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Overview

The Productivity plugin gives Claude a persistent understanding of your work through task management, workplace memory, and a visual dashboard. Claude learns your people, projects, and terminology so it can decode requests like a colleague would. Primarily designed for Cowork, Anthropic’s agentic desktop application, but also works in Claude Code.

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What It Does

Task Management

A shared TASKS.md file that Claude reads, writes, and executes against. Add tasks naturally, and Claude tracks status, triages stale items, and syncs with external tools.

Workplace Memory

A two-tier memory system that teaches Claude your shorthand, people, projects, and terminology. Say “ask Todd to do the PSR for Oracle” and Claude knows exactly who, what, and which deal.

Visual Dashboard

A local HTML file that gives you a board view of your tasks and a live view of what Claude knows about your workplace. Edit from the board or the file — they stay in sync.

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Installation

claude plugins add knowledge-work-plugins/productivity

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Commands

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/start

Initialize tasks + memory, open the dashboard. 
/productivity:start
What it does:
  1. Checks for existing TASKS.md, CLAUDE.md, memory/ directory, and dashboard.html
  2. Creates missing files/directories
  3. Opens the dashboard (tells you to open dashboard.html from your file browser)
  4. If first run, bootstraps memory by analyzing your tasks and optionally scanning chat/email/docs
  5. Guides you through decoding shorthand, acronyms, people, and projects
First-run bootstrap workflow:
  • Analyzes your existing task list for shorthand and workplace language
  • Asks you to decode each term, acronym, nickname, or project reference
  • Optionally scans chat, email, calendar, and documents for comprehensive context
  • Creates CLAUDE.md (hot cache) and memory/ directory (full storage)

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/update

Sync tasks and refresh memory from your current activity. 
/productivity:update                  # Default mode
/productivity:update --comprehensive  # Deep scan mode
Default mode:
  1. Syncs tasks from external sources (project trackers, GitHub Issues)
  2. Triages stale items (overdue, 30+ days active, missing context)
  3. Decodes all tasks to find memory gaps (unknown people, projects, terms)
  4. Fills gaps by asking you about unknown terms
  5. Enriches memory with context from tasks (links, relationships, deadlines)
Comprehensive mode (--comprehensive):
Everything in default mode, plus:
  • Deep scan of recent chat messages, emails, documents, and calendar events
  • Flags missed todos (action items in messages not captured in TASKS.md)
  • Suggests new memories (people, projects, terms appearing frequently)
  • Offers cleanup of stale memories (projects with no mentions in 30+ days)

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Skills

Two powerful skills drive the productivity system:
Simple, effective task tracking using a shared TASKS.md file.File structure:
# Tasks

## Active
- [ ] **Task title** - context, for whom, due date

## Waiting On
- [ ] **Blocked task** - waiting on X, since date

## Someday
- [ ] **Future idea** - low priority or unclear timing

## Done
- [x] ~~Completed task~~ (completion date)
Features:
  • Both you and Claude can read/write the same file
  • Visual dashboard syncs automatically with file changes
  • External tool sync (Asana, Linear, Jira, GitHub Issues)
  • Natural language task extraction from conversations
  • Automatic triage of stale items
Task format conventions:
  • Bold the task title for scannability
  • Include “for [person]” when it’s a commitment
  • Include “due [date]” for deadlines
  • Include “since [date]” for waiting items
  • Sub-bullets for additional context
Two-tier memory system that makes Claude a true workplace collaborator.The goal: Transform shorthand into understanding.
User: "ask todd to do the PSR for oracle"
              ↓ Claude decodes
"Ask Todd Martinez (Finance lead) to prepare the Pipeline
 Status Report for the Oracle Systems deal ($2.3M, closing Q2)"
Architecture:
CLAUDE.md          ← Hot cache (~30 people, common terms)
memory/
  glossary.md      ← Full decoder ring (everything)
  people/          ← Complete profiles
  projects/        ← Project details
  context/         ← Company, teams, tools
Lookup flow (tiered):
  1. Check CLAUDE.md (hot cache) — covers 90% of daily needs
  2. Search memory/glossary.md if not found — full glossary
  3. Dive into memory/people/ or memory/projects/ for rich detail
  4. Ask user if still unknown — learn it and remember
What goes in CLAUDE.md:
  • Top ~30 people you interact with most
  • ~30 most common acronyms/terms
  • Active projects (5-15)
  • Your preferences (meeting style, communication preferences)
  • Target: ~50-80 lines, covers 90% of decoding needs
What goes in memory/:
  • glossary.md — Complete decoder ring (all people nicknames, all acronyms, all project codenames)
  • people/{name}.md — Individual profiles (role, team, communication preferences, context)
  • projects/{name}.md — Project details (status, people, budget, timeline)
  • context/company.md — Teams, tools, processes, company context
Promotion/demotion:
  • Promote to CLAUDE.md when term/person used frequently or part of active work
  • Demote to memory/ only when project completed, person no longer frequent contact, or term rarely used
This keeps CLAUDE.md fresh and relevant while memory/ can grow indefinitely.

