Process Bundle Skill

Process a briefing bundle that Nic has annotated. Scan for <!-- @nic: --> annotations, execute the corresponding action for each, and append a processing receipt.

CRITICAL BOUNDARY

This skill executes decisions. It does NOT generate bundles.

• Email drafts are staged in Outlook as drafts -- never auto-sent
• Task status changes are written to PKB
• Each action is logged in the processing receipt
• If an annotation is ambiguous, log it as needs_clarification and skip

Invocation

/process-bundle         # Process today's bundle
/process-bundle DATE    # Process a specific date's bundle (YYYYMMDD)

Pipeline

1. Locate bundle

# Today's bundle by default
bundle_path = f"$ACA_DATA/daily/{date}-bundle.md"

If the bundle doesn't exist, HALT: "No bundle found for {date}. Run /bundle first."

2. Scan for unprocessed annotations

Find all <!-- @nic: --> annotations that do NOT have a matching <!-- @claude --> response immediately after them.

Grep(pattern="<!--\\s*@nic:", path=bundle_path, output_mode="content", -C=2)

Filter out annotations that already have a <!-- @claude YYYY-MM-DD: --> response on the next line.

3. Process each annotation

For each unprocessed annotation, determine the action type and execute:

Annotation	Action
<!-- @nic: approved -->	Execute the recommended action from the coversheet. Update task status in PKB.
<!-- @nic: send -->	Stage the draft email in Outlook using messages_reply or messages_create_draft. Use the In-Reply-To entry_id for threading.
<!-- @nic: send as edited -->	Read the (edited) draft text from the bundle. Stage in Outlook with the edited content.
<!-- @nic: decline -->	Execute the alternative/opposite action. Update task in PKB.
<!-- @nic: defer to YYYY-MM-DD -->	Update task due date in PKB. No email action.
<!-- @nic: noted -->	No action needed. Mark as processed.
<!-- @nic: task: [title] -->	Create a new PKB task with the given title. Infer project from the FYI section context.
<!-- @nic: cancel -->	For carryover items: update task status to cancelled in PKB.
<!-- @nic: act -->	For carryover items: move to today's active work. Update task status to in_progress.
<!-- @nic: [freeform] -->	Interpret the annotation. If clear enough to act, execute. If ambiguous, log as needs_clarification.

Processing rules

1. One annotation at a time, sequentially. Process in document order (top to bottom).
2. Log every action. After processing each annotation, add a <!-- @claude YYYY-MM-DD: [action taken] --> response immediately after the @nic annotation.
3. Fail-safe on email. If messages_reply or messages_create_draft fails, log the error and continue. Never retry silently.
4. Verify task IDs. Before updating a task, verify it exists with get_task. If not found, log as task_not_found and skip.
5. Never auto-send email. All email actions create drafts only. Log the draft entry_id in the receipt.

4. Build processing receipt

After all annotations are processed, append a receipt table to the bundle:

---

## Processing Receipt

Processed: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM

| # | Section   | Item             | Annotation          | Action Taken                  | Status                |
| - | --------- | ---------------- | ------------------- | ----------------------------- | --------------------- |
| 1 | Decisions | [title]          | approved            | Task [id] updated to done     | ✅                    |
| 2 | Emails    | Reply: [subject] | send                | Draft staged (entry_id: [id]) | ✅                    |
| 3 | FYI       | [headline]       | task: Review X      | Task [id] created             | ✅                    |
| 4 | Decisions | [title]          | defer to 2026-03-15 | Task [id] due date updated    | ✅                    |
| 5 | Carryover | [item]           | [freeform]          | --                            | ⚠️ needs_clarification |

Status indicators:

• ✅ Successfully processed
• ⚠️ Needs clarification or partial failure
• ❌ Failed (with error description)

5. Summary output

Print to terminal:

Bundle processed: daily/YYYYMMDD-bundle.md
N annotations processed: N✅ N⚠️ N❌
Emails staged: N drafts
Tasks updated: N
Tasks created: N

Items needing clarification:
- #5: [freeform annotation text] -- couldn't determine action

Error Handling

Failure	Behaviour
Bundle not found	HALT: "No bundle found for {date}"
No unprocessed annotations	Print "No pending annotations" and exit
Outlook unavailable	Skip email actions, log all as ⚠️, note in summary
PKB unavailable	Skip task actions, log all as ⚠️, note in summary
Task ID not found	Log as ⚠️ task_not_found, continue
Ambiguous freeform annotation	Log as ⚠️ needs_clarification, continue
Email staging fails	Log as ❌ with error, continue

Idempotency

Processing is idempotent. Re-running /process-bundle on the same bundle will:

1. Find only annotations without <!-- @claude --> responses
2. Skip already-processed annotations
3. Append a new receipt section (not overwrite the previous one)

This means it's safe to run multiple times if processing was interrupted.