The morning brief and weekly review prompts

Here are the two prompts you asked for. Copy them as they are, then change the file names to match your folders.

Morning brief (weekdays, around 7:30):

Read memory/INDEX.md and every projects/*/NOTES.md.
Give me a brief under 120 words:
1. The three things that matter most today, and why.
2. Anything waiting on someone else for more than 3 days.
3. One deadline in the next 14 days.
No advice about habits. No greetings.

Weekly review (Sunday evening, around 18:00):

Read memory/ and projects/.
1. For each project: one line of status. Mark projects untouched for 2+ weeks.
2. List notes in memory that look outdated or duplicated. Don't change them; ask me.
3. Look at what I corrected you on this week (feedback notes with this week's date).
   Suggest at most two rule changes for CLAUDE.md, with the exact new wording.

These assume you keep notes in files: a memory/ folder and one NOTES.md per project. If you don't yet, the prompts still run, but they have nothing to read. Set up the notes first.

Why these two work

The morning brief has a word limit, a fixed shape and a ban on filler. A long automated message is one you stop reading within a week. Three priorities, one blocker, one deadline: you can read it in the time it takes the kettle to boil.

The weekly review is maintenance. Part 2 catches stale notes before they mislead the assistant. Part 3 turns your corrections into better rules, so the system improves a little each week without you thinking about it.

How to schedule them

Most AI tools now have some form of scheduled or recurring task. The names and menus differ by tool and by plan, and they change often, so look for words like "scheduled tasks", "routines" or "recurring" in your tool's settings or help page. The recipe is the same everywhere:

1. Create a new scheduled task.
2. Paste the prompt.
3. Choose the days and time.
4. Run it once by hand to check it can reach your files.

If your tool has no scheduling, there's a plain fallback: make a recurring reminder on your phone that says "morning brief", and paste the prompt yourself. You lose the automation but keep the habit and the result.

Two things to check before trusting a schedule:

• Can it reach your notes? A scheduled run in a tool that can't read your folder will produce a polite, empty brief. Run it once manually and read the result.
• Where does the answer land? Make sure you'll actually see it: a notification, an email to yourself, a chat you open every morning.

Customize without breaking it

• Change the number of priorities, not the word limit.
• Add a line like "Mention anything due today first" if your mornings are deadline-driven.
• If you work across time zones, say which one to use for "today".
• Keep "No advice about habits. No greetings." It's the line that saves the most words.

Rules for any automation

• It reports; it doesn't act. A brief may tell you an email is waiting. It shouldn't send, post or buy anything. Keep your "ask me first" rule even when you're asleep.
• Set a word limit. Always.
• Turn it off if you ignore it for two weeks. An automation you don't read is noise.

Test it

Run the morning brief by hand today. Is each item something you'd actually act on? If one line is filler, delete it from the prompt. A good brief is edited down, not added to.

The morning brief is the last of five parts. The full guide covers the whole system, from the rules file to helpers, with every template ready to copy.

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