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Productivityv1.0.0By uristocrat

CEO To-Do

A single-source-of-truth to-do system for CEOs and executives, distributed as a Claude skill. Point it at one markdown file and it becomes the canonical record of everything you're on the hook for. It captures pasted emails, meeting notes, and asks; clarifies each into a real next-action with an owner and a priority; and runs the full GTD loop over that one file. Status is tracked with a fixed vocabulary — [OPEN], [DONE], [STALE], [WAITING] — with P0/P1/P2/parked priorities and a 'last updated' stamp. Open items age to [STALE] after 7 days, [WAITING] items are flagged when their reply-by date passes, and done work is archived without ever being deleted. Items you add by hand ([user-added]) are never auto-closed. The reliability guarantee is enforced in code, not prompt: every mutating run is fail-closed on a bundled deterministic validator, snapshot-backed, append/archive-only, validated before and after the write, and ends with a postcondition report so nothing is ever lost, corrupted, or silently changed. The single-doc format is based on the system Brian Halligan (co-founder of HubSpot) shared publicly (https://x.com/bhalligan/status/2054689082857730097). For the automated version that sweeps Gmail and Slack daily, see the CEO To-Do — Daily agent.

productivitygtdgetting-things-doneceoexecutivetask-managementsingle-source-of-truth
Install

Install the full skill folder — validator included

This skill is a folder, not a single file: <code>SKILL.md</code> plus a bundled deterministic validator (<code>references/validate.mjs</code>) that enforces the reliability guarantee. Install the whole folder so the validator ships with it — a single-file copy of the instructions alone cannot fail closed.

  1. 1

    Get the skill folder

    Download or clone the ceo-todo/ folder from GitHub (button below). It contains SKILL.md and references/validate.mjs — both are required for the fail-closed guarantee.

  2. 2

    Add it to Claude as a skill

    In the Claude desktop app under Code → Customize, or on claude.ai under Customize → Skills, choose Create a new skill and upload the full folder (the SKILL.md and the references/ directory), not just the single instructions file.

  3. 3

    Point it at your doc and go

    Say a trigger phrase like run my to-do or what am I on the hook for. Every mutating run confirms the bundled validator can execute and refuses to touch your doc if it can't.

Get the full skill (with validator) on GitHub
Overview

What this skill does

This is an overview of the skill from the site, not the skill's real instructions. The full SKILL.md Claude reads when this skill is active lives on GitHub at the pinned source below.

CEO To-Do — Single Source of Truth

One canonical markdown file holds everything you’re on the hook for. This skill runs the Getting Things Done loop over it — capture, clarify, organize, reflect, engage — so you can get every commitment out of your head and trust the doc instead.

What it does

  • Captures pasted emails, meeting notes, and asks into the one file.
  • Clarifies each into a real next-action with an owner and a priority.
  • Tracks status with a fixed vocabulary: [OPEN], [DONE], [STALE], [WAITING], plus P0/P1/P2/parked priorities.
  • Ages prioritized open items to [STALE] after 7 days, and flags [WAITING] items whose reply-by date has passed.
  • Archives done work (append-only, never deleted) and never auto-closes an item you added by hand.
  • Surfaces today’s P0/P1 shortlist.

The reliability guarantee

Because you need to trust the doc, the load-bearing invariants live in deterministic code, not in model judgment. Every mutating run:

  1. confirms the bundled validator can execute in Claude’s sandbox — and refuses to touch the doc if it can’t (fail-closed),
  2. snapshots the doc to a timestamped backup before any write,
  3. is append/archive-only — items move to ## Archive, never get deleted,
  4. is validated before and after the write (a non-zero validator exit stops the write), and
  5. ends with a postcondition report: items in/out, archived, IDs added/moved, validator PASS/FAIL.

The validator asserts no lost items, no duplicate IDs, correct staleness math, no auto-closed [user-added] item, an advancing stamp, and valid line grammar. It runs in Claude’s code-execution sandbox — the same mechanism the built-in docx/pptx/xlsx skills use for their bundled Python. You install the skill, never a runtime.

Credit

The single-doc format is based on the system Brian Halligan (co-founder of HubSpot) shared publicly (thread). This skill generalizes the pattern for any CEO.

The automated version

For a hands-off daily run that sweeps your Gmail and Slack for new commitments and applies these same rules, see the CEO To-Do — Daily agent.

View full SKILL.md on GitHub