The Desk · AI resource
Build Your Own Daily Book Digest with Claude
Every morning at 7:30, Claude hands me one book, five ideas and one thing to do before lunch. It takes five minutes. And unlike every summary app I’ve tried, it actually knows my life.
The journal prompts ask about my real business and my real family. The highlights I save come back weeks later when I’ve forgotten them. The actions I tick turn straight into tasks on my to-do list.
This post walks you through setting up your own version, from the database to the scheduled task, with one copy-paste prompt that does the heavy lifting.
What you’re building
You’re building a Claude skill: a saved set of instructions Claude follows every time you say “run my book digest”. It has four moving parts, and they run as a daily loop.
- 1The pickerPicks an unread book in a category that’s due, and researches it
- 2The dashboardAn original summary on a swipeable page, to highlight and tick
- 3The save-backCopy for Claude sends your answers back to your database
- 4The follow-throughActions become tasks, and old highlights resurface later
- The picker. Claude checks your database, chooses a book you haven’t read in a category that’s due, and researches it from real sources.
- The dashboard. Claude writes an original summary and builds a swipeable, phone-friendly page in your colours. You can highlight sentences, add notes, answer journal prompts and tick actions.
- The save-back. A “Copy for Claude” button at the end bundles your answers, highlights and ticked actions. You paste it back to Claude, and Claude files it all in your database.
- The follow-through. Anything you ticked or committed to in your answers becomes a task in your to-do list. Your old highlights resurface in future digests.
The schedule sits on top: Cowork runs the whole thing at the same time every morning, so you wake up to it.
What you need before you start
| What | Why | If you don’t have it |
|---|---|---|
| A paid Claude plan | Skills, connectors and Cowork scheduled tasks need one | Check current plans on Claude’s pricing page |
| Claude desktop app with Cowork | Runs the digest on a schedule | Install the desktop app; Cowork lives inside it |
| A database for your books and notes | Stops repeats, stores your journal and highlights | Step 1 below sets it up in Notion |
| A to-do list app | Where your actions and commitments land | Step 6 covers the popular options |
| 45 minutes | For setup and your first test run | Do it on a slow afternoon, not a Monday morning |
You don’t need to code. Claude writes the skill file and the dashboard for you. Your job is to answer its questions honestly and test the result.
Step 1: Set up your book database
Your database is the digest’s memory. This is what enables Claude to choose different books without repeating itself, rotate categories, and keep track of your highlights. It lives in Notion, which Claude can read and write directly.
No Notion account yet? The free plan is enough, and the prompt below is tuned for it, and Claude’s Notion connector can create pages and fill properties directly.
The fields to create
Create a Notion database called Book Digests with these columns. Keep the names exactly as written so the prompt matches.
| Field | Type | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| Book | Title / text | The book’s title |
| Author | Text | Author name(s) |
| Category | Select | One of your categories (you’ll choose them in Step 3) |
| Date | Date | The day of the digest |
| Type | Select | Daily pick, Revisit, or On request |
| Key Ideas | Text | The five insight headlines |
| Status | Select | Digest sent, or Journaled |
| Favourite | Checkbox | Ticked for books you love and want to revisit |
| Journal | Text | Your answers to the prompts |
| Highlights | Text | Sentences you highlighted, plus any notes |
| Actions | Text | The actions you ticked |
| Last Resurfaced | Date | When a highlight from this book last came back to you |
Don’t want to build it by hand? Ask Claude: “Create a database called Book Digests with these fields,” and paste the table above.
Step 2: Connect your tools to Claude
Claude needs permission to read and write your database and your to-do list. That happens through connectors, which you’ll find in Claude’s settings.
- Open Claude’s connector settings and add your Notion.
- OPTIONAL: Add your to-do list tool (Todoist, Asana, ClickUp, Sunsama, Things, or whichever you use). If there’s no connector for it, don’t worry: Step 6 has a workaround.
