Chief of Staff Install

In your folder: brain/onboarding/steps/6-routines-cadence.md

Rendered from release 0.36.2, the version the download installs. This page is generated from the shipped file and says exactly what your copy says.

Routines & cadence

Render the progress bar (Step 6/6 · Routines & cadence). Recurring commitments and rhythms (weekly review day, 1:1 schedule, reporting cadence). Note which playbooks matter most. Capture into the relevant files (preferences/projects/people). A calendar screenshot can quickly show the recurring rhythms if they'd rather upload than describe.

By mode: work — work rhythms (staff meeting, 1:1s, reporting/review days). personal — life rhythms (a weekly review, bills/renewals, standing family or household commitments). The brief routines below apply either way — a daily brief for a personal Chief of Staff surfaces the day's appointments and commitments, not work.

Infer the cadence from the calendar if a connector is on. If the step-2 fast-track bootstrap already ran, confirm the rhythms it captured and fill gaps. Otherwise read the recurring events across every connected calendar — honor the bootstrap_scope recorded at step 2 (work-only → work calendars only; named → only the accounts they chose; all → everything); if none was recorded because no bootstrap ran, default to work calendars, or disclose scope in one line before including personal (in personal mode, stay account-neutral — honor any recorded scope, else read the calendars you've connected or ask account-neutrally, never defaulting to a near-empty work-only scan) — to propose the principal's actual rhythms (weekly staff meeting, 1:1 schedule, review/reporting days) instead of asking them to list it from memory — then confirm and capture. (No connector → ask, or take the screenshot upload.)

Then set up the routines — don't make them do it by hand. Proactively propose all five with their default cadences (brain/integrations/routines.md → "Setting them up"):

  • the three briefs — daily brief, weekly retro, weekly preview; and
  • the two maintenance routines, each with its one-line benefit: memory lint (monthly — "keeps your memory accurate: catches stale statuses, contradictions, and broken links") and explore (biweekly — "surfaces connections and risks across your people/projects/decisions you might've missed").

Present this as one accept-all-defaults ask, not five separate ones — "Want me to set up all five with these defaults? Say the word to adjust any of the times, or skip whichever you don't want." Only break it into individual questions if the principal wants to customize.

Before creating any of them, check what's already scheduled and dedup (brain/integrations/routines.md → "Setting them up"): read memory/preferences/briefings.md for routines already set up — likely on a re-run of /onboard or a partial prior setup — and for any that already exist, update or skip rather than create a duplicate. Keep this inside the single accept-all-defaults ask above; it's not a new separate question.

For each one they keep, set it up per the host: on Claude Code, create it yourself with your routine tools (they approve the tool execution — that's the confirmation); on Codex, add a Scheduled task — if the host lets you add it directly, do so, otherwise hand the principal the exact cadence + prompt to paste in (Scheduled tab). All run locally so they read memory/. Record the outcome per routine (created / declined / deferred) in memory/preferences/briefings.md so Chief of Staff doesn't re-ask later. When a brief routine is actually created, land the payoff — make it real, not just configured — but keep the promise honest. A routine only fires while the app is open and the machine's awake (brain/integrations/routines.md → "Honest limits"), so don't promise a specific next timestamp — name the cadence and be upfront that it needs the app open. For each one you create (skip anything declined or deferred), close with ~1 line:

  • Claude Code (auto-created): "Done — your daily brief is set for weekday mornings around 8am. It runs whenever the app's open, so you'll see it next time you're around."
  • Codex (principal adds the Scheduled task): frame it as handing over the setup, not "I handled it" — "Here's the exact schedule and prompt to paste into a Scheduled task: weekday mornings ~8am, 'Run the daily-brief playbook and send me today's brief.' Once it's in, your brief runs whenever ChatGPT's open around that time."

If they'd rather not decide now, mark them deferred and note they can ask anytime (/routines on Claude Code; the Scheduled tab on Codex). Also mention that between scheduled runs, Chief of Staff will offer at session start (only when a lint/explore is due) to run them — and that's toggleable.

Checklist: rhythms; routines → done once every routine has a recorded outcome in briefings.md (a routine marked deferred there is still a done ask), or deferred on the express path.