Claude Code — Command System

The
Helm

Personal Goals and Weekly Rhythm System. Five commands. One closed-loop system that turns your week into a record and your record into a plan.

Commands  /  Rhythm Series

Five commands that form a personal goals and weekly rhythm system: plan on Sunday, review on Friday, take a monthly pulse, score the quarter, plan the next one. Each command reads what the previous one wrote. The longer you run it, the sharper it gets.

Before You Build

The Helm reads signals. Before it can synthesize anything useful, it needs to know who you are and what you are working toward. Start with the Personal OS Intake if you have not already set up your context files. Point your agent at this page and have it build out the system for you based on what your task management and storage systems are.

START HERE  01
Personal OS Intake
The intake captures what the system needs to know about you: your goals, your four pillars, your connected accounts, and enough context that the agent can read your signals accurately. Run this before building any command.

Open the Personal OS Intake →
REQUIRED  02
Annual Goals
Every command in this system reads your annual goals file before it synthesizes anything. Without it, weekly reviews have no target to compare against and quarterly planning has no direction to carry forward. Define your year in one file before running any command. Required input
REQUIRED  03
Your Four Pillars
The weekly review organizes everything you did into four life areas. The default pillars are Professional, Family, Health, and Community — but they should reflect your actual life. Define your four pillars in the intake so every report is organized around what matters to you. Required input

The Command Sequence

01
Plan the Week /weekly-checkin
Three focused priorities beat ten scattered intentions. Run this Sunday and the agent reads your open tasks and upcoming calendar against your quarterly goals, then debates with you until you commit to a Top 3. What you lock here is what Friday's review holds you to.
SundayCommitmentTop 3
Use this prompt

You are a skilled Chief of Staff and accountability partner. I have four life pillars — Professional, Family, Health, and Community — and my annual goals are defined in [paste your goals file or describe them here]. Your job is to help me set a focused, defensible plan each week based on what matters most right now. Build me a /weekly-checkin command. Every Sunday, read my Google Tasks list and calendar for the week ahead. Compare what is due to my current quarter's goals. Propose a committed Top 3 for the week with rationale — no more than three, one sentence each. Debate with me until I confirm the list, then lock it and save it as a log file named checkin-YYYY-MM-DD.md.

02
Review the Week /weekly-checkout
An honest account of what actually moved. Reads signals you left across the week — emails sent, tasks closed, AI session logs — and lays them out by pillar. It finds things you forgot you did and threads you quietly left open. Your word is the final record.
FridaySignal SynthesisConfirmed Record
Use this prompt

You are a skilled Chief of Staff. I have four life pillars — Professional, Family, Health, and Community — and I track my week across sent Gmail, completed Google Tasks, and AI session logs. Your job is to synthesize what actually happened each week honestly, not what I intended. Build me a /weekly-checkout command. Every Friday, read my sent Gmail from the last 7 days, completed tasks, and session logs. Synthesize wins organized by my four pillars. Surface open threads I committed to but haven't closed, and inbound items I haven't replied to. Show me a draft, then ask for my confirmed top wins before writing the final log.

03
Take a Pulse Check /pulse-check
Once a month, the agent reads the full log record and comes prepared before you say a word. One through-line claim. One warning flag: green, yellow, or red. One question worth sitting with going into the next four weeks. You correct it, it updates, then it gets written.
MonthlyThrough-LineWarning Flag
Use this prompt

You are a skilled Chief of Staff conducting a monthly executive review. I have four life pillars and quarterly goals. My weekly checkout logs are saved as checkout-YYYY-MM-DD.md files. Your job is to come prepared with an independent read before I say anything — I want your honest synthesis, not a reflection of my own framing. Build me a /pulse-check command. Once a month, read all my checkout logs for the past 30 days and my current quarter's goals. Before I say anything, write an independent prepared read: what moved, what stalled, what the month was really about. Present it, take my corrections, flag the month GREEN, YELLOW, or RED, and write the result to a vault file.

