context-to-action-skills

Formerly ai-business-skills.

context-to-action-skills is the action layer for messy workplace context.

Most AI tools summarize context. This repo turns context into action while preserving uncertainty.

What it does in 30 seconds

The promise is small: turn messy workplace context into the next clear move without pretending uncertainty is resolved.

Start here

This repo is a lightweight skill pack for pasted workplace context.

It is not a deterministic workflow engine, ticketing system, MCP server, or project-management backend.

The skills provide reusable instruction contracts and examples. They help an assistant preserve uncertainty, identify asks, surface owners, draft replies, and avoid unsafe action.

Each installed SKILL.md is self-contained: the critical uncertainty, handoff, and mutation rules travel with the skill folder rather than depending on repository-only links.

Slack threads, email chains, doc comments, tickets, and transcripts can all carry the same source state as a live meeting. Treat them as async collaboration: extract facts first, then move to the next clear action.

For machine-validated workflows, use the optional schemas and examples as a stricter handoff layer.

Try it in 60 seconds

No coding is required.

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/tmusser/context-to-action-skills.git
cd context-to-action-skills

Then choose one install target.

Claude Code:

./install.sh --claude-user --only reduce-to-facts,clear-ask,decision-brief,follow-up-draft

Codex:

./install.sh --codex-user --only reduce-to-facts,clear-ask,decision-brief,follow-up-draft

Start with reduce-to-facts; it is the safest first move for dense or ambiguous context. clear-ask, decision-brief, and follow-up-draft turn the ledger into action, and the full set adds brief-me, meeting-to-actions, and status-update. --include-templates is optional if you also want the supporting templates. Use --force only when you intentionally want to replace an existing destination that differs.

Paste messy notes, a transcript, or connected context into Claude/Cowork and ask:

Use reduce-to-facts on this thread and give me a compact fact ledger with source scope, atomic facts, open questions, and action-relevant implications.

reduce-to-facts defaults to source-only mode. Ask for source-expanded mode only when you want outside evidence checked; it adds a Claim Status table and Rhetorical Leaps.

Tiny example:

Messy input:
Alex: "Can we still send the customer note today?"
Sam: "I'd rather not wait; support can catch up after."
Priya: "Support needs the enterprise wording before anything goes out."
Jordan: "Legal has not approved the banner copy yet."
Alex: "The send queue closes at 3pm. Who owns the call?"

Clean output:
Clean ask: decide whether to send today or wait for legal/support readiness.
Decision needed: send today vs. move to tomorrow.
Owner gap: no final decision owner is named.
Suggested reply: "Can we name the decision owner and confirm by 3pm whether legal/support readiness blocks today's send?"
Full version: [examples/messy-thread-to-follow-up.md](https://github.com/tmusser/context-to-action-skills/blob/main/examples/messy-thread-to-follow-up.md)

Shareable one-pager: docs/one-pager.md

What it creates

The output here is a fact ledger, a reply draft, a status update, or a decision snapshot that preserves uncertainty.

It is not a deck generator, project-management framework, or heavy artifact factory.

The skills provide reusable instruction contracts and examples. They help an assistant preserve uncertainty, identify asks, surface owners, draft replies, and avoid unsafe action. They do not guarantee structured output unless the host assistant follows the requested format.

Optional schemas and examples give you a stricter handoff layer when you want machine-checked output.

What you can do

Operating modes

Choose the mode that gives you the right control.

Compatibility and control matrix

Validation boundary

This is the pasted-context validation boundary for the repo.

The validated path is pasted-context usage with Claude/Cowork-style skills.

The SKILL.md files are plain text and may be adapted for ChatGPT, Gemini, Codex-style agents, or internal assistants, but those paths are compatibility targets rather than fully tested integrations.

Connector and action-mode behavior depends on the host assistant and the tools the user explicitly authorizes. This repo provides guardrails and output contracts; it does not independently grant tool access or mutate systems unless explicitly asked.

For why MCP stays out of scope for now, see integration roadmap.

Shared authoring guidance for mixed-source inputs lives in source-packet.md. The installed skills carry their critical output contract inline.

Privacy and control

• pasted-only mode uses only pasted text
• connected-context mode reads only approved tools
• draft-only mode does not send or publish
• action mode mutates systems only when explicitly asked
• Tone safety: helps avoid accidental escalation, fake certainty, overcommitment, and misreading stakeholder sensitivity

Examples

• Reduce to facts vendor risk
• Reduce to facts source expanded
• Messy thread to follow-up
• Gmail buried obligation
• Leadership status update
• Post-meeting follow-up
• Morning brief
• Decision with data
• Async Slack clear ask

See examples/README.md for a quick index of what each example demonstrates.

Helpful supporting files: clarity-check.md, source-packet.md, CONVERSATION_STATE.md, ACTIONS.md, DECISIONS.md, and UPDATE.md.

How This Repo Was Built

This repo was built using ai-engineering-skills as the control layer.

• BUILD_LOG.md
• CREATION_INVOCATIONS.md
• DESIGN_DECISIONS.md
• VERIFY.md
• Process artifacts

Part of the suite

This repo is one piece of a small set of repos for making AI-assisted work clearer, more bounded, and more verifiable. See Suite map.