imessage-to-people

Generated source view for the actual executable productivity/imessage-to-people skill. The durable routing article is Agent Operations Skills. Source: skills/productivity/imessage-to-people/SKILL.md

Runtime Source

Bundled Resources

No bundled resource files.

Description

Sync iMessage contacts into wiki person pages following STYLE.md. Use when Kevin says "sync iMessage", "update people pages", "add people from messages", "who am I texting most", or wants to bring person pages up to date with recent contacts. Reads ~/Library/Messages/chat.db, ranks 1:1 contacts, resolves names via AddressBook, drafts pages preserving Kevin's voice.

Skill Source

---
name: imessage-to-people
description: Sync iMessage contacts into wiki person pages following STYLE.md. Use when Kevin says "sync iMessage", "update people pages", "add people from messages", "who am I texting most", or wants to bring person pages up to date with recent contacts. Reads ~/Library/Messages/chat.db, ranks 1:1 contacts, resolves names via AddressBook, drafts pages preserving Kevin's voice.
origin: personal
source_slug: imessage-to-people
---

# iMessage → Wiki People Pages

Sync Kevin's iMessage contacts into the wiki at `~/Documents/GitHub/kevin-wiki/wiki/people/`.
Follows the voice/style rules in `wiki/people/STYLE.md`.

## When to Use

- "sync iMessage" / "pull iMessage contacts"
- "who am I texting most"
- "update my people pages"
- "add new people from my messages"
- After a noticeable gap since last sync (check `state.json` → `syncs.imessage`)

## Hard Constraints

- **Cursor's embedded shell cannot read `chat.db`** — macOS Full Disk Access
  required. Always run extraction from a real terminal (Terminal.app or iTerm)
  with FDA enabled. Tell Kevin to run the script himself the first time.
- **`raw/imessage/` is gitignored.** Extractions stay local. Person pages in
  `wiki/people/` ARE committed.
- **Test before bulk.** Always draft 3–5 pages first, get Kevin's approval,
  then proceed to the rest. The first batch should test diverse registers
  (family, partner, coworker, friend, classmate).

## Pipeline

### 1. Extract (Kevin runs in Terminal.app)

```bash
cd ~/Documents/GitHub/kevin-wiki && ./scripts/sync-imessage.sh
```

Outputs to `raw/imessage/<YYYY-MM-DD>/`:
- `top-contacts.json` — ranked 1:1 contacts (last 365d, ≥10 msgs)
- `contacts/<handle>.md` — per-contact metadata + recent message samples
- `contacts.json` — Address Book records for name resolution

Tunables via env vars: `LOOKBACK_DAYS_STATS`, `LOOKBACK_DAYS_SAMPLES`,
`MIN_MSG_COUNT`, `TOP_N`, `SAMPLES_PER_CONTACT`.

### 2. Resolve names + dedup handles

Use `scripts/resolve-imessage.py` (or recreate it) to:
- Match phone numbers / emails to AddressBook contacts
- Merge split handles (same person across iMessage+SMS+RCS services)
- Build `top-contacts-annotated.json`

### 3. Plan tiers

Use `scripts/build-people-plan.py` (or recreate it) to assign tiers:

| Tier | Threshold | Page depth |
|------|-----------|-----------|
| **1** | ≥400 msgs OR family/partner | Full STYLE pages, 50–80 lines, rich personal sections, multiple Kevin quotes woven in |
| **2** | 100–400 msgs with identifiable context | Medium pages, 30–45 lines, focused thread + 1–2 quotes |
| **3** | <100 msgs OR thin context | Stub pages, 15–25 lines, factual sketch only |

Promotion overrides:
- Family relationships → always Tier 1 regardless of msg count (Mom is
  118 msgs but Tier 1 by relationship)
- Dedalus / direct work coworkers → at least Tier 2

### 4. Read message samples + draft

For Tier 1 / Tier 2, ALWAYS read the contact's `contacts/<handle>.md` file
in full before drafting. The voice texture is in the messages.

For Tier 3, can use the stub generator: `scripts/gen-t3-stubs.py` (or
recreate it). Stubs auto-write factual metadata + 1-paragraph relationship
sketch using the first 3 sample messages.