04
Score the Quarter /score-okrs
Scores built from evidence, not memory. Every Key Result gets a case drawn from the actual log record, then a mandatory challenge pass that argues against whatever score you give. The retrospective it produces is what next quarter's planning starts from.
Quarter-EndEvidence-BasedDevil's Advocate
Use this prompt

You are a rigorous Chief of Staff and accountability partner. I have quarterly goals and a full set of weekly checkout logs for the period. Your job is to build the scoring case from the actual log record — not my memory — and then challenge every score I try to give. Build me a /score-okrs command. At the end of a quarter, load all my checkout logs for that period plus my goal plan and any prior reviews. Score each Key Result with evidence from the actual logs. After I provide a score, run a devil's advocate pass that challenges it. Once all scores are confirmed, write a vault-ready quarterly retrospective.

05
Plan the Next Quarter /draft-okrs
Starts from what the logs say actually happened, not what you intended. Loads the retrospective and recent plans, then drafts goals you can defend by pointing at evidence. Flags overreach and underreach before you commit. Iterates until you lock the quarter.
Forward PlanningCarry ForwardLock
Use this prompt

You are a skilled Chief of Staff helping me set the next quarter's direction. I have annual goals, a completed quarterly retrospective, and recent checkout logs. Your job is to draft goals I can defend by pointing at evidence, not goals I aspire to and abandon. Build me a /draft-okrs command. Before a new quarter begins, load my annual goals, the prior quarter's retrospective, my last two checkout logs, and my most recent weekly plan. Draft next quarter's goals with rationale grounded in carry-forward momentum and open gaps. Run a devil's advocate pass that flags overreach and underreach. Iterate with me until I lock the plan, then write a vault-ready document.

Works Where You Work

The prompts above are portable. Paste them into any of these environments and the commands run the same way. Data integrations (Gmail, Tasks, Calendar) require API setup, but the conversation logic runs anywhere.

Anthropic
Claude.ai
Paste the prompt in any conversation. No setup required to start. Best for trying the system before building automations.
Anthropic
Claude Code CLI
Full command system with file read/write, API access, and script execution. The setup shown in this guide is built for this environment.
Anthropic
Claude Desktop
Runs locally with MCP server support. Connect Gmail, Calendar, and Tasks directly without separate API setup scripts.
OpenAI
Codex
Prompts translate directly. Swap Claude-specific tool references for Codex equivalents. The persona and logic structure are fully portable.
Google
Gemini / Antigravity
Runs via the Gemini CLI or Antigravity. Native Google Workspace integration makes Gmail, Tasks, and Calendar especially easy to wire up.

Live Session Example

Here is a real checkout session, start to finish. Signal pull, synthesized output across four pillars, confirmed wins, and calibration — all from a single /weekly-checkout invocation.

Phase 01 Signal Pull
jordan@helm — ~/helm
/weekly-checkout
Pulling Signals — Jun 22 to Jun 28
Gmail 14 sent messages scanned
Tasks 22 completed this week
Sessions 4 AI projects scanned
Calendar 9 events (5 or fewer attendees)
Prior Plan checkin-2026-06-21.md loaded
Synthesizing…
5 signals active
Week of Jun 22
Phase 02 Checkout Output — Wins, Pillars, Open Threads
jordan@helm — Week of Jun 22 to Jun 28
🎉 Reached Marcus Chen at Vantage Partners on the board advisory track — first contact with a governance-focused search firm
🎉 Submitted director application to Clearfield Foundation, citing AI strategy background — Q3's first formal board submission
🎉 LinkedIn post on product decision frameworks attracted inbound from Dana Reyes at Nova Recruiting — content-to-conversation conversion
Mentorship session request · Alex Tran at Founder Mentors · 4 days
Partnership intro email · Robin Shah at Clearfield Foundation · 2 days
Professional Strong Reached Marcus Chen at Vantage, submitted Clearfield app, shipped Q2 product review
Community Active Attended Founder Mentors cohort kickoff, followed up on nonprofit board application
Health Moderate Two gym sessions logged, Thursday run skipped, nutrition on track
Family Active Weekend visit to parents completed, Sam's birthday dinner scheduled for next week
Waiting on board candidacy update sent to Clearfield Foundation — 3 days ago
Owe reply to Dana Reyes (Nova Recruiting) on scheduling — 1 day ago
Building: checkin-to-OKR feedback loop not yet wired in Helm system
Draft ready
What are your top wins this week?
Phase 03 Confirmed Wins and Calibration
Confirmed Record — Week of Jun 22
Vantage Partners conversation started — first governance-focused search firm in the pipeline
Clearfield Foundation application submitted — Q3's first formal board submission
LinkedIn content converted to a recruiter inbound from Dana Reyes at Nova Recruiting — the content strategy is working
🎉 Completed Q2 product review and distributed to stakeholders — a shipped deliverable not named in confirmed wins
Signal Read
CoS got the three core wins right. Missed the weekend family trip completion as a Family pillar win — it landed in calendar but not in the synthesized output.
Got right Vantage Partners, Clearfield Foundation, Nova Recruiting inbound
Missed Weekend family visit to parents — Family pillar win not surfaced
Added by CoS Q2 product review as a shipped deliverable
Turn count 3 turns from prompt to confirmation
y Good signal read — calibration logged
Checkout log written
Viewer updated
2026-06-28

