Imported from rbtkhn/grace-mar (.cursor/skills/coffee/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add rbtkhn/grace-mar --skill coffee. Copyright stays with the author.

Coffee

Preferred activation (operator): say coffee. Legacy hey still works as a compatibility alias, but coffee is the canonical trigger now.

Signing-off intent (end of session, wrapping the day, stepping away) uses the same coffee trigger and the same A, B, C, D, E hub menu. There is no separate closeout branch or closeout-only menu item. Step 1 switches to handoff-weighted output when intent is signing off; Step 2 is unchanged.

coffee is not a startup ceremony. coffee is a repeatable sip of coherence.

Its purpose is to help the operator become more awake to the actual situation, more coherent about priorities, and more directed about the next move. A coffee session does not need to complete the day's thinking. It only needs to improve orientation enough that action becomes easier.

Multiple coffee sessions per day are normal. That is not redundancy; it is the point. Each coffee is another sip.

coffee is also the default checkpointed re-entry ritual. In a fresh chat, it should resume from the most recent authoritative grace-mar checkpoint on disk, using cadence and handoff state to recover orientation. If more than one plausible checkpoint exists, prefer the latest on-disk authority and surface the ambiguity instead of guessing. This is a checkpoint, not a transfer seal: it restores continuity, but it does not commit, push, or generate a bridge packet.

Coffee Hub Menu (terminology): coffee Step 2 fixed A–E hub (Steward / Engineer / Historian / Capitalist / Conductor) is the Coffee Hub Menu. When routing continues into Conductor, resolution uses the Master Selection Menu (masters A.–E. — Toscanini … Bernstein) and then typically the Conductor Action Menu (three repo-grounded next moves — CONDUCTOR-PASS — Conductor action MCQ). Layer map: CONDUCTOR-LAYER-MAP.md.

Guardrails

• Do not turn coffee into a heavy maintenance ritual by default.
• Do not overload each run with every possible obligation or stale thread.
• Prefer a small number of salient next paths over exhaustive review.
• Keep the operator in the position of renewed agency, not procedural burden.
• coffee is for orientation; heavier consolidation belongs to dream.
• This is read-only planning. Do not merge or stage just because the warmup mentions candidates.
• If integrity fails, surface that before optional improvements.
• Contextual stewardship: Agents have no cross-thread institutional memory; authority for the Record is on-disk files + gated pipeline — not model recall or chat summary.

Relation to dream

coffee and dream form a biological-cognitive pair:

• coffee = repeated framing dose (many per day)
• dream = end-of-day consolidation pass (usually once)

coffee should feel like a sip. dream should feel like sleep. See .cursor/skills/dream/SKILL.md § Cadence choreography for the day's sequence and data handoff.

Conductor session (outside coffee hub menu)

Use this path when the operator wants Conductor without going through coffee Step 2 hub letter E.

The five masters (Toscanini, Furtwängler, Karajan, Kleiber, Bernstein) are not listed as separate lines on the coffee hub — hub E is the single in-coffee slot for Conductor continuation after coffee Step 1. Call masters directly (this section) when coffee was not opened or when the operator prefers conductor / master name instead of coffee.

Triggers (examples): master name or prefix (toscanini, karajan, bernstein, kleib, …), conductor with optional fragment, or plain language ("Bernstein pass", "run Kleiber on the notebook"). If intent is unclear, ask once. Legacy: bare D + fragment still resolves like a conductor turn when the message is clearly conductor-only (no coffee).

First-turn activation note: bare conductor slugs like bernstein or kleiber should route straight into Conductor on the first command, not be treated as ambiguity.

Do not run operator_coffee.py, do not paste work-start or closeout Step 1 output, and do not lead with Recent rhythm — unless the same message also says coffee or hey.

Standalone Conductor (no coffee in this turn): show build_conductor_mcq_for_user('grace-mar') when the master is not yet disambiguated; resolve via resolve_d_conductor + work-cadence-events.md.

