What needs my attention?

The prompt

This is the most-asked prompt across all of alfred_. Open the chat, type three words, get your day. It is intentionally vague, alfred_ figures out what counts as “attention” by pulling from every connected surface and sorting by what actually matters.

What alfred_ does

1. Scans new and unread email for anything that looks like an ask, a deadline, or a reply you owe
2. Pulls today’s calendar (and tomorrow if you ask near end of day)
3. Lists open tasks and overdue items
4. Surfaces follow-ups where someone is waiting on you
5. Compiles into a short, scannable brief, not a wall of text

The phrasing that works

These all hit the same workflow, pick whichever feels natural:

• “Check my inbox”: emphasis on email triage
• “What needs my attention?”: broadest framing, pulls everything
• “Show me my day”: calendar-forward
• “Wrap up my day”: end of day, what didn’t get done, what’s left
• “What have people asked of me in the last 72hrs?”: recency-scoped, useful after time off

Tips

• Add a time horizon when you want to scope it: “What needs my attention this week?” or “Last 72 hours, what came in?”
• Pair with action: “What needs my attention, and draft replies for the email ones”
• Use SMS for quick check-ins: same prompt works the same way over text
• Run “Wrap up my day” at end of day to capture loose ends before they slip overnight

What it isn’t

• Not a full inbox dump, alfred_ filters to what’s actually decision-worthy
• Not a calendar list, for “show me everything on my calendar,” see What’s on my calendar
• Not the daily briefing email, that’s a separate scheduled artifact. This is on-demand.

Related

• What’s overdue?
• Daily briefing
• Summarize a thread

Variations

Best for

The first thing you ask alfred_ in the morning, the last thing you ask before logging off, or any time you want to know what's actually on fire.