kl-autonomous/agent-team-skills

Owner desk

Questions in chat get buried, and the owner has to answer when the agent asks, not when they have time. The desk moves them out of the chat into a board: a Needs you tab with every open item, a yellow Urgent tab only when something can't wait, a Decided tab for answered ones, a Later tab for what can wait, and an Archive for what's done. On a phone or iPad, the owner swipes sideways to move between tabs. The owner answers there; you read the answers, act, and archive.

What this needs

• Claude artifacts with the db and comments capabilities, on claude.ai or in the Claude desktop app. Add assets only if items will carry attached files.

• Tools:

  • Artifact, to publish the board and upload files;
  • ArtifactData, to write and read items;
  • ArtifactComments, to watch the board and answer the comments that wake you.

  Load them with ToolSearch when they're deferred.

• A main-loop session. Only a main-loop session can hold a watch; a subagent can't.

Without these, say so and keep the questions in chat as a numbered list. Don't pretend there's a board.

Who writes to it

One session only:

• the chief of staff, if there is one (see the chief-of-staff skill);
• otherwise, the session that works with the owner.

Two writers would number items twice and archive each other's work.

Create the board

1. Fill in the template, assets/desk.html. It has three placeholders:

   • {{TITLE}}: the board's name, two to four words, such as "Recipe App Desk";
   • {{EYEBROW}}: a small line above the title, such as "Recipe app · from the chief of staff";
   • {{AGENT}}: who reads the answers, as it reads mid-sentence: "the chief of staff", or "Claude". Plain words only, with no quotes.

   For example:

   sed -e 's/{{TITLE}}/Recipe App Desk/g' -e 's/{{EYEBROW}}/Recipe app · from the chief of staff/g' -e 's/{{AGENT}}/the chief of staff/g' <skill>/assets/desk.html > desk.html
   

2. Publish it with the Artifact tool:

   • capabilities: {"db": {}, "user": {}, "comments": {}}, plus "assets": {} if items will carry files;
   • icon: "inbox";
   • a one-line description.

   Publishing also starts this session watching the board.

3. Check it once: ArtifactData list on the collection items. It's empty, and the page says "Nothing needs you."

4. Give the owner the link, and say the board is private to them.

5. Write the link into a file in the project (the status page, or the project's notes), so a fresh session can find it.

Opened outside Claude, in a plain browser, the page shows made-up example items with a note saying so. That's for previews and screenshots; it never writes anything.

Be woken by answers

A database write doesn't wake you; a comment sent to Claude does. When the owner answers, marks a task done or asks a question, the page sends a short comment into the item's own thread, for example "№ 12 · Open the beta this Friday? Answer: Yes". That comment wakes the session watching the board.

• Publishing starts the watch, but it's only a watch once ArtifactComments watch (with no url) lists the board as connected, with auto-replies armed.
• A fresh session must watch again, with ArtifactComments watch and the board's url. Auto-replies arm only when the owner gave that link in their own message, so the link goes in the restart prompt the owner pastes.
• The page tells the owner which case they're in: "…is told the moment you answer", or "Saved here; … reads it at its next check".
• If comments can't reach you (they're off, or no session is watching), fall back on these:
  • read the desk at the start of every turn;
  • ask the owner to say "desk" in chat after answering;
  • offer a scheduled check, only if the owner wants one.

An item

Each item is one document in the collection items. Its document id is its handle: use q<number> for decisions and t-<word> for tasks. Use plain words throughout, since the owner may read it on a phone.

