Things Week Ahead Digest

Build a repeatable Things planning digest with four sections:

• Snapshot

• Recently Active

• Week/Weekend Ahead

• Suggestions

Inputs

Collect data with Things MCP tools:

• things_read_areas

• things_read_projects with status="open"

• things_read_todos with status="open" (set limit high enough for a full view, usually 300-500)

• things_read_todos with status="completed" and completed_after=<today-7d>

• Optional: things_read_todo for top candidate tasks (include_notes=true ) when notes/checklist signals are needed

If any call fails because of permissions, report the missing permission and continue with the best available subset.

Workflow

• Load active customization config:

• Prefer <skill_root>/config/customization.yaml .

• Fall back to <skill_root>/config/customization.template.yaml .

• Build urgency buckets from open todos:

• overdue: deadline < today

• due soon: deadline <= today + <dueSoonDays>

• week/weekend ahead: deadline between today and today + <daysAhead>

• Score recent activity by project and area using configured weights:

• recent completions (last 7 days)

• open tasks

• due soon / overdue counts

• checklist-like hints from notes (- [ ] , - [x] , multiline bullet blocks)

• Identify top active projects/areas from the score.

• Generate configured number of concrete suggestions:

• one next action for top projects

• one risk/triage action for overdue work

• one planning action for weekend or Monday readiness when relevant

• Format with the template in references/output-format.md .

Keep tone concise and operational. Prefer verbs and specific task titles over generic advice.

Scripts

Use scripts/build_digest.py when deterministic scoring/formatting is preferred (automation, repeatability, large datasets).

uv run --with pyyaml python scripts/build_digest.py
--areas areas.json
--projects projects.json
--open-todos open_todos.json
--recent-done recent_done.json

The script reads JSON exported from Things MCP responses and prints Markdown digest output.

Configuration precedence:

• CLI flags

• config/customization.yaml

• config/customization.template.yaml

• Script hardcoded defaults

Customization Workflow

When a user asks to customize this skill, use this deterministic flow:

• Read active config from config/customization.yaml ; if missing, use config/customization.template.yaml .

• Confirm desired behavior for:

• due-soon and planning windows

• top project/area counts

• scoring weights and open-count cap

• suggestion cap and output style

• Propose 2-4 option bundles with one recommended default.

• Create or update config/customization.yaml from template and set:

• schemaVersion: 1

• isCustomized: true

• profile: <selected-profile>

• Validate by generating a sample digest and report changed keys plus behavior deltas.

Customization Reference

• Detailed knobs and examples: references/customization.md

• YAML schema and allowed values: references/config-schema.md

Automation Templates

Use $things-week-ahead-digest inside automation prompts so Codex reliably loads this workflow.

For ready-to-fill Codex App and Codex CLI (codex exec ) templates, including Things MCP fallback guidance, placeholders, and customization knobs, use:

• references/automation-prompts.md

References

• Scoring and suggestion rules: references/suggestion-rules.md

• Output shape and section template: references/output-format.md

• Automation prompt templates: references/automation-prompts.md

• Customization guide: references/customization.md

• Customization schema: references/config-schema.md