Proactive Morning Brief — Build spec

Sam ask 2026-05-11: "My Monday today came without me having a proactive briefing. By next Monday, I want that in place — without question."

Doctrine: manual → repeatable → VA-safe runbook → automated. First fire Tue 5/12 ~7:45 AM EDT.

Acceptance test

[ ] Email lands in Sam's inbox at 7:45 AM ET Mon-Fri (skip Sat)
[ ] Mobile-readable in Outlook iOS + Gmail iOS without dark mode
[ ] Contains: calendar today · obligations next 7 days · open P0 loops · MIS regime snapshot · flagged urgent emails
[ ] Reply-to-update: Sam replies, picture re-shapes within 30 min
[ ] Survives 5 consecutive weekdays without form changes → locked
[ ] Acceptance: Sam doesn't have to open Calendar / Sheets / Email separately first thing in the morning

Data sources

Source	Pull method	What
Google Calendar	`CalendarApp.getEventsForDay(today)`	Today's events with times + locations
v1 Monthly Obligations sheet (`1L_rxCSOnc...`)	direct read via `SpreadsheetApp.openById`	Items due in next 7 days
MIS V11 sheet (`1HEmRev...`) Snapshot tab	direct read	Regime · VIX · top 3 ADD signals · holdings P&L line
BOS Action_Master (Command Center sheet `17XDHL...`)	direct read	P0/P1 open loops by status flag
Gmail	`GmailApp.search('subject:⚡ OR subject:P0 OR is:starred newer_than:1d')`	Urgent inbox items
`docs/CURRENT_STATE.md` top section	fetch via GitHub API on schedule	Latest session state
`docs/SCOPE_BACKLOG.md`	fetch via GitHub API on schedule	Backburner items aging

Trigger

Apps Script time-based trigger: weekdays 7:45 AM ET
Skip if MIS_CFG.timezone formatted-date returns weekend (already handled in misIsWeekend_)
Skip if Sam manually set SKIP_BRIEF_DATE in Control tab to today's date (manual override)

Email structure

Subject line

☀️ [Day] [Mon DD] · [N] today · [M] urgent · $[$$] week

Example: ☀️ Tue May 12 · 3 events · 1 urgent · $4,221 week

Header — light/dark adaptive table+bgcolor (same pattern as MIS BLUF)

[Dark band #0a0e1a]
☀️ Good morning, Sam
Tue May 12 · 7:45 AM EDT

[White bg row]
Cadence: weekday 7:45 AM · reply to re-shape today's picture

Section 1 — 🚨 NOW (top 3 items, reordered if urgent)

Pulled from: Calendar (time-sensitive events first), then Gmail urgent (⚡ subject), then BOS Action_Master P0 rows. Each line:

Direction arrow ↑↓· what · who owns · literal next step

Section 2 — 📅 TODAY

Calendar events laid out as a timeline. Each event: time · title · location (if any) · attendees if more than just Sam.

Section 3 — 💰 MONEY (next 7 days)

Bake the obligations table INTO the email body (NOT a live fetch — Apps Script reads sheet directly at send time). Each row: days · amount · vendor · pay_from · status. Total at top.

Section 4 — 📊 MARKETS

One line: regime · VIX · SPY today (if market open) · top 3 ADD names · current portfolio P&L delta vs prior close.

Section 5 — ❓ CLARIFYING QUESTIONS (max 3)

Hard-coded today via prompting logic OR pulled from a QUESTIONS_QUEUE tab Sam can pre-load. Each question has: Q · Why · Default if no reply.

Section 6 — 🎯 IF YOU DON'T REPLY

What I'll proceed with as defaults. Lets silence still produce a sane day.

Section 7 — 🌱 BACKBURNER (1 item rotated)

Surface 1 aging item from SCOPE_BACKLOG.md (>14 days stale, has unblock_trigger). Per yesterday's backburner-ritual proposal.

Footer

Source trail · last commit hash · memory snapshot age · "Reply to this email — I'll re-shape my picture"

Build sequence

Phase 1 — manual MVP (Tue 5/12 morning)

Claude (this session) composes ONE manual brief by hand reading sheets directly
Sends as draft to sam@hookstreetcapital.com at ~7:30 AM Tue
Sam taps Send → it lands in inbox at 7:45 AM
Sam critiques form
Iterate Wed → Thu → Fri until form locked

Phase 2 — Apps Script function (Fri 5/16 or weekend)

Write sendProactiveMorningBrief_() in PWA Apps Script project
Reads from all sources listed above
Builds HTML email
Sends via MailApp.sendEmail
Time-trigger daily 7:45 AM weekdays

Phase 3 — Reply-to-update handler (after form lock)

Gmail watch / Apps Script trigger on new emails replying to brief
Parses Sam's reply (Q1: X, Q2: Y, etc.)
Sends "tweaked beginning of the day" follow-up email within 30 min

Phase 4 — Cross-channel (later)

WhatsApp summary version (via Twilio if Malca Yenta number is live)
iPad widget version
Voice-readable version for car-Claude playback

Stop rules

NOT a multi-recipient email (Sam only — Mildred has her own start-of-week)
NOT a notification system — one email per morning, one reply per response
NOT a chat — Sam opens Claude Code for conversation
NOT a build target — form lives in this doc, the EMAIL is the artifact
NO Phase 2 automation until 5 consecutive Mon-Fri manual MVPs pass form-lock

Source

Sam voice memo 2026-05-11 ~3:30 PM EDT (cloud session 31 handoff TASK 4 + Sam's "by next Monday I want that in place")
Yesterday's session 30 briefing template docs/daily-cadence-system/MORNING_BRIEF_TEMPLATE.md (this spec supersedes that)
Memories: feedback_classifier_first_doctrine.md · feedback_done_means_survives_tuesday.md · project_home_base_vision.md
Doctrine: ChatGPT "Z's World" v9 · manual → repeatable → VA-safe → automated