After conductor=<slug> resolves (standalone pick or coffee hub E auto-continue per § Hub E): deliver the short orientation in CONDUCTOR-PASS.md and COFFEE-CADENCE-CONDUCTOR-PROTOCOL.md. Then, always deliver the Conductor action MCQ — three A-C repo-grounded next moves — per CONDUCTOR-PASS — Conductor action MCQ and conductor skill. Skip the action menu only if the operator said "orientation only" / "no action menu" in the same turn.

Logging: log_cadence_event.py --kind coffee_pick -u grace-mar --ok --kv picked=conductor conductor=<slug> (e.g. karajan, toscanini). Legacy lines may still use picked=D; both are fine for rollups. coffee hub letter E uses picked=E conductor=<slug> with <slug> the resolved conductor (auto-continued or chosen after Masters MCQ) — see § Cadence audit. Do not append a separate coffee event unless they actually ran coffee Step 1.

Conductor close (optimal loop): Same as before — CONDUCTOR-CLOSE-TEMPLATE.md in days.md / page Reflection, or coffee_conductor_outcome — CONDUCTOR-IMPROVEMENT-LOOP.md. For auditability, every new outcome line should carry conductor=<slug> and verdict=, plus notebook_ref= or falsify= (both preferred). If a pass ended without that line, log a repair outcome on the next turn rather than leaving the close implicit.

After the reply: return to normal workflow unless the operator says stay in coffee or coffee.

Hub E (coffee Step 2) — automatic continuation: When the operator chooses E — Conductor after coffee Step 1, last_logged_conductor from cadence (coffee_pick with conductor=) is the default resolved slug.

• If a slug exists: Continue that master immediately — short orientation + Conductor action MCQ for that slug. Do not paste the Masters MCQ (build_conductor_mcq_for_user) row unless the operator asks to switch masters in the same turn (e.g. master name / prefix, “masters”, “pick a card”, “switch”) or cadence has no qualifying prior conductor.
• If no slug exists: Paste build_conductor_mcq_for_user('grace-mar') or prompt once for master name / conductor — do not invent a default.

Optional one line after auto-continue prose: Say a master name or “masters” to open the five-master row instead.

Letter-collision: If both the coffee hub and a Conductor action MCQ appear in one reply, label them — e.g. Coffee hub — Reply A–E vs Conductor action MCQ — Reply A–C (this pass) — and never use bare “pick E” without naming which menu (CONDUCTOR-PASS.md).

"Coffee" = start here (two steps)

When the operator begins with coffee (or clearly the same intent; legacy hey still counts), treat it as opening a coffee session.

Step 0 — Recent rhythm (before Step 1 scripts)

Read first — operator_coffee.py appends a new coffee line at the end of a successful run, so the log must be read before those commands if the rhythm read is to exclude this session.

1. Open docs/skill-work/work-cadence/work-cadence-events.md. Below _(Append below this line.)_, collect lines matching - **YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC** — kind (user) ….

2. Take the last 4 such lines already in the file. If there are fewer than four, use what exists; if none, Recent rhythm: (no prior events) in the reply.

3. Synthesize in plain prose — 2–4 short sentences for a human, not a telemetry dump: do not lead with a wall of key=value pairs. Companion-facing UX: label this block Recent rhythm (or prose only); do not put dates, UTC, or clock times in this prose (use order and light anchors like “after dream,” “then bridge,” “earlier today” without timestamps). Must anchor in specifics from those four lines — name what actually happened (e.g. bridge with commit refs if present, coffee work-start vs standard, coffee_pick / conductor when present, legacy thanks park text when non-empty, dream pass/fail or integrity/governance in ordinary words, harvest packet vs not). Avoid generic process filler that could apply without reading the file. Do not paste raw log lines unless they are already very short.

   Cadence voice: Follow the cadence voice principle (work-cadence README). Lead with felt acknowledgment of what was settled or decided, end with the optimal next direction. Use "we" framing. The operator should feel seen, grounded, and ready — not debriefed. Name what was learned or decided, not what was executed. No commit hashes, no process names — warm, direct, future-facing.

4. In the reply, place Recent rhythm: at the top of Step 1 content (immediately before script output / warmup paste). Same rule for signing-off Step 1 (before operator_coffee.py --mode closeout or handoff-only flow).

