Things Digest Generator

Build a repeatable Things planning digest from Things MCP data or equivalent JSON exports.

Inputs

• Preferred data source: Things MCP reads
  • things_read_areas
  • things_read_projects with status="open"
  • things_read_todos with status="open"
  • things_read_todos with status="completed" and completed_after=<today-7d>
  • Optional things_read_todo for checklist or note signals
• JSON fallback for deterministic script usage:
  • --areas
  • --projects
  • --open-todos
  • optional --recent-done
  • optional --detailed-todos
• Optional overrides:
  • --days-ahead
  • --due-soon-days
  • --top-projects
  • --top-areas
  • --max-suggestions
  • --open-count-cap
  • --output-style
  • --config
  • --today

Workflow

1. Resolve settings from CLI overrides, config/customization.yaml, config/customization.template.yaml, then script defaults.
2. Prefer live Things MCP reads; fall back to JSON inputs when MCP is unavailable or when deterministic script execution is required.
3. Build urgency buckets and activity scores from open and recently completed todos.
4. Rank top projects and areas, then generate bounded suggestions.
5. If there are no open todos and no recent completed todos, output exactly No findings.
6. Otherwise render the digest using the canonical section order in references/output-format.md.

Output Contract

• Return markdown that begins at # Things Planning Digest - YYYY-MM-DD.
• Return these sections in order after the title:
  • Executive Summary only when outputStyle=executive
  • Snapshot
  • Recently Active
  • Week/Weekend Ahead
  • Suggestions
• Use exact task, project, and area names where available.
• If there are no open todos and no recent completed todos in scope, output exactly No findings.

Guardrails

• Never modify Things data unless explicitly requested.
• If MCP is unavailable, report the missing permission and use JSON fallback when provided.
• If neither MCP nor JSON inputs are available, stop and report one deterministic Input error: message that names the missing file, unreadable path, invalid JSON, or unsupported JSON shape.

References

• references/output-format.md
• references/customization.md
• references/config-schema.md
• references/suggestion-rules.md
• references/automation-prompts.md