# NIS User Guide — Network Information System

NIS is your personal CRM built into WorkingAgents. It tracks contacts, companies, interactions, follow-ups, sales pipelines, and tasks — all from the web interface. Every user gets their own private database.

This guide walks you through every feature using the web interfaces at `/nis` (contacts, companies, pipeline) and `/tasks` (task management).

---

## Getting Started

Open your browser and go to:

```
https://your-server/nis
```

You land on the **Today** dashboard — your daily command center. The top navigation bar has five tabs:

| Tab | Purpose |
|-----|---------|
| **Contacts** | Manage people |
| **Companies** | Manage organizations |
| **Pipeline** | Visual sales funnel |
| **Search** | Find anything across all data |
| **Today** | Daily dashboard: overdue, due today, upcoming, birthdays |

Tasks have their own interface at `/tasks` with a separate nav bar:

| Tab | Purpose |
|-----|---------|
| **Dashboard** | Task overview with quick capture, stats, due/overdue lists |
| **New** | Full task creation form |
| **Queries** | 60+ built-in queries organized by category |

---

## Contacts

### Viewing Contacts

Click **Contacts** in the nav bar. You see a table with columns:

- **Name** — Full name (nickname in parentheses if set)
- **Company** — Linked company (clickable)
- **Stage** — Pipeline stage (color-coded badge)
- **Priority** — 0–10 with a colored dot
- **Tags** — Category labels
- **Last Contact** — When you last interacted (e.g. "3d ago")
- **Next** — Scheduled follow-up date

**Filter by stage:** Use the dropdown at the top to show only contacts in a specific stage (Lead, Prospect, Client, Partner, Inactive).

**Sort:** Use the sort dropdown to order by name, priority, last contact date, or next contact date.

**Click any row** to open the contact's detail page.

### Creating a Contact

Click the **+ Contact** button. A form opens with these fields:

| Field | What to Enter | Example |
|-------|--------------|---------|
| **Name** * | Full name (required) | `Sarah Chen` |
| **Nickname** | Short name or alias | `SC` |
| **Stage** | Where they are in your pipeline | `prospect` |
| **Priority** | 0 (low) to 10 (urgent) | `7` |
| **Location** | City, country, region | `San Francisco, CA` |
| **Address** | Mailing address | `123 Main St, SF, CA 94105` |
| **Relation** | How you know them | `colleague`, `friend`, `vendor`, `mentor` |
| **Birthday** | MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DD format | `03-15` or `1990-03-15` |
| **Contact Every** | How often to follow up | `weekly`, `biweekly`, `monthly`, `quarterly` |
| **Background** | Notes about who they are | `CTO at Acme Corp, met at React Conf 2025` |
| **Referred By** | Who introduced you | `Mike Johnson` |
| **Tags** | Comma-separated categories | `vip, ai-interested, florida` |

Click **Create** to save. You're taken to the new contact's detail page.

#### Data Entry Tips

- **Priority scale:** 0 = someday/maybe, 1–3 = low, 4–6 = normal, 7–8 = high, 9–10 = urgent/critical
- **Stage values:** `lead` (just met), `prospect` (qualified interest), `client` (active customer), `partner` (strategic ally), `inactive` (not pursuing)
- **Tags are flexible:** Use whatever categories make sense for you. Common examples: `vip`, `warm-lead`, `conference-2025`, `referral-source`, `ai-consulting`
- **Birthday format:** Use `MM-DD` if you don't know the year. NIS uses this to show birthday reminders on the Today dashboard.
- **Contact Every:** When set, NIS automatically schedules your next follow-up after each interaction. `monthly` means "remind me 30 days after my last interaction."

### Viewing a Contact

The detail page shows all contact information organized in a grid, plus:

- **Notes & Interactions** — Full history of every logged interaction, with date, channel, and content
- **Action buttons:**
  - **Edit** — Modify any field
  - **Log Interaction** — Record a call, email, meeting, etc.
  - **Delete** — Permanently remove the contact

### Editing a Contact

Click **Edit** on a contact's detail page. The same form opens with current values pre-filled. Change what you need and click **Update**.

### Deleting a Contact

Click **Delete** on the detail page. You'll be asked to confirm. This is permanent.

---

## Companies

### Viewing Companies

Click **Companies** in the nav bar. The table shows:

- **Name** — Company name
- **Stage** — Pipeline stage
- **Priority** — 0–10
- **Deal Value** — Dollar amount of the potential/active deal
- **Location** — Where they're based
- **Tags** — Categories

Filter by stage using the dropdown. Click any row to open the detail page.