### 5. Draft following STYLE.md

Read `wiki/people/STYLE.md` BEFORE writing. Two registers:

- **Factual sections** (Background): clean, encyclopedic, Wikipedia tone
- **Personal sections** (How Kevin Knows Them, Relationship): preserve
  Kevin's voice — convert his "I" to "Kevin" and "my" to "his" but the
  words stay his. Lead with his framing, weave direct quotes in
  paragraphs (not block-quote chunks).

The personal section should sound like Kevin talking about the person,
converted to third person — not the agent describing from outside.

### 6. Page format

```markdown
---
title: Full Name
type: person
created: YYYY-MM-DD
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
source: raw/imessage/<date>/contacts/<handle>.md
tags: [person, ...context]
aliases: ["Nickname", "+phone", "email@example.com"]
tier: 1 | 2 | 3
related: ["[[USER]]", "[[other-page]]"]
---

# Full Name

> One-line summary in Kevin's framing.

## Background
{Factual register}

## How Kevin Knows Them
{Personal register, paragraphs, Kevin's voice}

## Relationship
{Personal register, paragraphs with direct quotes from Kevin and them}

## Notable
{Bullets OK here — quirks, opinions, catchphrases}

---

## Timeline

- **YYYY-MM-DD** | What happened. [Source: iMessage, YYYY-MM-DD]
```

### 7. Slug rules

- Default: `first-last.md` kebab-case
- Disambiguate name collisions: `david-liu-princeton.md` vs `david-li.md`
  vs Kevin's brother `matthew-liu.md`
- Family pages: use first name when surname is shared
  (`yu-liu.md`, `haiying-tang.md`)
- "Tal" → `tal-princeton.md` (disambiguate from any future Tals)

### 8. Update wiki + log

After writing pages:

1. Regenerate the People section of `wiki/_index.md` (use
   `gen-people-index.py`)
2. Append to `wiki/log.md` with `## [YYYY-MM-DD] ingest | iMessage sync`
3. Update `state.json` `syncs.imessage` to today's date
4. Update voice library in `wiki/people/STYLE.md` if new Kevin phrasings
   surfaced

### 9. Sensitivity rules

Some threads contain heavy emotional content (breakups, friend-group
conflicts, vulnerable disclosures). Default rules:

- **Quote sparingly** — preserve emotional texture but don't dump entire
  vulnerable exchanges verbatim. Characterize the dynamic; quote
  Kevin's framing of it.
- **Don't expose other people's deepest disclosures** without Kevin's
  go-ahead — paraphrase someone else's pain, quote Kevin's response
- **Romantic content** — Maryanne's page goes deep because she's the
  girlfriend; other quasi-romantic exchanges (Simon's flirty banter,
  ex contexts) get a single sentence at most
- **Sensitive entities** like Lili (Kevin's ex) get a wikilink but
  NO dedicated page unless Kevin says yes

## Notability Gate

Per AGENTS.md "Notability Gate":

- People Kevin texts ≥10 times in a year → eligible
- Mentioned across 2+ separate sources → eligible (iMessage counts as 1
  source; calendar / email / meeting transcripts add more)
- One-off mentions get a wikilink in someone else's page, NOT a dedicated
  page

## Future enhancements

- **AttributedBody decoder** — modern macOS sometimes nulls `m.text` and
  stores message in `m.attributedBody` binary plist. Add Python plist
  decoder to recover those.
- **Group-chat parsing** — currently only 1:1. Group chats reveal who's
  in which cluster.
- **Cross-source enrichment** — pair iMessage data with `raw/calendar/`,
  `raw/email/`, `raw/meetings/` to thicken person pages.
- **Automation** — once stable, schedule weekly via Codex automation:
  detect new contacts crossing the ≥10-msg threshold, draft pages, open
  PR for Kevin's review.

## Files

This skill expects (or creates) the following at the wiki repo:

- `scripts/sync-imessage.sh` — extraction (committed)
- `scripts/resolve-imessage.py` — name resolver (recreate as needed)
- `scripts/build-people-plan.py` — tier assignment (recreate as needed)
- `scripts/gen-t3-stubs.py` — stub generator (recreate as needed)
- `scripts/gen-people-index.py` — index regenerator (recreate as needed)

Recreate the helper scripts inline if missing — they're idempotent and
short. The shell extraction script is the only one that must persist.

---

Timeline

• 2026-07-15 | Generated a browseable source page from the actual executable skill file. Source: skills/productivity/imessage-to-people/SKILL.md