Daily Summary Generator (Base Framework)

Daily Summary Generator (Base Framework)

Purpose: Create summary document capturing a conversation session's events.

Key principle: Summary is OF the session, not FOR the next day. Filename reflects the time span covered.

Reality acknowledged: Sessions often span calendar boundaries. Summaries may cover "Thursday afternoon through Friday morning" rather than clean calendar days. The naming convention should reflect actual coverage.

Process

1. Verify Current Date/​Time

CRITICAL FIRST STEP - Prevents date confusion

TZ='America/​New_York' date '+%A, %B %d, %Y - %I:%M %p %Z'

Confirm actual date/​time in user's timezone.

2. Determine Summary Range

Ask user: "What time range does this summary cover?"

Typical scenarios:

• Same-day session: "Today from morning until now"
• Spanning session: "Yesterday afternoon through this morning"
• Backfilling: User provides specific range

Always confirm: "Generating summary covering [Start Day/​Time] to [End Day/​Time]. Correct?"

Determine if single-day or range:

• If session starts and ends on same calendar day → single-day format
• If session spans calendar boundaries → range format

3. Ask for Context Tag

"What's the context tag for this session?"

User provides tag representing current state (e.g., week-3-day-2, rest-day).

4. Generate Filename

⚠️ CRITICAL: Filename must follow template exactly

Single-day format:

Summary-YYYY-MM-DD-Day-[context-tag].md

Example: Summary-2025-11-15-Saturday-week-3-day-2.md

Range format (spans calendar boundaries):

Summary-YYYY-MM-DD-Day-to-DD-Day-[context-tag].md

Example: Summary-2026-01-15-Thu-to-16-Fri-week-5-long-run.md

Rules:

• Use abbreviated day names in range format: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun
• Use full day names in single-day format: Monday, Tuesday, etc.
• Range uses primary day's context tag (the day with bulk of session content)
• Save to: /​mnt/​user-data/​outputs/

Critical: Dates in filename = dates of events inside.

5. Create Document Structure

Formatting rules:

• Use only standard markdown (headers, lists, bold, italic, code blocks, tables)
• NO HTML tags (<details>, <summary>, <div>)
• ASCII-safe characters only:
  • Use -> not →
  • Use " not "
  • Use - not —
  • Avoid Unicode special characters

Emoji usage guidelines:

Projects limitation: Claude Projects file export mangles UTF-8 emojis into broken Unicode.

Recommended pattern:

• Avoid emojis in data sections (tables, timestamps, key metrics) - keep machine-readable
• Use sparingly in narrative sections if they add meaning
• When in doubt: Use plain text. Emojis are decorative, not essential.

Required sections:

# Daily Summary: [Date or Date Range]

**[Context Tag]** | **[Secondary Tag if applicable]**

---

## GROUND TRUTH

- Covers: [Specific time range being summarized]
- State: [current state/​phase]
- [Long-running counters if applicable]

---

## TL;DR - Day Summary

- [Session trajectory - what moved]
- [Key decision or insight]
- [Capacity/​state summary]

---

## Key Numbers

| Metric | Morning | Evening | Notes |
|--------|---------|---------|-------|
| [Data] | | | |

---

## Timeline

| Time | Event |
|------|-------|
| [timestamp] | [event] |

---

## Insights & Learnings

[Major insights, patterns, results]

---

## Decisions Made

[Decisions for future, adjustments, changes]

---

## What Worked

- [Successes from session]

---

## What Didn't Work

| Challenge | Learning |
|-----------|----------|
| [issue] | [takeaway] |

---

## What Mattered This Day

[Clear summary of session's significance]

---

## Tomorrow's Seeds

**Threads still warm:**
- [Contemplation thread that could continue - not a task, a question or idea]
- [Decision mentioned but not yet acted on]
- [Experiment queued but not started]

**One thing from today:**
[A single insight, question, or observation from the session - seed for reflection, not action]

---

*Generated: [Current timestamp]*
*Summary OF: [Time range covered]*
*[Context tags]*

---

**[One-line closer capturing the session]**

6. Save to Outputs

/​mnt/​user-data/​outputs/​Summary-[filename].md

7. Remind User

"Summary created: [filename]

This captures [time range]. Click 'add to project' to save it."

Critical Rules

1. Date/​time verification FIRST - bash command, no assumptions
2. Summary range = events range - filename matches content coverage
3. User confirms range - "Generating summary covering [X] to [Y]. Correct?"
4. Filename follows format - ISO date(s) + day name(s) + exact tag user provided
5. Ground truth at top - explicit time range being summarized
6. Save to outputs - user manually adds to project

Filename Examples

Single-day (session within one calendar day):

• Summary-2025-11-15-Saturday-week-3-day-2.md
• Summary-2025-11-20-Thursday-rest-day.md
• Summary-2025-12-01-Monday-race-prep.md

Range (session spans calendar boundaries):

• Summary-2026-01-15-Thu-to-16-Fri-week-5-long-run.md
• Summary-2026-01-18-Sat-to-19-Sun-recovery-weekend.md

Why Range-Based Naming

Problem: Summary generation requires cognitive capacity that's unpredictable. Forcing summaries at calendar boundaries creates pressure. Sessions naturally span boundaries (afternoon → next morning).

Solution: Filename reflects actual coverage. The summary captures what happened, named for when it happened, generated when capacity exists.

Tradeoff: Slightly more complex filenames, but accurate representation of reality.

Tomorrow's Seeds as Conversation Starters

Purpose: Tomorrow's Seeds bridges this session to the next. It's not a task list - it's conversation starters.

"Threads still warm" should capture:

• Contemplation topics that weren't exhausted
• Questions raised but not fully explored
• Decisions mentioned but not acted on
• Experiments discussed but not started

"One thing from today" should capture:

• A single insight worth sitting with
• A reframe that emerged
• A question that's still pulling
• Something that surprised or moved

The morning brief skill uses these to reopen contemplation rather than jumping straight to logistics. The summary document becomes the bridge between sessions, carrying forward not just what happened but what's still alive.