### Creating a Company

Click **+ Company**. Fields:

| Field | What to Enter | Example |
|-------|--------------|---------|
| **Name** * | Company name (required) | `Acme Corp` |
| **Stage** | Pipeline stage | `prospect` |
| **Priority** | 0–10 | `8` |
| **Deal Value ($)** | Dollar amount | `50000` |
| **Location** | Office location | `Austin, TX` |
| **Purpose** | What they do | `Enterprise SaaS for logistics` |
| **Interest** | What they want from you | `AI integration for their CRM` |
| **Tags** | Categories | `saas, enterprise, q1-target` |

Click **Create** to save.

#### Data Entry Tips

- **Deal Value:** Enter the total dollar amount without commas or currency symbol. Just the number: `50000` not `$50,000`.
- **Purpose vs Interest:** Purpose = what the company does. Interest = what they want from you. Both help you remember context before a call.

### Company Detail Page

Shows all company info plus:

- **Contacts** — All contacts linked to this company. Click to view any contact.
- **Notes** — Interaction history specific to this company.
- **Edit / Delete** buttons.

### Linking Contacts to Companies

When creating or editing a contact, the company link is set via the `company_id` field. Currently this is done through the API or MCP tools (see [Advanced Usage](#advanced-usage-mcp-tools) below). The web form will be updated to include a company picker.

---

## Pipeline

Click **Pipeline** to see a Kanban-style board. Contacts and companies are grouped into columns by stage:

```
┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐
│   Lead   │  │ Prospect │  │  Client  │  │ Partner  │  │ Inactive │
│    (4)   │  │    (3)   │  │    (6)   │  │    (1)   │  │    (2)   │
├──────────┤  ├──────────┤  ├──────────┤  ├──────────┤  ├──────────┤
│ Card     │  │ Card     │  │ Card     │  │ Card     │  │ Card     │
│ Card     │  │ Card     │  │ Card     │  │          │  │ Card     │
│ Card     │  │ Card     │  │ Card     │  │          │  │          │
│ Card     │  │          │  │ Card     │  │          │  │          │
└──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘
```

Each card shows:
- Priority dot (color indicates urgency)
- Name
- Type (Contact or Company)
- Deal value (if set)

**Click any card** to open its detail page.

Above the columns, summary stat cards show the count per stage so you can see your pipeline distribution at a glance.

### How to Use the Pipeline

1. **New leads** enter on the left as `lead`
2. **Qualify** them by changing their stage to `prospect` (edit the contact/company)
3. **Convert** to `client` when they sign or `partner` for strategic relationships
4. **Mark `inactive`** for contacts you're no longer pursuing

The pipeline gives you a visual snapshot of where all your relationships stand.

---

## Search

Click **Search** to find anything across your entire database. The search covers:

- Contact names, nicknames, backgrounds
- Company names, purposes, interests
- Note content and reasons
- Activity titles and descriptions
- Tags everywhere

### How to Search

1. Type your search terms in the box
2. Press **Enter** or click **Search**
3. Results appear with:
   - **Type badge** — Color-coded (Contact, Company, Note, Activity, Website)
   - **Name/title** — The matching entity
   - **Snippet** — Context showing where your term matched

Click any result to go to its detail page.

### Search Examples

| Search For | Finds |
|-----------|-------|
| `sarah` | Contacts named Sarah, notes mentioning Sarah |
| `AI consulting` | Contacts/companies with AI consulting in any field |
| `vip` | Everything tagged "vip" |
| `pricing proposal` | Notes where you discussed pricing proposals |
| `Austin` | Contacts/companies located in Austin |

---

## Today Dashboard

The **Today** tab is your daily command center. Open it first thing every morning. It shows four sections:

### Summary Bar

Four stat cards at the top:

| Card | What It Shows |
|------|--------------|
| **Overdue** (red) | Follow-ups you missed |
| **Due Today** (blue) | Follow-ups scheduled for today |
| **Upcoming 3d** (gray) | What's coming in the next 3 days |
| **Birthdays** (gold) | Contact birthdays this week |

### Overdue Section

Red-highlighted items where the follow-up date has passed. Each item shows:
- Priority dot
- Entity type badge (Contact/Company)
- Name (clickable)
- Stage badge
- Scheduled date and how long overdue

**Action:** Click the name to open the detail page, then either log an interaction or reschedule.

### Due Today Section

Blue-highlighted items scheduled for today. Same format as Overdue.