- Make sure web search is switched on. Claude uses it to research each book so the ideas come from real sources, not guesswork.
- Test each one with a quick question, like “What’s in my Book Digests database?” or “What’s on my to-do list today?” If Claude can answer, you’re connected.
Share the Book Digests database with the Claude integration when Notion asks. That’s the step most people miss.
Step 3: Paste the skill-builder prompt
This is the prompt that turns my digest into yours. Paste it into a new Claude chat. Claude will interview you first, then build two things: the skill file (the instructions) and the dashboard template (the page you’ll read each morning).
Give it 15 to 20 minutes. The more specific your answers, the better your digest. “I like business books” gets you generic picks. “I loved Atomic Habits but couldn’t finish Big Magic” gets you a digest that knows your taste.
I want you to build me a personal "Daily Book Digest" Claude skill, modelled on a
Blinkist-style 5-minute morning read. Before you build anything, interview me.
Ask ONE question at a time, wait for my answer, and use tappable options where it
helps. Don't start building until you've summarised my answers and I've confirmed.
INTERVIEW ME ON:
1. Reading taste
- 3 to 6 books I loved, and what I loved about each
- 1 or 2 books I disliked or didn't finish, and why
- The style I want: practical and framework-led, story-led, research-heavy,
or a mix
- Anything to avoid (memoirs, heavy spirituality, dense academic books, etc.)
2. Categories
- 4 to 7 categories I want rotated (e.g. Business Growth, Marketing, Leadership,
Parenting, Health, Money, Creativity)
- Which 2 or 3 should appear most often
- Any day-of-week biases (e.g. business on Mondays, lighter reads on weekends)
3. How personal to make it
- Ask me to choose a level:
a) Light: general prompts, no personal details
b) Medium: my role and goals, no names
c) Deep: my business, projects, team, family and routines by name
- Then ask for the context that level needs: what I do, what I'm building,
who's in my life (only what I'm happy to include), and current goals
- Whether journal prompts should cover work, home, or both, and how to label
them (e.g. "As a founder", "As a parent", "For you")
4. Favourites and revisits
- Which books count as favourites that can be revisited
- How often I want a revisit day (default: every 2 to 3 weeks, never within
60 days of the last time)
5. My database
- Confirm it's in Notion and connected to Claude
- The exact name of my Book Digests database and its field names
- If I haven't set it up yet, offer to create it with these fields: Book,
Author, Category, Date, Type, Key Ideas, Status, Favourite, Journal,
Highlights, Actions, Last Resurfaced
6. My to-do list
- Which app I use, and whether it's connected to Claude
- Where work tasks go vs. personal tasks (same list, different projects,
different apps)
- Default due-date rule (e.g. within the next 3 workdays)
7. Dashboard look
- My brand or favourite colours (hex codes if I have them): a main colour,
an accent, a soft background and a dark colour for text
- Font preference (serif, sans-serif, or a named Google Font)
- Mood: calm and minimal, warm and editorial, bold and bright
- If I'm unsure, suggest 3 palettes and let me pick
8. Schedule
- What time I want it each day, my time zone, and whether weekends are on
THEN BUILD THE SKILL. It must include:
A) Three modes
- Daily: pick a book, research it, create the database row, build the dashboard
- On request: I name a book ("summarise [book]"), skip the picking step
- Save journal: when I paste a message starting with "save journal", file my
answers, highlights and ticked actions into the database. No dashboard.
B) Book selection rules
- Check the database first and never repeat a book, except favourites on
revisit days
- Rotate categories: choose the one that's appeared least in the last 7 rows
- Only pick well-known, real books that can be reliably researched. Never
invent a book, author or idea
- A "good pick" test: could I do something differently by lunchtime because
of this book?
