Update Dashboard

Update Dashboard

Refresh the Dashboard with current system status and activity.

Before Implementation

Gather context to ensure successful execution:

If critical directories are missing, ask user to confirm project structure before proceeding.

Dependencies

Required Claude Tools:

• Read: For reading Dashboard.md and action files
• Glob: For finding and counting files in directories
• Bash: For checking timestamps and file operations
• Edit or Write: For updating Dashboard.md

Required File System Access:

• Read access: Action directories (Needs_Action/, Done/, Plans/)
• Write access: Dashboard.md file

File Format Requirements:

• Action files must have YAML frontmatter with status, priority, detected fields
• See references/file-format-spec.md for complete specification

Configuration

On first use or when user requests customization, clarify:

1. Base directory: Where is your AI Employee Vault? (default: ./AI_Employee_Vault)
2. Watcher status thresholds:
   • Running: Last entry < X minutes ago (default: 5)
   • Slow: Last entry X-Y minutes ago (default: 5-15)
   • Stopped: Last entry > Y minutes ago (default: 15)
3. Display preferences:
   • Recent activity count: How many items to show? (default: 5)
   • Stats time ranges: Today, this week (default)

Instructions

1. Validate Project Structure

Before gathering data, verify required directories exist:

# Check for required directories
ls [BASE_DIR]/Needs_Action/
ls [BASE_DIR]/Done/
ls [BASE_DIR]/Plans/

If any directory is missing:

• Report to user which directories are missing
• Ask if they want to create the missing directories
• Do not proceed with update until structure is valid

2. Gather Current Status

a. Count Files in Each Folder

Use Glob to count .md files:

• [BASE_DIR]/Needs_Action/*.md (pending actions)
• [BASE_DIR]/Plans/*.md (active plans)
• [BASE_DIR]/Done/*.md (completed tasks)

b. Check Watcher Status

Look for most recent log entry in today's log file:

• If last entry < 5 minutes ago (or configured threshold): 🟢 Running
• If last entry 5-15 minutes ago (or configured range): 🟡 Slow
• If last entry > 15 minutes ago (or configured threshold): 🔴 Stopped

Error handling:

• If log file doesn't exist: Show "🟡 Unknown" status
• If log format is unexpected: Use file modification time as fallback

3. Get Pending Actions List

Read all files in [BASE_DIR]/Needs_Action/:

For each file:

1. Read YAML frontmatter
2. Extract: filename, priority, detected timestamp
3. Only include files with status: pending or status: in_progress
4. Format as list item with emoji indicator:
   • 🔴 High priority
   • 🟡 Medium priority
   • 🟢 Low priority

Error handling:

• If frontmatter is missing: Skip file with warning, continue processing
• If priority is missing: Default to medium (🟡)
• If detected timestamp is malformed: Use file modification time

Empty state:

• If no pending actions: Display "No pending actions"

4. Get Recent Activity

Read all files in [BASE_DIR]/Done/:

1. Extract completed timestamp from frontmatter
2. Sort by completion timestamp (most recent first)
3. Take top 5 (or configured count) completed items
4. Format with completion timestamp and brief description

Error handling:

• If completed timestamp missing: Use file modification time
• If file has no title: Use filename as description

Empty state:

• If no recent activity: Display "No recent activity"

5. Calculate Today's Stats

Calculate three key metrics:

• Files Processed Today: Count log entries for today, or count Done files modified today
• Active Tasks: Count of pending + in_progress items from Needs_Action
• Completed This Week: Count Done folder items from past 7 days

6. Update Dashboard.md

Read current [BASE_DIR]/Dashboard.md:

1. If Dashboard.md doesn't exist, create from template in assets/dashboard-template.md
2. Update the frontmatter last_updated field to current UTC timestamp (ISO 8601 format)
3. Replace each section with fresh data:
   • System Status
   • Pending Actions
   • Recent Activity
   • Quick Stats

Use Edit tool for existing file, Write tool for new file.

Dashboard Structure

The Dashboard.md should follow this structure (see assets/dashboard-template.md):

---
last_updated: [ISO timestamp]
---

# AI Employee Dashboard

## System Status
- Watcher Status: [🟢 Running / 🟡 Slow / 🔴 Stopped]
- Last Check: [timestamp of most recent log entry]

## Pending Actions
[List of pending items with priorities, or "No pending actions"]

## Recent Activity
[List of last 5 completed items, or "No recent activity"]

## Quick Stats
- Files Processed Today: [count]
- Active Tasks: [count]
- Completed This Week: [count]

Error Handling

Handle common error scenarios gracefully:

Always update last_updated timestamp even if some sections fail.

Examples

✅ Good: Well-formed action file

---
status: pending
priority: high
detected: 2026-01-10T14:23:01Z
title: "Process invoice for Client A"
---

# Invoice Processing Required

Details here...

❌ Bad: Missing required fields

---
# No status or priority fields!
---

# Some Task

This will be skipped or treated with defaults.

✅ Good: Empty state handling

When no pending actions exist:

## Pending Actions
No pending actions

Not:

## Pending Actions
[blank]

Anti-Patterns

Avoid these common mistakes:

❌ Don't manually edit counts - Always recalculate from source data ❌ Don't cache watcher status - Always check latest log entry ❌ Don't skip validation - Verify all directories before processing ❌ Don't use relative timestamps - Always use ISO 8601 format with UTC ❌ Don't proceed on errors - Gracefully handle and report issues ❌ Don't hardcode paths - Use configured base directory

Success Criteria

After running this skill, verify:

• Dashboard.md has current last_updated timestamp
• All file counts are accurate (verify with Glob)
• Watcher status reflects latest activity
• Pending actions list matches Needs_Action/ contents
• Recent activity shows latest items from Done/
• No errors or warnings in execution log

Advanced Topics

For detailed information, see:

• Dashboard design principles: references/dashboard-best-practices.md
• File format specifications: references/file-format-spec.md

Related Skills

• Use process-needs-action to process the pending items listed
• Use complete-task to move items to Done folder