The Record It Writes

Each of the five commands writes its own structured log. This is what /weekly-checkout produces: a Markdown file saved to your vault, readable in any editor, Obsidian, or Notion. Download the example to see the full format.

checkout-2026-06-28.md
type:       checkout
date:       2026-06-28
week_of:    Jun 22 to Jun 28, 2026
signals:
  gmail:    ok
  tasks:    ok
  calendar: ok
  sessions: ok
Weekly Checkout — Jun 22 to Jun 28
Confirmed Wins
  • 🎉 Vantage Partners conversation started — first governance-focused search firm in the pipeline
  • 🎉 Clearfield Foundation board application submitted — Q3's first formal board submission
  • 🎉 LinkedIn post converted to recruiter inbound from Dana Reyes at Nova Recruiting
Additional Wins (from CoS)
  • Completed Q2 product review and distributed to stakeholders (shipped deliverable not named in confirmed wins)
Plan vs. Actual
Board pipeline activation — Clearfield application submitted and Vantage Partners first contact made
⚠️ Health targets — two gym sessions logged, 150-minute target not met, Thursday run skipped
Content strategy — LinkedIn post generated recruiter inbound, confirming content-to-conversation conversion
Calibration
Rating
y — good signal read
Got right
Vantage Partners, Clearfield Foundation, Nova Recruiting inbound
Missed
Weekend family visit — Family pillar win not surfaced in draft
Added
Q2 product review as a shipped deliverable
Turns
3 turns from prompt to confirmation
Pillar Alignment
Professional Strong Vantage outreach, Clearfield app, Q2 review shipped
Community Active Founder Mentors cohort kickoff, nonprofit board follow-up
Health Moderate Two gym sessions, Thursday run skipped, nutrition on track
Family Active Weekend visit to parents, Sam's birthday dinner scheduled
Open Threads
Waiting on board candidacy update — Clearfield Foundation — 3 days ago
Owe reply to Dana Reyes (Nova Recruiting) on scheduling — 1 day ago
Building: checkin-to-OKR feedback loop not yet wired
What I May Have Missed
  • Mentorship session request · Alex Tran at Founder Mentors · 4 days
  • Partnership intro email · Robin Shah at Clearfield Foundation · 2 days
Details — Career & Authority
  • Reached Marcus Chen at Vantage Partners — first outreach to a governance-focused search firm
  • Submitted director application to Clearfield Foundation citing AI strategy background
  • Shipped Q2 product review and distributed to four stakeholders
  • Sent AI curriculum proposal to Kevin Walsh at Meridian Learning — first EdTech outreach this quarter
Details — Community & Network
  • Attended Founder Mentors cohort kickoff with Alex Tran and three other founders
  • Followed up on nonprofit board application with Robin Shah at Clearfield Foundation
  • LinkedIn post on product frameworks generated 1,200 impressions and one recruiter inbound
What you end up with When the rhythm is running