professional, clear options
• Family: Empathetic, action-oriented

Edge Cases

False alarm (thought it was emergency, wasn't):

• Send quick correction: "Update: False alarm on [X]. All clear!"
• Log it to learn patterns
• Don't apologize excessively

User doesn't respond (after 30 min):

• Send one follow-up: "Still need a decision on [X]"
• If truly critical and no response after 1 hour, escalate per Preferences/
• Log the situation

Multiple emergencies at once:

• Send ONE notification with all items
• Prioritize by urgency (safety first)
• Number them clearly

User on vacation/OOO:

• Check Preferences/ for OOO protocols
• Still notify if truly critical
• Handle more autonomously if user granted authority

The goal is for the user to: ✅ Immediately understand what happened ✅ Know their options clearly ✅ Feel supported (you've done groundwork) ✅ Be able to decide and act quickly