**Action:** Work through these during your day. Log each interaction as you complete it.

### Upcoming 3 Days

Gray section showing what's coming soon. Helps you prepare.

### Birthdays This Week

Gold section listing contacts with birthdays in the next 7 days. Shows the birthday date.

**Action:** Send a birthday message to strengthen the relationship.

---

## Logging Interactions

This is the core daily workflow. Every time you interact with a contact — call, email, meeting, WhatsApp message — log it.

### How to Log

1. Open the contact's detail page
2. Click **Log Interaction** (green button)
3. Fill in the form:

| Field | What to Enter | Example |
|-------|--------------|---------|
| **Content** * | What happened (required) | `Called to discuss Q2 consulting proposal. She wants AI integration for their CRM. Budget around $50k. Will send formal proposal by Friday.` |
| **Channel** | How you communicated | `phone`, `email`, `meeting`, `whatsapp`, `linkedin`, `other` |
| **Tags** | Categories for this interaction | `proposal, follow-up-needed` |
| **Next Action** | What to do next | `Send proposal by Friday` |

4. Click **Log** to save

### What Happens When You Log

- A timestamped note is created and attached to the contact
- The contact's **Last Contact** date updates to now
- If the contact has **Contact Every** set (e.g. `monthly`), the **Next Contact** date automatically reschedules (now + 30 days)
- The interaction appears in the contact's Notes & Interactions history

### Interaction Content Tips

Write enough to jog your memory later. Include:
- **What was discussed** — Key topics, decisions made
- **Action items** — What you or they committed to do
- **Tone/sentiment** — Were they enthusiastic? Hesitant? Frustrated?
- **Numbers** — Budget, timeline, quantities mentioned

Bad: `Called Sarah`
Good: `Called Sarah re: Q2 proposal. Interested in AI integration for CRM. Budget $50k, timeline 3 months. Wants formal proposal by Friday. She's checking with her CTO first.`

---

## Follow-Up System

NIS keeps you from dropping the ball. The follow-up system works through two mechanisms:

### Manual Scheduling

When editing a contact or company, you can set **Next Contact** to a specific date. This appears on the Today dashboard when that date arrives.

Through the API/MCP tools, you set this as a Unix timestamp via the `next_contact_at` field.

### Automatic Scheduling

Set **Contact Every** on a contact to one of:

| Value | Frequency | Days |
|-------|-----------|------|
| `weekly` | Every week | 7 |
| `biweekly` | Every two weeks | 14 |
| `monthly` | Every month | 30 |
| `quarterly` | Every quarter | 90 |

After each logged interaction, the next follow-up is automatically calculated from the current date.

**Example workflow:**
1. You set Sarah's Contact Every to `monthly`
2. You log a call with Sarah today (Feb 24)
3. NIS automatically sets her Next Contact to March 26
4. On March 26, she appears on your Today dashboard
5. You call her, log it, and Next Contact moves to April 25
6. The cycle continues

### Priority and Follow-Ups

High-priority contacts should have shorter follow-up intervals. A suggested mapping:

| Priority | Suggested Frequency |
|----------|-------------------|
| 8–10 | `weekly` |
| 5–7 | `biweekly` |
| 3–4 | `monthly` |
| 1–2 | `quarterly` |

---

## Tasks

Tasks live at `/tasks` and give you a focused system for tracking work that needs to get done. While contacts and follow-ups track *relationships*, tasks track *actions* — things you need to do, with deadlines, priorities, and status tracking.

### The Task Dashboard

Open `/tasks` in your browser. The dashboard shows:

1. **Quick Capture bar** — Type a task in natural language at the top
2. **Stat cards** — Open, Overdue, Due Today, Blocked counts
3. **Action buttons** — New Task, Daily Plan, All Queries
4. **Due Today** — Tasks due today, sorted by priority
5. **Overdue** — Past-due tasks you need to address
6. **All Open Tasks** — Everything that's not completed

The nav bar has three links:
- **Dashboard** — The main view above
- **New** — Full task creation form
- **Queries** — 60+ built-in query functions

