# Action Brief

> Create a scoped action brief from the current conversation. Use when a conversation produces something actionable that needs to be captured as a brief. Invoked by the cofounder agent or other skills when actions emerge.

- Skill: `rvanbaalen/action-brief` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add rvanbaalen/action-brief`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/rvanbaalen/action-brief/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: rvanbaalen (https://skillmd.com/u/rvanbaalen)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/rvanbaalen/action-brief

---


# Action Brief

When any conversation produces something actionable — check-in, sparring, focused work, goal-setting, data analysis — produce an action brief.

## Creating a Brief

Write to `actions/YYYY-MM-DD-<short-name>.md` in the data directory. Scale depth to the task.

### Full Brief (multi-day initiatives)

```
# <Action Name>

## Goal
What this achieves and why it matters. Tie to weekly/monthly/quarterly goals.

## Context
Relevant data, findings, links to data files that informed this decision.

## Target Project
Where this gets executed (if applicable — e.g., the main codebase, a marketing channel, etc.)

## Scope
What's in. What's explicitly out.

## Success Criteria
How do we know it worked?

## Benchmarks
Current numbers to measure against. Link to data source in `data/` if available.
```

### Light Brief (small tasks, focused fixes)

Goal and Scope in a few sentences is enough. The brief should be exactly as detailed as the person executing it needs — no more.

## After Creating a Brief

1. Update `up-next.md` — add to the appropriate section (This Week or Queued) in priority order
2. Tell the user: "Your brief is at `actions/YYYY-MM-DD-name.md`."
3. If relevant, suggest where the user should take this to execute (target project, channel, etc.)

## Brief Lifecycle

- Active briefs in `actions/` = work in progress
- Weekly review: user confirms which are done → log completion in daily log ("Action completed: [name] — [what shipped]") → delete the brief file
- Empty `actions/` directory = everything shipped