Team Update

Post project updates to team chat, read and triage feedback, and plan next steps. Adapts to whatever communication and project tools are available.

The Playbook Pattern

This skill uses a playbook file at .claude/team-update-playbook.md in the project root.

• First run: Discover available tools, ask the user for preferences, execute, save a playbook
• Subsequent runs: Read the playbook, skip discovery, execute directly
• User edits playbook: Changes take effect immediately (channel, style, triage rules)

The playbook is plain markdown the user can edit. It captures tool configuration, channel preferences, message style, triage rules, and last-run metadata.

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Phase 0: Playbook Check

Check if .claude/team-update-playbook.md exists in the project root.

If it exists: Read it. All tool configuration, channel info, message style, and triage rules are in there. Jump to Phase 1 with known config.

If it does not exist: Run Phase 0b (Discovery) first.

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Phase 0b: Discovery (First Run Only)

Detect available capabilities by checking what MCP tools are connected and what local tools exist.

Read references/discovery-patterns.md for detection patterns.

Capability Detection

Check for each capability category:

Capability	How to detect	Fallback if missing
Chat	MCP tools matching chat, slack, discord, teams	Output formatted text for manual posting
Git	git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree	Skip commit summaries
Issues	MCP tools matching github, linear, jira	Skip or output text list
Tasks	MCP tools matching tasks, todos, asana	Skip or output text list
Knowledge	Basalt Cortex (~/Documents/basalt-cortex/)	Search for related knowledge notes

User Preferences (Ask)

After discovery, ask the user to confirm:

1. Channel: Which chat space/channel to post updates to? (List discovered options)
2. Identity: Post as yourself or a bot identity? (e.g. Anthro Morphic)
3. Repo scope: Which repo(s) to track? (Default: current repo)
4. Message style: Brief standup, detailed changelog, or conversational update?
5. Team context: Any team members to be aware of? (Names, roles)
6. Triage rules: Any custom rules for handling feedback? (Or use defaults)

Save Playbook

After discovery + user preferences, save the playbook to .claude/team-update-playbook.md.

Read references/playbook-format.md for the full template. Fill in all sections with discovered tools and user preferences. If a capability was not found, note it as "Not available" in the playbook.

Ensure .claude/ is in .gitignore (the playbook contains space IDs and preferences that shouldn't be committed).

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Phase 1: Gather Context

Collect information from all available sources. Use the playbook's "Data Sources" section to know which tools to call.

1a. Determine Time Window

Check the playbook's "Last Run" section for the last update timestamp. If no previous run, ask the user how far back to go (default: 24 hours).

1b. Collect Data

Gather from each available source:

Source	What to collect	Tool
Git commits	git log --oneline --since=<last-update>	Bash
Chat messages	Messages in the configured channel since last update	Chat MCP tool from playbook
Open issues/PRs	Recently updated or newly created items	Issue tracker from playbook
Active tasks	In-progress or recently completed tasks	Task tracker from playbook

1c. Summarise for Drafting

Group commits by theme (not individual hashes). Note any issues closed, PRs merged, or tasks completed. Flag any team messages that need response.

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Phase 2: Draft and Post Update

2a. Compose Message

Read references/message-composition.md for message patterns.

Follow the playbook's "Message Style" section. General principles:

• Lead with what shipped or changed, not process
• Group related commits into themes
• Mention specific people only when relevant
• Keep it scannable (short paragraphs, bullet points)
• Write like a teammate, not an AI — no emoji spam, no hedging, no over-explaining context the team already has. See the Communication Style section in references/message-composition.md.

2b. Preview and Approval

Show the draft to the user. Include:

• The composed message
• Which channel it will be posted to
• Whether it's a new message or thread reply

APPROVAL REQUIRED: Never post to external channels without explicit user approval.

2c. Post

Post the approved message using the chat tool from the playbook. If no chat tool is available, output the formatted message for the user to post manually.

2d. Update Playbook

After posting, update the "Last Run" section of the playbook with:

• Current timestamp
• Thread key (if applicable)
• Brief summary of what was posted

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Phase 3: Read and Triage Feedback

3a. Read Responses

Read messages from the configured channel since the update was posted. Look for:

• Direct replies to the update
• New messages in the channel that reference the project
• Reactions or acknowledgements

3b. Classify Feedback

Read references/feedback-triage.md for classification patterns.

Use the playbook's "Triage Rules" section. Default classification:

Type	Action
Bug report	Create issue (label: bug)
Feature request	Create issue (label: enhancement)
Question	Draft reply for user approval
Blocker	Flag immediately, suggest resolution
Acknowledgement	Note, no action needed
Off-topic	Ignore

3c. Present and Act

Present a summary of feedback with proposed actions:

## Feedback Summary

- Daniel: "Can we add dark mode?" -> Create issue (enhancement)
- Rabin: "Auth is broken on staging" -> Create issue (bug, priority)
- Karen: "Looks good!" -> No action

Proceed with these actions?

APPROVAL REQUIRED: Never create issues, post replies, or take external actions without explicit user approval.

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Phase 4: Plan Next Steps

4a. Prioritise

From all gathered context (commits, issues, tasks, feedback), identify:

1. Blockers: Things preventing progress
2. High-priority: Bugs, urgent requests, deadlines
3. Next up: Planned work, feature requests
4. Backlog: Nice-to-haves, low-priority items

4b. Present (Not Posted)

Show the prioritised list to the user. This is for the user's planning only -- do NOT post it to any channel.

## Suggested Priorities

1. [BLOCKER] Fix auth on staging (from Rabin's feedback)
2. [HIGH] Complete API endpoint for user profiles (current sprint)
3. [NEXT] Dark mode support (from Daniel's request)
4. [BACKLOG] Refactor database queries

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Autonomy Rules

Action	Level
Read/create playbook	Just do it
Discover tools (first run)	Just do it, confirm preferences with user
Gather context (git, chat, issues)	Just do it
Draft update message	Just do it, show preview
Post to external channel	Approval required
Create issues/tasks	Approval required
Post replies to team	Approval required
Update playbook "Last Run"	Just do it
Present plan/priorities	Just do it

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Graceful Degradation

The skill works at any level of tool availability:

Available tools	Experience
Git only	Summarise commits, output text for manual posting
Git + Chat	Full post/read cycle, manual issue creation
Git + Chat + Issues	Full cycle with automated issue creation
Git + Chat + Issues + Tasks + Knowledge	Full cycle with persistent tracking

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Operating Modes

The skill responds to different trigger phrases:

Trigger	Behaviour
"team update" / "post update"	Full cycle: gather, draft, post, read feedback
"check team chat" / "what did the team say"	Phase 3 only: read and triage feedback
"standup" / "sync with team"	Phase 1 + 2: gather and post, skip feedback
"project update"	Phase 1 + 2 + 4: gather, post, plan (skip feedback triage)
"feedback loop"	Phase 3 + 4: read feedback and plan

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Reference Files

When	Read
First run — saving playbook	references/playbook-format.md
First run — detecting tools	references/discovery-patterns.md
Composing update messages	references/message-composition.md
Classifying team feedback	references/feedback-triage.md