### Quick Capture

The fastest way to add a task. Type a natural language sentence in the capture bar at the top of the dashboard. The system parses:

| Syntax | What It Does | Example |
|--------|-------------|---------|
| Plain text | Task title | `send proposal to Sarah` |
| `#tag` | Adds a tag | `send proposal #work #sales` |
| `!!` | High priority (8) | `fix login bug !!` |
| `p5` | Sets priority to 5 | `review docs p5` |
| `tomorrow` | Due tomorrow 9am | `call Sarah tomorrow` |
| `next monday` | Due next Monday 9am | `team meeting next monday` |
| `daily` | Recurring daily | `check email daily` |
| `weekly` | Recurring weekly | `weekly report weekly #work` |

**Examples:**

```
buy groceries tomorrow #home !!
send proposal to Sarah next monday #work p7
review code daily #dev
prepare slides for demo friday #work !!
```

Type and press **Enter** or click **Capture**. The task appears instantly below the bar without a page reload. Keep capturing — you can rapid-fire multiple tasks.

### Creating a Task (Full Form)

Click **+ New Task** or go to `/tasks/new` for the full form. The form has two sections — essential fields visible by default, and advanced fields hidden behind "More options."

**Essential fields:**

| Field | What to Enter | Example |
|-------|--------------|---------|
| **Title** * | What needs to be done (required) | `Send Q2 proposal to Acme Corp` |
| **Priority** | 0 (someday) to 10 (critical) | `7` |
| **Due At** | Deadline (date and time picker) | `2026-02-28 14:00` |
| **Tags** | Comma-separated categories | `#work, #sales, #acme` |
| **Recurrence** | Auto-repeat pattern | `daily`, `weekly`, `every 3 days` |

**Advanced fields** (click "More options"):

| Field | What to Enter | Example |
|-------|--------------|---------|
| **Status** | Current state | `todo`, `in_progress`, `blocked`, `completed` |
| **Parent Task ID** | Makes this a subtask | `1740000000000` |
| **Note** | Additional details, context, acceptance criteria | `Include pricing tiers A, B, C. CC the CFO.` |
| **After At** | Don't show until this date (defer) | `2026-03-01 09:00` |
| **Expires At** | Task becomes invalid after this date | `2026-03-15 17:00` |
| **Waiting For** | Who/what is blocking you | `Client approval on budget` |

Click **Create Task** to save. You're taken to the task detail page.

### Task Status

Every task has one of four statuses:

| Status | Badge Color | Meaning |
|--------|------------|---------|
| **todo** | Blue | Not started yet |
| **in_progress** | Yellow | Actively working on it |
| **blocked** | Red | Can't proceed — waiting on something |
| **completed** | Green | Done |

Change status by editing the task. When you mark a task `blocked`, fill in the **Waiting For** field to record what you're waiting on.

### Task Detail Page

Click any task title to open its detail page. Shows all fields plus:

- **Edit** — Modify any field
- **Complete** — Mark as done (one click)
- **Delete** — Remove permanently
- **Subtasks** — If this task has child tasks, they appear in a table below

### Completing Tasks

Two ways to complete a task:

1. **From the dashboard/table:** Click the green checkmark button on the task row. The row fades out — no page reload.
2. **From the detail page:** Click the **Complete** button.

When you complete a **recurring task**, NIS automatically creates the next instance with the updated due date. For example, completing a `weekly` task due Monday creates a new task due next Monday.

### Deleting Tasks

Click the red X button on the task row, or the **Delete** button on the detail page. This is permanent.

### Subtasks

Break large tasks into smaller pieces using parent-child relationships.

1. Create the parent task: `Launch marketing campaign`
2. Create child tasks with the parent's ID in **Parent Task ID**:
   - `Write blog post` (parent: campaign ID)
   - `Design social media graphics` (parent: campaign ID)
   - `Schedule email blast` (parent: campaign ID)

The parent task's detail page shows all subtasks. The Queries page has dedicated subtask queries like "Parents with Incomplete Subtasks" and "Ready to Complete" (parents whose children are all done).

### Deferred Tasks (After At)

Set **After At** to hide a task until a future date. The task exists but doesn't appear in your active lists until that date arrives.

Use this for:
- "I can't do this until the contract is signed on March 1" → After At: March 1
- "Don't think about this until next quarter" → After At: April 1
- "This becomes relevant after the deployment" → After At: deployment date

### Expiring Tasks

Set **Expires At** for tasks that become irrelevant after a date. Example: "Submit early bird registration" expires when early bird pricing ends. Expired tasks are filtered out of active views.