Field	Written by	What it holds
kind	you	"decision" or "task"
status	both	"open"; the page sets "answered"; you set "archived"
later	you	true parks it on the Later tab
urgent	you	true puts it on a yellow Urgent tab and at the top of the Overview. Only for what can't wait: a deadline today, or something broken for users
num	you	a running number, the same one you use in chat; never reused
title	you	the question itself, answerable with the choices, or the task as an action
body, bullets	you	short paragraphs and points: why it matters, what it affects
recommendation	you	your answer first, then the reason, in one or two sentences
choices	you	two to four answers; defaults to Yes / No
steps, stepsDone	you; page	a task's steps, and the ones ticked (indexes)
copies	you	[{label, text}]: text the owner will paste somewhere
links	you	[{label, url, note}]: guides, pages, attached files
from	you	which session asked
priority	you	1 first; sorts the open items
created	you	when you posted it (ISO time)
answer	page	{choice, note, at}
asks	page; you	[{q, at, via, a, aAt}]: the owner's questions about the item; you fill in a and aAt
thread	page	the comment thread the page uses for this item; leave it alone
outcome, archived	you	what happened, in one line; when you archived it

assets/example-items.json holds seven made-up items, as ArtifactData batch writes. Use them to try a board, never on the owner's real one.

Post items

• Add new items with ArtifactData. Use set for a new document, and batch for more than two. Never republish the page to change items.
• Then say in chat what you added, with a link to each item: <board url>#<doc id> opens its tab and scrolls to it.
• If you also work from a chat list of open questions (as the chief of staff does), keep both the same: the same number, the same words.
• Write each item so it stands on its own: what is being decided, what changes either way, and what you recommend.
• A task lists the exact steps, the text to paste in copies, and the guide in links.
• To attach a file: read the whole file first, then upload it with Artifact (url of the board, asset: true) and link it as /_blob/<asset id>.
• Never put passwords, keys or private records in an item. A task that needs a secret says where to type it, never what it is.

Read, act, archive

When a comment wakes you, or at the start of a turn:

1. ArtifactData query on items with where: [["status", "==", "answered"]]. Read each item's answer and any new asks.
2. Act on the answer. With a chief of staff, relay the owner's choice and note verbatim to the session that asked.
   • The comment and the item normally agree.
   • If the item isn't saved as answered, but the comment carries an answer, the comment is the owner's newer word. Write it into the item yourself.
3. Archive the item: update it with status: "archived", a one-line outcome ("The builder moved the beta to Friday"), and archived (the time). Pin every write with if_version, so an answer the owner changes meanwhile isn't overwritten.
4. Answer each open entry in asks on the same item. Send the whole asks array back, with a and aAt filled in, pinned with if_version.
5. Reply in the comment thread with one line ("Got it: moving the beta to Friday"), then resolve the thread (ArtifactComments reply, then resolve).

Park an item with later: true, and bring it back with later: false. A decided item can stay on Later until it's time to act on it. Archive instead of deleting: the Archive is the record of what was decided. Delete only on the owner's word.

Status and Roadmap (optional)

Two more tabs show the owner where the project stands, between the Overview and the items. Each appears once you write its document to the collection board, and updates live. Write each with ArtifactData (set the first time, then update pinned with if_version). assets/example-board.json holds a made-up pair.

board/status: where every session stands. Update it each time you check on the team; a chief of staff writes it whenever it updates its status page.

Field	What it holds
updated	when you last checked (ISO time); the page shows how long ago
oneLine	where the project stands, in one sentence
sessions	[{name, state, doing, last, restart}], a row per session. state is a word or two ("Working", "Waiting", "Stopped at a limit"), and the page colours it. restart starts with "Yes" when it's a good moment to restart that session
done	what finished since the last update, a line each
next	[{who, what}]: the next steps, the owner's too (who: "you")

The Status tab counts the owner's urgent and open items by itself; don't repeat them in oneLine.

board/roadmap: the plan, stage by stage. Update it when a stage or one of its items moves.

Field	What it holds
updated	when you last changed it
headline	where the project is in its plan, in one sentence
stages	[{id, name, state, when, summary, items}], in order. state is done, now, next or later; items are [{text, state}] with done, now or next. The stage marked now opens at the top

Change the page

• Republish the page only to change the page itself. Pass the same capabilities, or omit capabilities to keep them.
• If another session published the board, read it first (Artifact read) and build on what comes back.
• The items live in the database, so they survive a republish.