If the file is missing or empty below the anchor, state that under Recent rhythm and continue Step 1.

Step 1 — Automated actions (one flow, two weights)

Detect intent

• Signing off / closeout / end of session / wrapping the day → use closeout-weighted Step 1 below.
• Otherwise → work-start Step 1 (scale with explicit phrases or weekday cadence).

Work-start Step 1 — run the consolidated coffee script (preferred):

python3 scripts/operator_coffee.py -u grace-mar                   # work-start (default)
python3 scripts/operator_coffee.py -u grace-mar --mode light      # lighter pass
python3 scripts/operator_coffee.py -u grace-mar --mode minimal    # compact harness only
python3 scripts/operator_coffee.py -u grace-mar --mode reentry    # cold-thread full stack

Signing-off Step 1 — handoff-weighted (same trigger coffee, not a second ritual name):

python3 scripts/operator_coffee.py -u grace-mar --mode closeout

Or directly: python3 scripts/operator_handoff_check.py -u grace-mar. Include the output in your reply. Add a short paragraph: what moved today, what is parked, gate + Jiang carryovers, suggested re-entry prompt. Full spec: .cursor/skills/handoff-check/SKILL.md.

If the operator explicitly wants both full warmup and signing-off in one message, run work-start then append handoff (rare).

Add --compact for shorter harness output. Individual scripts (operator_daily_warmup.py, harness_warmup.py, operator_handoff_check.py, operator_reentry_stack.py) are still available.

Dream handoff: If dream ran overnight, the daily warmup includes a last-dream block from users/grace-mar/last-dream.json ("Last dream (night handoff)" when there is something to read out, or a one-line "quiet handoff" when integrity / governance / digest counts are clean and there are no followups). A successful dream may add last_coffee_echo: a single warm line (from the 24h cadence rollup) that ties yesterday’s coffee into morning startup—cadence / runtime only, not Record. Signal days (issues, followups, or non-zero digests) still use the fuller collapsed block. Extra lines (civ-mem summary, coffee 24h rollup) are off by default; tune config/context_budgets/coffee.json or pass --show-civ-mem / --show-rollup on operator_daily_warmup.py, operator_coffee.py, or operator_reentry_stack.py. After that block (or alone if the Last dream section is turned off), warmup prints one line Dream → coffee menu: mapping dream’s suggested execution path to A / B / C (Steward / Engineer / Historian) — operational hint only; see dream/SKILL.md § Five-second closeout. Approximate paste footprint: python3 scripts/audit_context_tax.py -u grace-mar. These files are operator scaffolding, not Record. For full paths / snippets / followups, use --verbose-dream. When pasting warmup for the operator, prefer collapsed unless they ask for detail.

Step 1 deliverables (work-start): Warmup brief (priorities, gate, work-politics snapshot where relevant, integrity), branch snapshot, daily brief + intel defer line (path pattern + menu C — Historian when ready), optional PH/Jiang line. No Polymarket / poll / Massie blocks in Step 1 unless the operator explicitly asked in the same message.

Memory observability: operator_coffee.py may print a single Memory observability: line after lane hints when the derived continuity dashboard is watch, stale, or missing. Do not paste the full dashboard into coffee. If the line is absent, treat memory observability as quiet/ok for this run. The dashboard is WORK-derived only; it does not edit MEMORY, the Record, or the gate.

Step 1 guardrail: Stay read-only — no merge/stage unless they switch lanes or use a pipeline phrase ("we …").

Done when: Script output is pasted in the reply, Recent rhythm is at the top, and the full coffee menu follows immediately.

For cadence tables and explicit phrase definitions (coffee light, coffee minimal, coffee survey): see menu-reference.md.

Multiple coffees per day

The operator may say coffee more than once per calendar day for reorientation. This is normal. Each new coffee runs Step 1 again and starts a new A, B, C, D, E cycle. If coffee arrives mid-hub, treat it as a reorientation restart: run Step 1 again, then offer a fresh menu.

Step 2 — Hub menu (five lines only)

Immediately after Step 1 content, output the hub menu — five lines (A–E).