### Recurring Tasks

Set **Recurrence** to automatically create the next instance when you complete a task.

| Pattern | Meaning |
|---------|---------|
| `daily` | Every day |
| `weekly` | Every 7 days |
| `every 3 days` | Every 3 days |
| `monthly` | Every 30 days |

When you complete a recurring task:
1. The current task is marked completed
2. A new task is created with the same title, priority, tags, and notes
3. The new task's due date is calculated from the recurrence pattern

### The Daily Plan

Click **Daily Plan** on the dashboard (or go to `/tasks/plan`). This is your morning briefing. It shows:

1. **Focus Task** — The single most important thing you should work on right now. Highlighted with a blue border. This is your highest-priority, actionable (not deferred, not expired) task.

2. **Stats** — Open count, Overdue count, Completed today, Completed this week.

3. **Overdue** — Tasks past their due date. Handle these first.

4. **Due Today** — What's due today, sorted by priority.

5. **Recurring Today** — Recurring tasks due today.

6. **Becoming Active** — Tasks whose "After At" falls today — they just became actionable.

7. **Upcoming 3 Days** — What's coming so you can prepare.

**Use the Daily Plan every morning** to decide what to work on. Start with the Focus Task, clear overdue items, then work through Due Today by priority.

### Task Queries (60+ Built-In)

Click **All Queries** on the dashboard (or go to `/tasks/q`). This page organizes every query into categories. Click any query to run it instantly.

**Status queries:**
- Open Tasks, Blocked Tasks, Completed Tasks, In Progress, Todo Without Due Date

**Due Date queries:**
- Due Today, Due Next Hour, Due Next 30min, Due This Week, Due Tomorrow, Overdue, No Due Date

**Priority queries:**
- Open by Priority, Highest Priority Open, Top 5 This Week, Overdue by Priority

**Completion analytics:**
- Completed Today, This Week, Last 30 Days, Completed Late, Completed Early, Completed Per Day (last 7)

**Tag queries** (these have input fields — type a tag and click Run):
- Open Tagged, Open Tagged Due Today, High Priority Tagged, Blocked Tagged

**Subtask queries:**
- Top-Level Tasks, Subtasks Of (enter parent ID), Parents with Incomplete Subtasks, Ready to Complete

**Blocking queries:**
- Blocked with Reason, Blocked > 7 Days, Blocked by Duration

**Recurring queries:**
- Recurring Tasks, Recurring Due Today, Next Actionable

**Dashboard queries:**
- Today's Agenda, Next Up, Becoming Actionable Today, Stale Tasks, Daily Summary

**Analytics:**
- Count by Status, Count by Tag, Avg Completion Time, Priority Distribution

**Data Integrity** (for cleanup):
- Completed Without Timestamp, Expires Before Due, Past Wait Still Blocked, Empty Title

### MCP Task Commands

Ask your AI assistant to manage tasks:

```
You: Add task "send proposal to Acme" due friday priority 7 #work
AI:  [Creates task via task_capture]

You: What's my next task?
AI:  [Returns highest-priority actionable task]

You: Show my daily plan
AI:  [Shows overdue, due today, focus task, upcoming]

You: Complete task 123
AI:  [Marks done, creates next instance if recurring]

You: Snooze task 456 until tomorrow
AI:  [Defers task until tomorrow morning]

You: Show tasks tagged #work
AI:  [Lists open tasks with #work tag]
```

### Task Workflow: Putting It All Together

**Morning (3 minutes):**
1. Open `/tasks/plan` — review your Daily Plan
2. Note the Focus Task — that's your #1 priority
3. Scan Overdue — these need immediate attention
4. Glance at Upcoming — anything to prepare for?

**During the Day:**
5. Quick capture tasks as they come up — don't lose them
6. Work through tasks by priority (Focus Task first)
7. Update status: move tasks to `in_progress` when you start, `blocked` when stuck
8. Complete tasks as you finish them — the green checkmark

**When Stuck:**
9. Set status to `blocked` and fill in `Waiting For`
10. Move to the next actionable task
11. Check "Blocked > 7 Days" weekly to follow up on stuck items

**Weekly Review:**
12. Run "Completed This Week" — celebrate progress
13. Run "Stale Tasks" — anything in_progress but untouched for 7 days?
14. Run "No Due Date" — assign due dates or deprioritize
15. Run "Priority Distribution" — are your priorities realistic?

---

## Tags

Tags are your flexible categorization system. They work on contacts, companies, notes, and activities.

