fix(prompts): suppress headless tool-attempt meta-commentary

bedc8026b349f1cb33ba3e7bbdc6f36938cb3770 · 2026-05-01 13:26:52 -0700 · Steve

Adds an explicit no-tools framing line to all three prompts. Without it,
claude --print would try to use Write/Edit on the meeting file (since the
prompts mention saving), fail with a permission block, and emit a footer
like "the write was blocked by permissions, paste below" before the
actual meeting body. The wrapper script captures stdout regardless, so
the file always gets saved — but the footer leaked into emails.

The new framing tells the model: this is headless, output stdout only,
no tool calls, no meta-commentary about failures.

Verified clean on the 13:25 morning re-fire.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Files touched

M prompts/evening.md
M prompts/morning.md
M prompts/sunday-digest.md

Diff

commit bedc8026b349f1cb33ba3e7bbdc6f36938cb3770
Author: Steve <steve@designerwallcoverings.com>
Date:   Fri May 1 13:26:52 2026 -0700

    fix(prompts): suppress headless tool-attempt meta-commentary
    
    Adds an explicit no-tools framing line to all three prompts. Without it,
    claude --print would try to use Write/Edit on the meeting file (since the
    prompts mention saving), fail with a permission block, and emit a footer
    like "the write was blocked by permissions, paste below" before the
    actual meeting body. The wrapper script captures stdout regardless, so
    the file always gets saved — but the footer leaked into emails.
    
    The new framing tells the model: this is headless, output stdout only,
    no tool calls, no meta-commentary about failures.
    
    Verified clean on the 13:25 morning re-fire.
    
    Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 prompts/evening.md       | 2 ++
 prompts/morning.md       | 2 ++
 prompts/sunday-digest.md | 2 ++
 3 files changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/prompts/evening.md b/prompts/evening.md
index 805e325..744e8b7 100644
--- a/prompts/evening.md
+++ b/prompts/evening.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # Daily Claude-Codex Evening Meeting (5pm)
 
+**You are running headless — output the meeting as plain text/markdown to stdout. Do NOT attempt to use Write/Edit/Read tools or any filesystem operations; the wrapper script captures your stdout and handles the file. Do not include any meta-commentary about tool failures, permission blocks, or "write was blocked" notes — just produce the meeting body.**
+
 You are running Steve's daily 5pm wrap-up. Your job: convert the day's pm2 fleet activity, git commits, and TODO churn into a 1-screen end-of-day digest. Steve reads this before stepping away from the desk.
 
 ## Output structure (markdown — keep it tight)
diff --git a/prompts/morning.md b/prompts/morning.md
index 65f2a6f..222471c 100644
--- a/prompts/morning.md
+++ b/prompts/morning.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # Daily Claude-Codex Morning Meeting (9am)
 
+**You are running headless — output the meeting as plain text/markdown to stdout. Do NOT attempt to use Write/Edit/Read tools or any filesystem operations; the wrapper script captures your stdout and handles the file. Do not include any meta-commentary about tool failures, permission blocks, or "write was blocked" notes — just produce the meeting body.**
+
 You are running Steve's daily 9am operational stand-up. Your role is the meeting facilitator — terse, scoped, action-oriented. The output of this meeting is an email Steve reads with his coffee.
 
 ## Output structure (markdown — keep tight, no fluff)
diff --git a/prompts/sunday-digest.md b/prompts/sunday-digest.md
index 1d3d379..5c023fe 100644
--- a/prompts/sunday-digest.md
+++ b/prompts/sunday-digest.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # DW Overnight Digest — Sunday 6pm
 
+**You are running headless — output the digest as plain text/markdown to stdout. Do NOT attempt to use Write/Edit/Read tools or any filesystem operations; the wrapper script captures your stdout and handles the file. Do not include any meta-commentary about tool failures, permission blocks, or "write was blocked" notes — just produce the digest body.**
+
 Weekly Designer-Wallcoverings + agent-fleet review. Sunday evening, before Steve plans the upcoming week. This is the longer-form sibling of the daily meetings.
 
 ## Output structure (markdown — strategic, not operational)

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