One option per line: Each hub letter is its own line — A. … E. as five separate lines, not multiple letters on one line and not a single paragraph listing A–E. (Sub-menus inside D Capitalist forks or Steward branches are separate from this rule when you open a follow-up.)

Letter-collision: The Symphony masters disambiguation row (masters A.–E.) and the Conductor action MCQ (three actions A-C for the resolved slug) use the same letter range as the hub. When both a coffee hub menu and a Conductor action MCQ could appear in one reply, label them explicitly — see CONDUCTOR-PASS.md. Do not reuse bare “pick E” without naming which menu.

Do not append the masters MCQ row under the five hub lines; masters disambiguation belongs to Conductor turns (§ Conductor session (outside coffee hub menu), CONDUCTOR-PASS.md). After hub E is chosen: when last_logged_conductor resolves, skip the Masters MCQ — deliver orientation + Conductor action MCQ immediately (§ Hub E — automatic continuation).

Do not add micro-hints, fork shorthand, or F/G/Xavier/Dev tags under the hub list.

Hub menu (example):

A. Steward
B. Engineer
C. Historian
D. Capitalist — <one short line: work-business / grace-gems / commercial angle / bookshelf product or teaching use>
E. Conductor

Hub line E: E — Conductor only — do not preview last_logged_conductor in the hub menu copy. operator_coffee.py Step 1 prints a script section headed like Coffee hub Step 2 — hub **E** whose body is format_coffee_hub_e_line output (label only). Auto-continue behavior is unchanged (§ Hub E — automatic continuation).

Filling D — Capitalist: work-business, grace-gems, revenue/offers framing; work-cici when business/teaching-commercial; one prescribed next step. Bookshelf belongs here only when the use is commercial / teaching / product packaging. Self-knowledge bookshelf quiz belongs under C — Historian.

Capitalist — bookshelf / product use:

• Bookshelf may support offer design, teaching angles, grace-gems packaging, course/product framing, or public copy.
• Do not use D as the default route for IX-A bookshelf recursion; route that to C — Historian → B. Bookshelf quiz.
• Catalog stance membrane (bookshelf-membrane-round.json + build_bookshelf_membrane_candidates.py) remains secondary and scripted: use it only when the operator requests catalog organization or a pressing organizational membrane issue applies.

Fixed option (Capitalist angle, hub line wording): may read Bookshelf product/teaching angle or Bookshelf stance membrane (scripted) when those commercial or catalog intents are live.

Catalog stance membrane (scripted path only — branch 2 above):

• Session is multi-round: 5–10 MCQs per round when using the scripted stance round artifact.
• After each round, ask continue/stop.
• On stop, produce:
  • docs/skill-work/work-strategy/history-notebook/research/BOOKSHELF-MEMBRANE-REPORT.md
  • docs/skill-work/work-strategy/history-notebook/research/BOOKSHELF-MEMBRANE-CANDIDATE-DRAFTS.md
• Output is draft-only; no direct writes to users/grace-mar/recursion-gate.md unless explicitly requested.

Write-shaped work is not an extra letter — it defaults under D when skill-write/commercial, or when the operator says write / skill-write without coffee. State it plainly in the angle-bracket line; do not add a separate “micro-hints” row.

Filling E — Conductor: Hub line is E — Conductor only (no last-master preview). When the operator picks hub E: last_logged_conductor defaults the session — orientation + Conductor action MCQ for that slug without interposing the Masters MCQ, unless cadence has no prior coffee_pick conductor= or the operator asks to switch masters (name / “masters” / “pick a card”). If no slug: paste build_conductor_mcq_for_user or prompt once — do not invent a default master.

Step 1 context for B / D: operator_coffee.py prints Lane context (for hub B / D — Engineer & Capitalist hints) — two lines from scripts/coffee_lane_next_hints.py (work-cici + work-dev). Use when choosing B, D, or when wording those lines.

Step 1 context for hub E: After lane hints, operator_coffee.py prints the script block that includes format_coffee_hub_e_line output — a single label line E — Conductor for Step 2 (no last-master preview on that line).