C) Research and copyright rules
- Search the web and read 2 to 4 reputable sources per book
- Only include ideas genuinely from that book
- Write everything in original words: no quotes from the book, no copying a
summary's structure or phrasing. Named frameworks can be named and explained
D) Tailoring rules (at the personalisation level I chose)
- Journal prompts must be specific to my life, never generic
- One question per prompt, never two-part questions
- Prompts must match the book's topic (a parenting book gets home prompts only)
- Sense check: would the prompt make sense to someone who only read today's
insights?
- Never reference health conditions or sensitive details in prompts
E) Database row
- Create the row BEFORE building the dashboard, so its link can go in the
copy button
- Fill Book, Author, Category, Date, Type, Key Ideas, Status = Digest sent,
Favourite. Leave Journal, Highlights, Actions and Last Resurfaced empty
F) The dashboard: a single self-contained, mobile-first HTML file, swipeable
page by page, using my colours and fonts. Fixed page order:
1. Cover: short date, title, author, category tag, "Why this one, today"
(2 to 3 tailored sentences), and the big idea in one line
2. Insight 1
3. Insight 2
4. Your turn: 2 journal prompts on insights 1 and 2
5. Insight 3
6. Insight 4
7. Your turn: 2 journal prompts on insights 3 and 4
8. Insight 5
9. From your shelf: 2 or 3 highlights from past books (skip if none yet)
10. Your one move today: one action under 15 minutes, 3 to 5 tickable
"Make it easier" action picks, a final journal box, and a Copy for
Claude button
Insight pages: a short headline, 2 to 3 short paragraphs, then either a
3-step "Try this" or 3 tips (alternate between them). About 90 seconds each.
Highlighting: tap any sentence to highlight it; press and drag to highlight
part of a sentence. After highlighting, offer an optional note. Write every
sentence so it makes sense on its own when lifted out later.
Action picks: each is a concrete change to my real systems, doable in under
30 minutes, with a complete instruction Claude can act on if pasted alone
(e.g. "Add a task to my to-do list for Saturday: plan meals for the week,
30 min"). Mix work and home if I chose both.
Copy for Claude button: copies a message starting "save journal" with the
book, date, database link, each question and my answer, my highlights (with
notes), and my ticked actions.
Mobile rules: body text at least 16px, tap targets at least 48px, pager
clears the phone's home bar, swiping is disabled while typing in a journal box.
Keep all colours as CSS variables at the top of the file so I can change them
later. Save a new file each day named digest-YYYY-MM-DD.html.
G) From your shelf
- Pull highlights from past rows (not today's book, not the last 7 days),
from different books, preferring ones not resurfaced recently
- After showing them, set Last Resurfaced to today on those rows
H) Save journal mode
- Update the row: Journal, Highlights (append, no duplicates), Actions,
Status = Journaled
- Set up every ticked action with the right tool
- Read my answers for concrete commitments in my own words and turn each into
a task in my to-do list (work vs. personal as I specified). Feelings, maybes
and things I already do are not tasks
- Reply briefly with what was saved and what was created
I) Scheduling note: the daily run happens as a Cowork scheduled task with the
prompt "Run my book digest."
J) A pre-delivery checklist at the end of the skill
DELIVER:
- The complete SKILL.md, with a description that lists all my trigger phrases
(e.g. "book digest", "today's book", "summarise [book]", "save journal")
- The HTML dashboard template as a separate file, with sample content I can
preview
- Package both as a skill folder I can add to Claude
- Then run one test digest so I can see it workingStep 4: Make the dashboard yours
The prompt asks Claude to keep every colour in one place at the top of the file, so restyling takes seconds. You’ll see a block that looks like this:
:root {
--main: #5B2A4A; /* headings, buttons */
--accent: #C98B9B; /* highlighted words, tags */
--soft: #F6EFEA; /* page background, tip panels */
--ink: #2B2326; /* body text */
--highlight: #F3D9DF; /* your highlighter colour */
}You don’t need to edit it yourself. Just tell Claude what you want:
- “Change my dashboard to my brand colours: #1F3A5F, #E9B44C and #FAF7F2.”