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Example Workflows

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Getting Started (First Run)

You: /productivity:start

Claude: [Creates TASKS.md, dashboard.html]
        Dashboard is ready at dashboard.html. Open it from your file browser.
        
        Where do you keep your todos? This could be:
        - A local file (e.g., TASKS.md, todo.txt)
        - An app (e.g., Asana, Linear, Jira, Notion, Todoist)
        - A notes file
        
        I'll use your tasks to learn your workplace shorthand.

You: I use Asana

Claude: [Fetches tasks from Asana]
        I see 12 tasks. Let me decode the shorthand:
        
        Task: "Send PSR to Todd re: Phoenix blockers"
        
        I see some terms I want to make sure I understand:
        1. **PSR** - What does this stand for?
        2. **Todd** - Who is Todd? (full name, role)
        3. **Phoenix** - Is this a project codename? What's it about?

You: PSR is Pipeline Status Report, Todd is Todd Martinez our Finance lead,
     and Phoenix is our database migration project

Claude: Got it! [Continues through other tasks, then creates CLAUDE.md and memory/]
        
        Do you want me to do a comprehensive scan of your messages, emails,
        and documents? This takes longer but builds much richer context.

You: Yes

Claude: [Scans chat, email, calendar, docs]
        [Builds complete glossary of people, projects, terms]
        
        Productivity system ready:
        - Tasks: TASKS.md (12 items)
        - Memory: 23 people, 15 terms, 8 projects
        - Dashboard: open in browser

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Adding Tasks Naturally

You: I need to review the budget proposal for Sarah by Friday,
     draft the Q2 roadmap after syncing with Greg, and follow up
     on the API spec from the Platform team

Claude: [Adds all three tasks to TASKS.md]
        Added 3 tasks:
        - Review budget proposal for Sarah - due Friday
        - Draft Q2 roadmap - after sync with Greg
        - Follow up on API spec - from Platform team
        
        [Dashboard updates automatically]

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Morning Sync

You: /productivity:update --comprehensive

Claude: [Scans Asana, email, chat, calendar, docs]
        
        Update complete:
        - Tasks: +3 from Asana, 1 completed, 2 triaged
        - Memory: 2 gaps filled, 1 project enriched
        
        ## Possible Missing Tasks
        
        From your activity, these look like todos you haven't captured:
        
        1. From Slack yesterday:
           "I'll send the updated mockups by Friday"
           → Add to TASKS.md?
        
        2. From meeting "Phoenix Standup" (Jan 17):
           You have a recurring meeting but no Phoenix tasks active
           → Anything needed here?
        
        ## New People (not in memory)
        
        | Name | Frequency | Context |
        |------|-----------|------|
        | Maya Rodriguez | 12 mentions | design, UI reviews |
        
        Add Maya to memory?

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Workplace Shorthand in Action

Once memory is populated, Claude decodes your shorthand instantly: 
You: ask todd to do the PSR for oracle

Claude: I'll draft a message to Todd Martinez (Finance lead) asking
        him to prepare the Pipeline Status Report for the Oracle
        Systems deal ($2.3M, closing Q2).
        
        Since Todd prefers Slack and responds best in the mornings,
        I'll send this via DM.
        
        [Drafts message]
No clarifying questions. No round trips. Claude knows your language.

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Visual Dashboard

The dashboard provides:

Task Board View

  • Kanban-style board with Active, Waiting On, Someday, Done columns
  • Drag-and-drop task management
  • Inline editing
  • Auto-saves to TASKS.md
  • Syncs with external file changes

Memory View

  • Live view of CLAUDE.md hot cache
  • Browse memory/ directory contents
  • See people, projects, terms at a glance
  • Jump to detailed profiles
Edit from the dashboard or edit TASKS.md directly — they stay in sync.

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Data Sources

Connect your communication and project management tools for the best experience:
CategoryPlaceholderIncludedAlternatives
Chat~~chatSlackMicrosoft Teams, Discord
Email~~emailMicrosoft 365—
Calendar~~calendarMicrosoft 365—
Knowledge base~~knowledge baseNotionConfluence, Guru, Coda
Project tracker~~project trackerAsana, Linear, Atlassian, monday.com, ClickUpShortcut, Basecamp, Wrike
Office suite~~office suiteMicrosoft 365—
Plugin files use ~~category placeholders that resolve to whichever MCP server you connect. See CONNECTORS.md for details.
Without external connections, you can still manage tasks and memory manually — Claude will help you maintain the files.

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Philosophy

Knowledge workers spend cognitive energy translating their own shorthand. “Todd” means one person on your team. “PSR” is obvious to you. “Phoenix” is that database project. But AI doesn’t know this — until now. The Productivity plugin teaches Claude your workplace language, so you can communicate like you would with a colleague. No more spelling things out. No more clarifying questions. Task management without memory is just a todo list. Memory without tasks is context with no action. Together, they make Claude your workplace collaborator.

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