Default recommendation line: Step 1 may print Session load: … (recommended: X) and Recommended default: X — say "go" to accept, or pick another hub letter. (A / B / C). When present, surface that recommended default once before or after the hub menu. The fixed hub menu still remains five lines only. For Conductor emphasis outside the hub, say once that conductor / master name works without opening coffee (§ Conductor session). Not micro-hints under the hub list.

Quick reference (modes):

• A. Steward — Governance membrane: gate | template/boundary | integrity/exports | git/ship. Default if the operator says A only: gate if pending candidates; else template/boundary. A integrity / A git / A ship → that track; A both / A all as in menu-reference — Steward. Gate merges never without companion approve + process_approved_candidates.py. (Legacy hub letter B.)

• B. Engineer — work-dev + skills/meta (not git/ship or full membrane audits — those are A): docs/skill-work/work-dev/ + work-dev-sources.md; skills / meta when skills / meta with B. work-cici ops when engineering-shaped. When hub B is chosen: After one short orientation line, deliver Engineer next moves — 3–5 options labeled A through E (or A–D if four), each option its own line, under an explicit heading such as Engineer menu — reply A–E — not B1–B5 and not unlabeled lists. Each new submenu restarts letters from A; disambiguate from the Coffee hub with the menu title (same idea as letter-collision labeling for Conductor action MCQ vs hub). Each line is a repo-grounded plausible next step (work-dev wedge, script, CI, skills path) — enumeration only until the operator picks. Use Step 1 Lane context (for hub B / D) and workspace.md § Next actions when helpful. Detail: menu-reference § Engineer (B) — detailed scope (legacy letter Build / old hub A).

• C. Historian — Opens exactly three actionable options and nothing else. Do not auto-run the daily brief or auto-offer Tri-Frame before this submenu. Output:

  • Historian menu — reply A–C
  • A. Intel — daily brief / current-events watch
  • B. Bookshelf quiz — self-knowledge MCQs → IX-A candidates
  • C. Notebook synthesis — History Notebook / Predictive History with Tri-Frame lenses

  C-A Intel owns the daily brief path: generator and/or daily-brief-YYYY-MM-DD.md, §1d / §1e / §1g / §1h (PRC / IRI when load-bearing), optional KY-4 (Polymarket, polls, Massie X per cadence), and optional last30days frontier check when the operator wants one fresh, source-dated scan for today's inbox. Do not auto-run last30days from coffee Step 1 or merely because C-A is opened; offer or run it only when the operator chooses Intel and the frontier is stale / explicitly requested. Output remains a short brief + optional daily-strategy-inbox.md one-liner, not a days.md / thread / gate edit. C-B Bookshelf quiz uses .cursor/skills/bookshelf-knowledge-mcq-to-gate/SKILL.md: default 6 source-bound, topic-anchored MCQs from bookshelf-quiz-anchors.yaml, with academic inline citations visible to the operator and hidden self-library-bookshelf receipts in the gate, at most two date-primary stems, strictness default top2, and stage candidates only through recursion-gate.md; never merge without approval. C-C Notebook synthesis owns History Notebook / Predictive History synthesis; Tri-Frame minds Barnes → Mearsheimer → Mercouris live here, using daily-brief-minds-menu.md as the lens menu when useful. Companion survey still lives under C when invoked by coffee survey. (Legacy hub C — Strategy (daily brief).)

• D. Capitalist — work-business, grace-gems, revenue/offers; work-cici when business/teaching-commercial angle; bookshelf only for commercial / teaching / product packaging or scripted catalog stance membrane; not IX-A bookshelf recursion. One prescribed next step.

• E. Conductor — coffee hub E auto-continues last_logged_conductor (orientation + Conductor action MCQ); hub menu line is Conductor only. Not a substitute for standalone conductor when coffee was not invoked.

