/what-have-we-done-today

name: what-have-we-done-today
description: Use when a recap of today's sessions, cron, and kanban helps.
version: 0.2.0
author: Tony Simons
license: Apache-2.0
platforms: [platform-agnostic]
metadata:
  hermes:
    category: productivity
    tags: [sessions, kanban, cron, journal, recap, productivity]
    related_skills: []

What Have We Done Today

Overview

A manual, on-demand daily recap for any Hermes installation. It scans three local surfaces for today's activity — sessions (default profile plus every named profile, all sources), kanban boards (done today, running, blocked, todo/ready), and cron stores (jobs that ran, errored, are running now, or are due today) — then writes a plain append-friendly daily markdown log the user can read to remember what happened and what is still open.

Stdlib Python only. Read-only on all databases (`mode=ro`); the only write is the daily markdown file in the recap directory. It is intentionally NOT a cron job: it runs when a human actually wants the recap (tired, stoned, context-switch heavy, or closing out the day).

When to Use

• "What have we done today?" / "Recap today" / "What did I get up to today?"
• The user lost track of a busy multi-project day and wants the threads

pulled together.

• Before shutting down for the night: capture progress + leftovers.

Counter-triggers — do NOT load this skill when:

• The user asks about a specific past session or topic (use session search).
• The user wants a recurring scheduled recap (this skill is manual-only).
• The user wants to mutate sessions, kanban cards, or cron jobs.

Workflow

1. **Scan all three surfaces.** Invoke through the `terminal` tool: `python3 ~/.hermes/skills/productivity/what-have-we-done-today/scripts/today_sessions.py --excerpts` Output: sessions grouped by profile (time, source, title, counts, goal/outcome hints), then kanban per board (done today, ▶ running, ✋ blocked, todo/ready counts), then cron (ran today with ❌ on errors, ▶ running now, ⏳ due today after an error). 2. **Separate the signals.** User-facing session sources are `desktop`, `cli`, `telegram`. `kanban` sessions are worker lanes (generic titles — outcome comes from the excerpt, not the title). Cron ❌/⏳ rows are real breakage candidates; `running` executions are work happening right now. 3. **Drill where it matters.** `session_search` reads only the *current* profile's DB; use it for ambiguous or high-stakes default-profile sessions. For sessions from `profiles/*/state.db`, the scanner's excerpts are the cheap evidence. 4. **Split Done vs Open.** Done = a verified outcome (session excerpt, kanban done-today card, cron `ok` run). Open = kanban ▶/✋/todo cards, cron ❌/⏳ rows, sessions with no resolution. Never infer completion from a session merely existing. 5. **Pull open items (optional).** `--ledger FILE` lists non-completed items from a task ledger JSON: `{"items": [{"id", "title", "status", "next_action", "updated_at"}]}`. Statuses other than `completed` / `cancelled` count as open. 6. **Write the log.** Target `$RECAP_DIR/YYYY-MM-DD.md` (default `~/.hermes/daily-recaps/`); create the directory if missing. Create the file with a `# YYYY-MM-DD` heading if absent; otherwise **append** a `## Daily recap — HH:MM` section with Done / In flight / Needs attention bullets. Re-runs the same day append new sections. 7. **Brief the user.** Compact and ranked: ✅ Done today, 🟡 Still open, ⛔ Needs you, Next pick. Include `@session:default/<id>` links for anything they might reopen.

Common Pitfalls

• `~/.hermes/sessions.db` may be an empty legacy file — the real session

store is `~/.hermes/state.db` plus `profiles/*/state.db`. A scan of the wrong file reports a false quiet day.

• `started_at` is epoch seconds; compare against *local* midnight (the

scanner does this in Python). SQLite's `'start of day'` modifier is UTC midnight and silently drops the first hours of the local day.

• Sessions that straddle midnight still count: the filter is `started_at` OR

`last_activity_at` ≥ local midnight.

• Each kanban board is its own DB: root `~/.hermes/kanban.db` holds only the

default board; named boards live at `~/.hermes/kanban/boards/<slug>/kanban.db` (`_archived/` is skipped).

• no_agent cron jobs leave no session at all — `jobs.json`

`last_run_at`/`last_status` and `executions.db` are their only trace. A quiet sessions list does not mean a quiet day.

• Executions use ISO-text timestamps; sessions use epoch floats. Parse each

surface with its own type.

• The recap log is append-friendly by design — never overwrite an existing

day file or the earlier recap is destroyed.

• The scanner never writes: every DB opens `mode=ro` with a busy timeout, so

a live Hermes holding the default DB still scans fine.

• Don't install this as a cron — the manual trigger is the design.

Verification Checklist

• [ ] Scanner ran with exit code 0 and reported sessions, kanban, and cron.
• [ ] The daily log exists and contains a recap section for today:

`grep -n "Daily recap" ~/.hermes/daily-recaps/$(date +%F).md`

• [ ] Re-running the scanner returns the same inventory.
• [ ] Every open item in the briefing traces to an excerpt, kanban card, or

ledger row read during this run.