Decision Apply Skill

Taxonomy note: This skill provides domain expertise (HOW) for processing annotated decisions and updating task statuses. See [[TAXONOMY.md]] for the skill/workflow distinction.

Process your annotated decisions from the daily note and update the task system accordingly.

Prerequisites

Run /decision-extract first to generate the decisions section
Annotate your decisions in the daily note (mark checkboxes, add notes)
Then run /decision-apply to execute

Apply Logic

Step 1: Locate Daily Note

# Get today's date
today = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d")
daily_note_path = f"$ACA_DATA/daily/{today}-daily.md"

Read the daily note using the Read tool.

Step 2: Parse Decision Section

Find the ## Pending Decisions section and extract:

Decision metadata block (YAML in HTML comment):

<!-- decision-metadata
decisions:
  - id: D001
    task_id: aops-abc123
    decision: null
    processed: false
-->

User annotations from the decision entries:

Checked boxes: [x] Approve, [x] Reject, etc.
Notes field content

Step 3: Extract User Decisions

For each decision entry, determine user's choice:

APPROVE_MARKERS = ["[x] Approve", "[x] Yes", "[x] Go"]
REJECT_MARKERS = ["[x] Reject", "[x] No", "[x] Cancel"]
DEFER_MARKERS = ["[x] Defer", "[x] Later"]
SKIP_MARKERS = ["[x] Skip"]
INFO_MARKERS = ["[x] Need more info"]

def parse_decision(entry_text):
    """Parse a single decision entry to extract user's choice."""
    if entry_text is None:
        raise ValueError("entry_text is required")

    # Check approval markers
    for marker in APPROVE_MARKERS:
        if marker in entry_text:
            return "approve"

    # Check rejection markers
    for marker in REJECT_MARKERS:
        if marker in entry_text:
            return "reject"

    # Check defer markers
    for marker in DEFER_MARKERS:
        if marker in entry_text:
            return "defer"

    # Check skip markers
    for marker in SKIP_MARKERS:
        if marker in entry_text:
            return "skip"

    # Check needs-info markers
    for marker in INFO_MARKERS:
        if marker in entry_text:
            return "needs_info"

    # Check for custom decision in Notes field
    notes_match = extract_notes(entry_text)
    if notes_match is not None and notes_match.strip() != "":
        return ("custom", notes_match.strip())

    return None  # No decision made

Step 4: Apply Each Decision

For each decision with a non-null choice:

Approve/Yes/Go

mcp__pkb__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    status="active",
    body=f"Decision: Approved by user on {today}. Notes: {notes}"
)

Reject/No/Cancel

mcp__pkb__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    status="cancelled",
    body=f"Decision: Rejected by user on {today}. Notes: {notes}"
)

Defer

mcp__pkb__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    status="waiting",  # Keep in waiting
    body=f"Decision: Deferred on {today}. Will revisit. Notes: {notes}"
)

Skip

# No status change, just mark as processed
# Task stays in current state for next extraction

Needs More Info

mcp__pkb__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    status="blocked",
    body=f"Decision: Needs more info ({today}). Notes: {notes}"
)

Custom Decision

mcp__pkb__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    status="active",  # Default to unblocking
    body=f"Decision: {custom_text} ({today})"
)

Step 5: Track Unblocked Tasks

After updating each decision task, check what got unblocked:

def get_newly_unblocked(task_id):
    """Find tasks that were blocked by this decision."""
    task = mcp__pkb__get_task(id=task_id)

    # Tasks in the 'blocks' list are now potentially unblocked
    unblocked = []
    for blocked_id in task.get("blocks", []):
        blocked_task = mcp__pkb__get_task(id=blocked_id)
        # Check if all dependencies are now met
        if all_deps_complete(blocked_task):
            unblocked.append(blocked_task)

    return unblocked

Step 6: Update Daily Note

After processing, update the ## Pending Decisions section:

Mark processed decisions with checkmarks
Add processing timestamp
List unblocked tasks

## Pending Decisions

Processed at 14:30 - 3 decisions applied, 5 tasks unblocked.

### Completed Decisions

- D001: Approved authentication provider - Auth0 selected
  - Unblocked: [aops-login] Login UI, [aops-session] Session mgmt
- D002: Rejected API schema v2 - Requested changes
- D003: Deferred PR review - Will revisit tomorrow

### Still Pending

(None remaining)

---

**Next**: Run `/pull` to start working on unblocked tasks.

Use Edit tool to update the section in place.

Output Report

After processing, output a summary:

## Decision Apply Results

**Processed**: 3 of 4 decisions
**Skipped**: 1 (no annotation)

| Decision | Task          | Action               | Unblocked |
| -------- | ------------- | -------------------- | --------- |
| D001     | `aops-abc123` | Approved - active    | 2 tasks   |
| D002     | `aops-def456` | Rejected - cancelled | 0 tasks   |
| D003     | `aops-ghi789` | Deferred - waiting   | 0 tasks   |

**Total tasks unblocked**: 2

- [aops-login] Login UI implementation
- [aops-session] Session management

**Remaining pending decisions**: 1

- D004: PR #789 review (no annotation)

Run `/decision-extract` again to refresh the pending list.

Partial Processing

If user only annotates some decisions:

Process all annotated decisions
Leave unannotated decisions in the Pending section
Report what was processed and what remains
Do NOT prompt for missing annotations (trust user intent)

Safety Rules

NEVER Auto-Execute

This skill updates task STATUS only. It does NOT:

Send emails
Make calendar changes
Execute code
Delete files

Those actions require separate skills with explicit user invocation.

Preserve User Notes

When updating task bodies, APPEND to existing content:

mcp__pkb__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    body=f"## Decision Log\n\n- {today}: {decision_text}",
    replace_body=False  # Append, don't replace
)

Audit Trail

Every decision application adds to the task's body:

Date of decision
User's choice
User's notes (if any)

This creates an audit trail for future reference.

Error Handling

Scenario	Behavior
No decisions section	Output "No pending decisions found. Run `/decision-extract` first."
Task not found	Log warning, skip that decision, continue with others
Invalid decision format	Log warning, skip, continue
All decisions skipped	Output "No annotations found. Add your decisions to the daily note and run again."

Example Session

Before (daily note has annotated decisions):

#### D001: Approve authentication provider

**Decision**: [x] Auth0 [ ] Cognito [ ] Need more info
**Notes**: Go with Auth0 for better docs and support.

User runs: /decision-apply

After (task updated):

# Task aops-abc123 now has:
status: active
body: |
  ...existing content...

  ## Decision Log

  - 2026-02-03: Approved (Auth0 selected). Notes: Go with Auth0 for better docs and support.

Output:

Decision Apply Results

Processed: 1 decision
- D001: Approved - task `aops-abc123` now active

Unblocked: 3 tasks
- [aops-login] Login UI implementation
- [aops-session] Session management
- [aops-tests] User auth tests

Run `/pull` to start working on unblocked tasks.

Related Skills

/decision-extract - Generate the pending decisions list
/daily - Morning briefing includes decision count
/pull - Pull next task after decisions are cleared