Exit / re-offer: After A, B, D, or E, re-offer the full coffee hub A–E after the current branch settles — except: when hub E yielded orientation + Conductor action MCQ, do not paste coffee hub A–E in that same reply — wait for Reply A–C against Conductor action MCQ (label menus — § Letter-collision); re-offer coffee hub on the following turn (or after Conductor closes) unless the operator exited coffee. After C, exit to normal workflow unless stay in coffee. After A (Steward), see menu-reference § Steward follow-up fork (legacy docs may still say B for Steward — read A). Synonyms A+ship / EXECUTE ≈ Implement now on steward track. Decision-fatigue rule: after a hub branch opens one submenu, the next assistant turn should execute the selected item, recommend one default, or report the blocker rather than opening another broad menu.

Legacy A–G detail tables in menu-reference.md still describe workloads; map letters: old Daily Brief → C-A Intel, old self-knowledge bookshelf quiz → C-B Bookshelf quiz, old Book / Jiang / Predictive History → C-C Notebook synthesis, Build → B, Steward → A, commercial / teaching bookshelf uses → D, and Symphony conductors → E on hub after coffee, or standalone conductor / master name without coffee.

Done when: The operator has picked A–E (or combo), the selected branch has been executed, and the re-offer or exit rule has been applied.

Session trail (optional)

Sessions begin when the operator says coffee (optional modifiers). To keep a trail: use users/<id>/session-transcript.md and/or append dated bullets to docs/skill-work/work-*/*-history.md. Not the gated Record; not self-memory. See work-menu-conventions.md.

Cadence audit

Each successful coffee run appends one line to docs/skill-work/work-cadence/work-cadence-events.md via scripts/log_cadence_event.py. This is automatic — no operator action required. The line always includes cursor_model=… (audit parity with bridge/harvest Agent surface): set CURSOR_MODEL in the environment, or pass --cursor-model "…" to operator_coffee.py, using the model name from the Cursor UI. If unset, unknown.

After the operator states their menu letter (and steward track if A), the assistant may append a coffee_pick cadence line (same file) for rollup:
python3 scripts/log_cadence_event.py --kind coffee_pick -u grace-mar --ok --kv picked=A steward=gate --cursor-model "<from Cursor UI>"
(steward= only when picked=A; values: gate, template, integrity, git, both, or all.) For hub picks: picked=A..E. picked=E should include conductor=<slug> when the Conductor master is resolved. For Conductor sessions outside hub letter picks: picked=conductor with conductor=<single-slug> — no + in new logs. Legacy files may still contain picked=D + conductor= or older shapes. Optional closure after a conductor run: python3 scripts/log_cadence_event.py --kind coffee_conductor_outcome -u grace-mar --ok --kv verdict=watch conductor=kleiber notebook_ref=docs/path.md (see CONDUCTOR-IMPROVEMENT-LOOP.md § 3 for notebook_ref / falsify examples). Optional: scripts/log_operator_choice.py --context COFFEE --picked A for session-transcript.md.

Related files

• docs/skill-work/work-cadence/README.md — Cadence choreography (ordering, handoffs, Step 0 recent rhythm window depths, harvest vs triad)
• docs/skill-work/work-coffee/README.md — territory rationale and boundaries
• docs/skill-work/work-coffee/menu-reference.md — cadence, survey track, signing-off add-ons; legacy A–G workload tables (map to the current coffee Step 2 above)
• docs/skill-work/work-coffee/work-coffee-history.md — lane breadcrumbs
• docs/skill-work/work-cadence/work-cadence-events.md — per-run cadence telemetry
• .cursor/skills/dream/SKILL.md — night-side counterpart
• .cursor/skills/thanks/SKILL.md — thanks deprecated for grace-mar workflow; prefer conductor or **coffee light/minimal`
• docs/skill-work/work-politics/polling-and-markets.md — KY-4 polling (menu C — Historian / daily brief)
• docs/skill-work/work-strategy/daily-brief-minds-menu.md — Tri-Frame three minds (Barnes / Mearsheimer / Mercouris) for C — Historian second stage
• docs/skill-work/work-politics/america-first-ky/guardrail-stress-test.md — messaging discipline
• .cursor/skills/bookshelf-knowledge-mcq-to-gate/SKILL.md — C — Historian / Bookshelf quiz MCQs toward IX-A / gate staging