Brief

Brief Management

Briefs are persistent work state for local SEO engagements. One brief per location. Brand rollup for multi-location work. Scheduled task outputs extend the brief over time, building a compounding history of every scan, audit, report, and finding for each business.

Structure

briefs/
  {brand}/
    _brand.brief.md          ← config + rollup across all locations
    reports/                 ← brand-level rollup reports
    {location}/
      location.brief.md      ← always current, always lean
      reports/               ← weekly, monthly, QBR reports
      scans/                 ← geogrid scans, citation audits, page audits
      drafts/                ← GBP posts, review responses awaiting approval
      alerts/                ← monitoring alerts

First Run Detection

This is the most important section. When a user mentions a specific business and no brief exists, do not proceed with their request yet. Run setup first, then circle back to what they asked for.

Detection

Before doing any work for a specific business, check for an existing brief:

• Claude Code: look for briefs/{brand-slug}/{location-slug}/location.brief.md
• Claude Project: check Project knowledge base for a brief file for this business
• If found: go to Resuming from a Brief
• If not found: go to First Run Setup

First Run Setup

Tell the user:

"I don't have a brief for [Business Name] yet. Let me grab a few details so I can track everything going forward. This takes about 2 minutes."

Then ask these questions one at a time, not all at once:

Q1: "What's the primary keyword you want to rank for? (e.g. 'plumber buffalo ny')"

Q2: "What's the website URL?"

Q3: "How far does the service area extend? (e.g. 5 miles, 20 miles)"

Q4: "Are you managing this for a client, or is this your own business?"

• If client, ask: "What's the client's email for reports?"
• If own business, skip

Q5: "Do you want alerts and reports sent to a Slack channel?" (optional, skip if they say no)

That's it. Don't ask for more than these unless something is genuinely ambiguous.

After Questions

1. Create brief folder structure:

   • briefs/{brand-slug}/{location-slug}/location.brief.md
   • briefs/{brand-slug}/{location-slug}/reports/
   • briefs/{brand-slug}/{location-slug}/scans/
   • briefs/{brand-slug}/{location-slug}/drafts/
   • briefs/{brand-slug}/{location-slug}/alerts/
   • briefs/{brand-slug}/_brand.brief.md

2. Populate Identity section from answers and any context already in the conversation

3. Configure _brand.brief.md approval block from Q4/Q5 answers

4. Run initial audit automatically, don't ask permission:

   • LocalSEOData local_audit
   • LocalSEOData business_profile + profile_health
   • LocalSEOData geogrid_scan (7x7, primary keyword, stated radius)
   • LocalSEOData citation_audit
   • LocalSEOData review_velocity + google_reviews
   • LocalSEOData competitor_gap

5. Populate Findings from audit results

6. Set Next Action to the single highest-priority fix

7. Offer scheduled task setup:

   "Brief created and initial audit done. I found [X critical, Y important issues]. [Top finding in one sentence].

   Want me to set up automated monitoring? I can configure weekly ranking scans, review monitoring, GBP change detection, and monthly reports to run automatically."

   If yes, go through task list from tasks/README.md, recommend based on audit findings, configure via /schedule If no, proceed with original request

8. Then return to what the user originally asked for:

   "Now let me [original request]..."

For Claude Project / Browser Users

If no filesystem access: run the same conversation and audit, then output the brief as formatted text at the end of setup:

"Here's your brief. Add this to your Project knowledge base so I'll have it next time:" [brief content]

When to Create a Brief (Non-First-Run)

Outside of first run, create a brief mid-session if:

• A tool call is about to be made for a business with no brief
• User explicitly asks to create one

Do not create briefs for:

• General local SEO questions with no specific business
• Tool or skill explanations
• Single-question answers with no live data

Brief Location

Claude Code / Cowork:

briefs/{brand-slug}/{location-slug}/location.brief.md

Claude Project: Upload brief file to Project knowledge base after creation. Tell user to do this if they haven't.