# What needs my attention?

The single prompt that opens your day, alfred_ pulls everything urgent across email, calendar, and tasks.

Source: https://get-alfred.ai/docs/prompt-book/tasks/morning-brief  
Updated: 2026-05-01

Works in: Chat, Text

## The prompt

- What needs my attention?

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](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/prompt-book/calendar/whats-on-my-calendar)
- Not the daily briefing email, that's a separate scheduled artifact. This is on-demand.

## Related

- [What's overdue?](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/prompt-book/tasks/whats-overdue)
- [Daily briefing](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/routines/morning-brief#whats-in-it)
- [Summarize a thread](https://get-alfred.ai/docs/prompt-book/email/summarize-thread)

## Variations

- Check my inbox
- Show me my day
- Wrap up my day
- Hi, can I get a rundown please
- What have people asked of me in the last 72hrs?
- What's my first task this morning?
- Yes, give me a summary of what's waiting for me

## 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.