Chief of Staff Install

In your folder: brain/playbooks/explore.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.

Playbook: Explore (connect the dots)

Turns Chief of Staff's Anticipate mandate (brain/role/charter.md, brain/role/principles.md) into a workflow: mine memory/ for relationships the principal hasn't connected yet, and surface the ones worth acting on. Runs on /explore or when the principal asks "what am I missing / connect the dots". Distinct from memory-lint.md (which checks memory is correct) — explore looks for insight.

Ground everything in stored memory. Never invent a connection — if the link isn't supported by what's actually written, don't claim it.

Scope

Explore all of memory/ by default; if $ARGUMENTS names a person, project, or theme, center the exploration there. Start from memory/index.md, then read the memory files.

Find the connections

Scan for entities or topics that appear across multiple files but aren't directly linked, e.g.:

  • A person who recurs in several projects but has no stated role in one of them.
  • Two projects that share an owner, a dependency, a deadline, or a risk — but neither memory file mentions the other.
  • A decision (decisions.md) or commitment (commitments.md) that bears on a project or person not cross-referenced.
  • A stated preference or sensitivity that's relevant to an upcoming meeting or open decision.
  • A risk or blocker in one place that threatens a goal recorded elsewhere.
  • A domain that recurs across several memory files with no team member covering it — a specialist the principal keeps needing and doesn't have. Read coverage from the roster's ## Active entries (brain/schemas/team-member.md); with no roster linked, nothing is covered.

Produce

Deliver in this turn — bottom line first (brain/role/voice.md): the single most useful connection, then a short ranked list. For each connection:

  1. The link — the two (or more) things and how they connect, citing the memory files.
  2. The insight — why it might matter (a risk to flag, a person to loop in, a dependency to sequence, a question to ask).
  3. What would confirm it — the fact or source that would validate the hunch (and whether it's already in memory or a gap to fill).

Pick the few most interesting connections, not every pair — signal over volume. If nothing non-obvious surfaces, say so honestly.

Suggest a team member (when one is obvious)

A recurring domain with nobody on it is a connection like any other, and the run that reads the whole tree is the one placed to notice it. Same grounding rail as every finding above: the domain must be named in at least two memory files. Never infer one from what a principal in this role probably needs.

Before filing anything:

  • Read memory/team-suggestions.md. A slug under ## Declined is a permanent no — never re-suggest that domain. It says nothing about any other: a declined specialist is not a declined feature, and a different gap still earns a suggestion. An entry under ## Pending means file nothing this run; surface the existing one instead if it fits.
  • Skip entirely if team-offer: off is set in memory/preferences/briefings.md.
  • One per run at most — the widest-spread gap if several qualify.

Offer it in this turn — the principal is here. Name the domain, the memory files it recurs across, and that nobody covers it: "You keep running into reliability — Meridian, the on-call rotation, and the Q3 OKR all turn on it, and nobody on your roster owns it. Want me to stand up a reliability specialist?" Write the ## Pending entry as you make the offer — creating the file and its generic ## Always load pointer in memory/index.md if this is the first one (brain/schemas/team-member.md). Don't wait to see whether they answer: you have no moment at which to notice that they didn't, and an offer that evaporates when the session does is not persisted. Then resolve it the moment they answer (brain/playbooks/team.md → "Answer a suggestion"): yes — run "Onboard a specialist" now and delete the entry; no — move the slug to ## Declined with today's date, permanently.

Unanswered, the entry stays, and the next session's maintenance offer raises it (CHIEFOFSTAFF.md boot step 8).

After

  • Offer to act on confirmed connections: add cross-reference links between the related memory files (standard markdown links, per brain/schemas/memory-file.md), create a new memory file if a theme deserves one, or turn an insight into a commitment/decision to track. Apply only on the principal's OK, and update memory/index.md for anything you add.
  • If a connection reveals a gap (something worth knowing but not recorded), flag it and suggest what would fill it (a note to capture, a question to answer).
  • Ledger. Append one explore line to memory/ledger.md — the run and the connection(s) surfaced (brain/schemas/capture-rules.md → "Action ledger").
  • Clock. Set last_explore: <today's date> in memory/meta.md. This is what resets the session-start maintenance offer (CHIEFOFSTAFF.md boot step 8); without it the offer re-fires next session as though the run never happened.