### How Tags Work

- Enter tags as **comma-separated values**: `vip, ai-consulting, florida`
- Tags appear as small badges throughout the interface
- Filter the Contacts list by tag using the API
- Search finds tags via full-text search

### Suggested Tag Categories

| Category | Example Tags |
|----------|-------------|
| **Relationship** | `vip`, `warm-lead`, `cold-lead`, `referral-source` |
| **Industry** | `saas`, `fintech`, `healthcare`, `retail` |
| **Geography** | `florida`, `vietnam`, `remote`, `us-east` |
| **Source** | `conference-2025`, `linkedin`, `referral`, `inbound` |
| **Status** | `follow-up-needed`, `proposal-sent`, `contract-review` |
| **Service** | `ai-consulting`, `integration`, `training`, `audit` |

### Tag Consistency

Pick a naming convention and stick with it. Use lowercase, hyphens for spaces. `ai-consulting` not `AI Consulting` or `ai_consulting`. Consistent tags make filtering reliable.

---

## Stages Explained

Stages represent where a contact or company sits in your relationship pipeline.

| Stage | Meaning | When to Use |
|-------|---------|-------------|
| **lead** | Initial contact, unqualified | Just met, exchanged info, no conversation about working together yet |
| **prospect** | Qualified interest | Had a real conversation, there's potential for business |
| **client** | Active customer | Paying customer or active engagement |
| **partner** | Strategic relationship | Mutual benefit, referral partner, co-development |
| **inactive** | Not pursuing | Lost deal, relationship went cold, or intentionally paused |

### Stage Progression Example

1. You meet Alex at a conference → Create contact, stage: `lead`
2. You have a discovery call, she's interested → Change to `prospect`
3. She signs a consulting contract → Change to `client`
4. The project ends but you keep collaborating → Change to `partner`
5. She leaves the company → Change to `inactive`

When you change a stage, NIS creates a note recording the transition (e.g., "Stage changed from prospect to client").

---

## Priority System

Priority is a number from 0 to 10. It determines sort order and visual urgency (the colored dot next to names).

| Priority | Color | Meaning |
|----------|-------|---------|
| 0 | Dark gray | Someday/maybe |
| 1–3 | Gray | Low — check in occasionally |
| 4–5 | Yellow | Normal — regular follow-ups |
| 6–7 | Orange | High — active opportunity |
| 8–9 | Red | Urgent — needs attention now |
| 10 | Dark red | Critical — drop everything |

### Setting Priority

Ask yourself: "If I could only contact 5 people today, would this person make the list?"

- **Clients with active projects** → 7–9
- **Hot prospects about to decide** → 8–10
- **Regular networking contacts** → 3–5
- **Old contacts, no active need** → 0–2

Adjust priorities as situations change. A prospect who just requested a proposal jumps from 5 to 8.

---

## Daily Workflow

Here's how to use NIS effectively every day. You have two dashboards — `/nis` (Today tab) for relationships and `/tasks` (Dashboard) for action items. Both work together.

### Morning (5 minutes)

1. Open `/tasks/plan` — **Daily Plan** first:
   - Note the **Focus Task** — your single most important action
   - Scan **Overdue tasks** — address these first
   - Review **Due Today** — plan your day
2. Open `/nis` → **Today** tab:
   - Check **Overdue follow-ups** — who needs a call/email?
   - Check **Birthdays** — send a quick message
   - Note **Due Today** follow-ups — schedule them around your tasks

### During the Day

3. **Work tasks by priority.** Start with the Focus Task, then Due Today by priority.
4. **Quick capture new tasks** as they come up — don't lose them. Use the capture bar on the dashboard.
5. **Log interactions immediately** after every call, email, or meeting:
   - Open the contact → Log Interaction → Write what happened → Save
6. When you meet someone new:
   - Create a contact with stage `lead`
   - Set appropriate priority and tags
   - Set Next Contact for when you plan to follow up
7. **Complete tasks** as you finish them — click the green checkmark.

### End of Day (2 minutes)

8. Quick scan of **Today** on `/nis` — any follow-ups you missed?
9. Check `/tasks` dashboard — any overdue tasks from today?
10. Glance at **Upcoming 3 Days** on both dashboards — anything to prepare for tomorrow?

