/cs-deep-work

disable-model-invocation: true
name: "cs-deep-work"
description: "/cs-deep-work — Plan a deep work day the Cal Newport way: audit the task list deep vs shallow against a budget, build an energy-first time-blocked schedule with a hard 4-hour deep ceiling and an immovable hard stop, then log focus sessions and close with the shutdown ritual."
argument-hint: "[today's task list, with rough minutes per task]"

/cs-deep-work — Audit the Shallow, Block the Day, Bank the Hours

**Command:** `/cs-deep-work [today's task list]`

A calendar full of reactions is not a plan. `/cs-deep-work` runs the full attention-first workflow: classify every task deep vs shallow, audit the shallow share against a budget, build a time-blocked day where deep work owns the earliest hours, and close the loop with a focus-session ledger and a shutdown ritual.

When to Run

• "Plan my deep work day" / "time-block my day" / "protect my focus hours"
• The task list is drowning in email, meetings, and admin and you want the honest split
• You keep "working all day" and shipping nothing hard — depth is unmeasured
• Start of day (plan), mid-day after the plan broke (re-plan), end of day (log + shutdown)

When NOT to Run

• You need to pick WHAT matters today → run `/cs-andreessen` (3x5 card) first, then come back
• Team-level capacity or sprint math → `project-management` skills, not personal attention
• You just want a quick schedule from a ready task list with no audit → `/cs-time-block`

What You Get

1. **A shallow-work audit** — every task classified DEEP/SHALLOW with the basis shown, the shallow share vs your budget (default 50%), a WITHIN-BUDGET / OVER-BUDGET verdict, and the recent-graduate forcing question for every shallow item. 2. **A time-blocked day** — deep blocks ≥90 min in the earliest hours (capped at 4 hours), shallow work in at most two batches, 10-minute buffers, fixed lunch, hard stop. Refusals name exactly what to cut or defer. 3. **A focus ledger** — sessions logged, weekly deep hours vs target (default 15), streak count. 4. **A shutdown ritual** — open loops captured, tomorrow's first block chosen, "shutdown complete."

Trigger Phrases (auto-invoke without /cs:)

• "plan my deep work day" / "deep work plan"
• "time-block my day" / "time block my calendar"
• "how much of my day is shallow work"
• "protect my focus time" / "I need focus hours"

Discipline

• **Audit before schedule** — an OVER-BUDGET day gets cut, batched, or delegated first.
• **The refusals stand** — >4h deep demand and overflow past the hard stop are deferred by name,

never squeezed in or pushed into the evening.

• **The hard stop does not move** — fixed-schedule productivity.
• **Batch, never sprinkle** — shallow work lives in at most two windows.
• **Revise, don't abandon** — when a block breaks, re-run the planner from the current time.
• **Measured, not felt** — the weekly target is checked against the ledger, not memory.

Workflow

# 1. Audit the task list — deep vs shallow, share vs budget (OVER-BUDGET exits 2)
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/deep-work/scripts/shallow_work_auditor.py \
  --task "Write investor update:60" --task "Email triage:45" \
  --task "Analyze churn cohort:90:deep" --budget 50

# 2. Build the time-blocked day (deep-cap and overflow refusals exit 2, naming deferrals)
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/deep-work/scripts/time_block_planner.py --start 08:30 --end 17:00 --lunch 12:30 \
  --task "Write investor update:90:deep" --task "Analyze churn cohort:90:deep" \
  --task "Email triage:45:shallow"

# 3. After each real focus block, log it; check the week and the streak
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/deep-work/scripts/focus_session_logger.py log --minutes 90 --label "Investor update"
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/deep-work/scripts/focus_session_logger.py status --target 15
python ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/deep-work/scripts/focus_session_logger.py streak

# 4. End of day: walk ../skills/deep-work/assets/shutdown_checklist.md to "shutdown complete"

Stop Conditions

• Plan emitted + user accepts the blocks → done; return at day's end for log + shutdown.
• Planner refuses (exit 2) → user picks what to defer from the named candidates, re-run once; if

it refuses again, the day is overcommitted — cut scope, don't fight the arithmetic.

• User says "stop" → drop it; the ledger keeps whatever was already logged.

Related

• Agent: [`cs-deep-work`](../agents/cs-deep-work.md)
• Skill: [`deep-work`](../skills/deep-work/SKILL.md)
• Quick variant: [`/cs-time-block`](cs-time-block.md) — schedule only, no audit
• Siblings: `/cs-andreessen` (picks WHAT today; run before this), `/cs-reflect` (weekly reflection)

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**Version:** 1.0.0