awesome-copilot/skills/daily-focus-board/references/tutorial.md

Using the Daily Focus Board

A warm, visual board for your day that you run by talking to your AI partner (Ember). You set the tasks; you keep it current through conversation and a few one-tap controls. This guide covers running it in the GitHub Copilot app (best experience) and directly through Ember anywhere.

Quick start

Just ask:

"Make me a focus board for today."

Ember will ask for your handful of tasks (or lift them from what you've already said), generate the board, serve it locally, and open it. That's it — you're running your day with a partner.

Two ways to run it

A) In the GitHub Copilot app (browser canvas) — recommended

The app can show a browser canvas right next to the chat, so the board lives beside your conversation.

1. Ask Ember to make the board. It serves the folder (e.g. python -m http.server 8790 --bind 127.0.0.1) and gives you an http://localhost:…/…html URL.
2. Open a browser canvas to that URL. The board sits in the side panel; the chat stays on the left.
3. Talk to Ember as you work; tap the board for quick updates. Progress saves automatically (localStorage).

B) Directly through Ember (any Copilot session with this skill)

Same flow, without the side-panel polish:

1. "Make me a focus board for today."
2. Ember serves it and gives you the URL — open it in your browser.
3. Drive it by talking + tapping.

localStorage needs an http:// origin, so always serve the folder rather than double-clicking the file. If you truly can't serve, the file still opens, but progress may not persist.

The daily loop

1. Arrive (morning).

• Check in: tap below / in-between / above the line — just noticing how you're arriving, no judgment. (Below the line? Be gentle and shrink the first step.)
• Set a mantra: type today's intention, tap 🔄 for a suggestion, or ask Ember for one.
• List ~4–9 tasks. Keep it a focus board, not a backlog. Mark the one real anchor (give it a due). Optionally set each task's priority (Do first / Schedule / Delegate / Later — tap 🧭 for what they mean).

2. Work (during the day).

• Tap a task's pill to move it to do → in progress → done (starting counts — celebrate it).
• Log momentum notes ("first draft done") — they build the story of your day.
• Focus mode (🎯) dims everything but one task when the list feels loud.
• A stray thought? Park it in the 🧠 brain-dump box and keep going.
• Need to capture something new? ➕ add a task right on the board.
• Reorder by importance with the ⠿ handle, or tap ⬍ sort by priority.
• Rename any tile's label inline.

3. Close (end of day).

• Tap 💾 download recap to keep the day as a Markdown file, or 📋 copy it.
• If you copy it, paste it to Ember — Ember can journal your day and help you set up tomorrow.
• Carry unfinished things with ⤳ not today — that's a healthy choice, not a miss.

Things to say to Ember

• "I'm below the line today — give me a gentle mantra and one tiny first step."
• "What should I do next?" → Ember names one thing and can turn on Focus mode.
• "Add 'call the dentist' to the board."
• "Help me prioritize — what's actually important vs just urgent?"
• "Here's my end-of-day recap: …" (paste it) → "journal this and plan tomorrow."

Good to know

• It's yours and optional. Every feature is a support, not a requirement. Focus-friendly for everyone; never a diagnosis.
• Keep it small. If it passes ~9 active tasks, the board nudges you — carry a few to tomorrow.
• The Schedule quadrant (important, not urgent) is where the good, non-frantic work lives — protect time for it.
• State is per-browser. The end-of-day recap is how you take your day out of the browser.