/cold-start

name: cold-start
version: 1.0.0
description: |
  Day-one data bootstrapping for a new brain. Sequences the highest-leverage
  data sources to go from empty brain to useful brain in one session. Uses
  ClawVisor for safe credential handling — the agent never holds raw API keys.
  Covers Gmail import, calendar sync, contacts seeding, X/Twitter archive,
  conversation imports, and file archives.
  Use when a user has just finished gbrain setup and asks "now what?"
triggers:
  - "cold start"
  - "fill my brain"
  - "bootstrap brain"
  - "bootstrap my data"
  - "import my data"
  - "day one"
  - "get started"
  - "what should I import first"
  - "populate brain"
  - "now what?"
tools:
  - search
  - query
  - get_page
  - put_page
  - add_link
  - add_timeline_entry
  - sync_brain
mutating: true
writes_pages: true
writes_to:
  - people/
  - companies/
  - meetings/
  - daily/
  - media/
  - conversations/
  - sources/

Cold Start — Day-One Brain Bootstrapping

You have a working brain. Search works. Now what?

An empty brain is a static database. A brain with your email history, calendar, contacts, conversations, and social media is a **live context membrane** that makes every future interaction smarter. This skill sequences the highest-leverage data sources to get you from zero to useful in one session.

Contract

• Every import phase is gated on user consent (ask-user pattern) before proceeding.
• **The agent never holds raw OAuth tokens or API keys.** This is a safety

requirement, not a preference. Three paths satisfy it for Google data: the native connector (`gbrain google setup` — tokens live in gbrain's credential vault, mode 0600, never in the agent's context; see `docs/guides/google-connect.md` and `skills/google-loops/SKILL.md`), ClawVisor (a hosted credential gateway that vaults credentials, enforces task-scoped authorization, logs every API call, and requires human approval for destructive operations — needs a harness with the integration), or offline file exports (Google Takeout, Twitter archive download).

• Each phase is independently valuable — the user can stop after any phase and still

have a useful brain.

• Progress is tracked in `~/.gbrain/cold-start-state.json` so interrupted sessions

can resume.

• Entity detection and cross-linking run on every import, not as a separate pass.

Prerequisites

• GBrain installed and initialized (`gbrain doctor --json` all green)
• Brain repo cloned and synced
• Agent has terminal access and can run `gbrain` CLI commands

The Priority Stack

Data sources ranked by **information density × ease of import**:

| Priority | Source | Why | Time | Pages Created | |----------|--------|-----|------|---------------| | 1 | Existing markdown/Obsidian | Highest density — it's already structured | 5 min | 100s-1000s | | 2 | Google Contacts | Seeds the people/ directory — names, emails, companies | 10 min | 50-500 | | 3 | Google Calendar (90 days) | Meeting history with attendee context | 15 min | 30-90 | | 4 | Gmail (recent threads) | Relationship context, active threads, org chart signals | 20 min | 50-200 | | 5 | Conversations (ChatGPT/Claude exports) | Your thinking, questions, mental models | 15 min | 10-100 | | 6 | X/Twitter archive | Your public positions, takes, engagement patterns | 20 min | 30-365 | | 7 | File archives (Dropbox/Drive/local) | Historical documents, old writing, photos | 30+ min | varies | | 8 | Meeting transcripts (Circleback/etc.) | Deep relationship context from recorded calls | 20 min | 10-50 |

Phase 0: ClawVisor Setup (only if your agent harness integrates ClawVisor)

**Harness check first.** ClawVisor requires an agent host with a ClawVisor integration (for example, an OpenClaw deployment). On harnesses without one, such as Codex or Claude Code, skip this phase: the default for Contacts, Calendar, and Gmail is the native connector — `gbrain google setup` (live sync; tokens in gbrain's local credential vault, never with the agent; see `skills/google-loops/SKILL.md`) — with a [Google Takeout](https://takeout.google.com) export as the offline alternative covering all three (contacts CSV, calendar ICS, Gmail mbox). Phases 2-4 below document the Takeout path first.

> **Safety boundary:** An AI agent with raw OAuth tokens to your Gmail, Calendar, > and Contacts is an uncontrolled attack surface. One prompt injection, one > malicious tool call, and your entire Google account is exposed. ClawVisor > eliminates this risk class entirely.

[ClawVisor](https://clawvisor.com) is a credential gateway that sits between the agent and your APIs. The agent never sees your credentials — ClawVisor injects them at request time, enforces policies, and logs everything.

**What ClawVisor gives you:**

• **Credential vaulting** — agent sees shadow tokens, never real secrets
• **Task-scoped authorization** — each workflow declares exactly what it needs
• **Audit trail** — every API call logged with metadata (who, what, when)
• **Human approval gates** — destructive operations (send email, modify calendar)

require your explicit approval

• **Multi-service** — Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Drive, GitHub, iMessage from one gateway
• **Revocation** — disable the agent's access in one click, no token rotation needed

**Setup (15 min):** 1. Sign up at [app.clawvisor.com](https://app.clawvisor.com) 2. Create an agent in the dashboard, copy the agent token 3. Set environment variables (in the host agent's environment — shell profile or harness config; gbrain itself has no ClawVisor config keys, these are consumed by the host's ClawVisor integration. This requires an agent host with a ClawVisor integration, such as an OpenClaw deployment. Codex and Claude Code do not consume these variables; use the offline import path instead):

   export CLAWVISOR_URL="https://app.clawvisor.com"
   export CLAWVISOR_AGENT_TOKEN="<token>"

4. Activate Google services (Gmail, Calendar, Contacts) in the das