- “Swap the headline font for Playfair Display and keep body text in Inter.”
- “Make the highlighter a soft yellow instead of pink.”
- “Make it feel calmer: less colour, more white space.”
Ask Claude to update the template file in the skill, not just today’s digest. Otherwise tomorrow’s digest goes back to the old look.
Step 5: Install it and run your first digest
- Download the skill folder Claude gives you at the end of Step 3.
- Add it to Claude. Go to the Skills area in Claude’s settings and upload the folder (or the zip). Once it’s there, it works in chat and in Cowork.
- Start a fresh chat and type: “Run my book digest.” Claude should check your database, pick a book, create a row and hand you the dashboard.
- Read it on your phone. Swipe through, highlight a sentence or two, add a note, answer the prompts and tick an action.
- Tap Copy for Claude, then paste the message into Claude. It starts with “save journal”.
- Check your database. Your answers, highlights and actions should be in the row, with Status set to Journaled.
That paste-back step is on purpose. The dashboard is just a web page, so it can’t write to your database by itself. Pasting it back is what lets Claude file everything and set up your tasks. After a week, it takes about three seconds.
If something’s off, tell Claude plainly: “The prompts were too generic,” or “Don’t give me memoirs.” Then ask it to update the skill.
Optional Step 6: Send your actions to your to-do list
This is where the digest stops being “nice reading” and starts changing your week. When you save your journal, Claude does two things: it sets up every action you ticked, and it spots commitments in your own answers (“I’ll ask my partner to own Sunday dinners”) and turns them into tasks.
Pick your setup
| Your situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Your to-do app has a Claude connector (e.g. Todoist, Asana, ClickUp, Sunsama) | Connect it in Step 2. Tell Claude which project work tasks and personal tasks go into |
| Your app has no connector | Ask Claude to list tasks at the end of each save so you can copy them to your app yourself |
| You don’t have a to-do app yet | Start with Todoist’s free plan: simple, works on every device, and connects to Claude |
Step 7: Schedule it in Cowork
A regular Claude chat can’t run things on a timer. Cowork can. Once your skill works in chat, set it to run on its own every morning.
- Open the Claude desktop app and switch to Cowork.
- Create a new scheduled task.
- Set it to repeat daily at your chosen time, in your time zone. I use 7:30am so it’s ready at the same time as my coffee.
- Use this as the task prompt: Run my book digest.
- Save it, then use the option to run it once now, so you can check it works before tomorrow.
Notes:
- Your computer needs to be on and Cowork running at the scheduled time. If it’s asleep, the task runs when it next wakes. So set it for a time your laptop is usually open, or accept that some mornings it’ll arrive a little late.
- Schedule it 15 to 30 minutes before you actually want to read it. Research takes a few minutes.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Claude repeats a book | Check it can read your database: ask “List every book in my Book Digests database.” If it can’t, reshare the database with the connector |
| Prompts feel generic | Give it more context, or raise your personalisation level: “Use my business and family by name in prompts” |
| Picks aren’t your taste | Name the misses: “No more memoirs. More books like Profit First.” Ask Claude to add them to the skill |
| Save journal did nothing | Make sure the paste starts with “save journal” and includes the database link |
| Tasks didn’t appear | Check the to-do connector, and that you told Claude which project to use |
| The schedule didn’t run | Check your computer was awake and Cowork was open at that time |
| Dashboard looks off on your phone | Tell Claude what you see (“text too small”, “button hidden behind the home bar”) and ask it to fix the template |
Want it done for you?
The book digest is one of many small systems I’ve built to make my days run easier: morning briefings, inbox triage, weekly planning, even a Sunday-scaries reset. Each one saves me a little time and a lot of mental load.
If you’d rather skip the setup, or you want a whole set of these built around how you actually work, that’s what Claude Setups at Ambidextrous is for. I set it up with you, tailored to your tools, your business and your life.