### Weekly Review (10 minutes)

11. Open **Pipeline** — is your funnel healthy?
    - Enough leads coming in?
    - Prospects stuck too long without progressing?
    - Any inactive contacts worth reactivating?
12. Open **Contacts**, sort by **Last Contact** — anyone you haven't talked to in too long?
13. Review priorities — adjust based on how situations evolved this week
14. Run task queries:
    - **Completed This Week** — track your progress
    - **Stale Tasks** — anything in_progress but untouched for 7 days?
    - **No Due Date** — assign deadlines or deprioritize
    - **Blocked > 7 Days** — follow up on stuck items

---

## Advanced Usage: MCP Tools

NIS is also accessible through AI assistants (Claude, etc.) via MCP tools. This is useful for quick operations without opening the browser.

### Available MCP Commands

Ask your AI assistant to perform any of these:

**Contacts:**
- "List my contacts" / "Show contacts tagged vip"
- "Create a contact: Sarah Chen, prospect, priority 7, tags: ai-consulting"
- "Update Sarah's stage to client"
- "Delete contact #123"

**Companies:**
- "List my companies" / "Show companies in prospect stage"
- "Create company Acme Corp, deal value $50k, stage prospect"
- "Update Acme's deal value to $75k"

**Pipeline & Dashboard:**
- "Show my pipeline" — Sales funnel view with totals per stage
- "Show follow-ups" — Overdue, due today, upcoming 3 days
- "What's due today?" — Just today's items

**Interactions:**
- "Log interaction with Sarah: Called about Q2 proposal, she's interested, channel phone"

**Search:**
- "Search NIS for AI consulting"
- "Find contacts in Florida"

**Tasks:**
- "Add task: send proposal to Sarah, due friday, priority 7, tag work"
- "What's my next task?"
- "Show daily plan" / "What's due today?"
- "Complete task 123"
- "Snooze task 456 until next monday"
- "Show tasks tagged #work"

**Statistics:**
- "Show NIS stats for this month" — Notes created, activities completed, contacts added, stage changes

### Examples

```
You: Show my overdue follow-ups
AI:  [Lists contacts/companies past their next_contact_at date]

You: Log interaction with contact 123: Had lunch, discussed partnership
AI:  [Creates note, updates last_contact_at, reschedules if contact_every is set]

You: Create contact Maria Lopez, stage lead, priority 5, tags conference-2026, ai-interested
AI:  [Creates the contact and returns the new record]

You: Show my pipeline
AI:  [Shows pipeline grouped by stage with entity counts and total deal values]
```

---

## Practical Examples

### Example 1: Conference Follow-Up

You attended a tech conference and collected 8 business cards.

1. Create each as a contact with stage `lead`, tag `conference-2026`
2. Set priority based on conversation quality (good chat = 6, brief intro = 3)
3. Set Next Contact to 3 days from now for the high-priority ones
4. Over the next week, the Today dashboard reminds you to follow up
5. After your follow-up call, log the interaction and move promising ones to `prospect`

### Example 2: Sales Pipeline Management

You're consulting for 3 companies and prospecting 5 more.

1. Create all 8 as companies with appropriate stages and deal values
2. Create contacts at each company (linked via company_id)
3. The Pipeline view shows your funnel:
   - 5 in Prospect ($250k total)
   - 3 in Client ($150k total)
4. Set Contact Every to `biweekly` for prospects, `weekly` for active clients
5. The Today dashboard keeps you on track with every relationship

### Example 3: Networking System

You want to maintain a network of 50 professional contacts.

1. Import all contacts with appropriate stages and priorities
2. Set Contact Every based on relationship importance:
   - Close colleagues: `biweekly`
   - Industry peers: `monthly`
   - Distant connections: `quarterly`
3. Add birthdays where known
4. Tag by how you know them: `ex-coworker`, `mentor`, `alumni`
5. Every day, the Today dashboard tells you exactly who to reach out to
6. Log every interaction so you remember what you discussed last time

### Example 4: Project Delivery with Tasks

You just landed a 3-month AI consulting project with Acme Corp.

1. Create company `Acme Corp` — stage: `client`, deal value: `75000`, tags: `ai-consulting`
2. Create contacts for each stakeholder — the CTO, project manager, and data engineer
3. Create a parent task: `Acme Corp AI Integration` with priority 8, tags: `#acme, #work`
4. Create subtasks under it:
   - `Discovery workshop with CTO` — due next week, priority 9
   - `Data audit and assessment` — due in 2 weeks, priority 7
   - `Build prototype` — after_at: 2 weeks from now (deferred until audit is done)
   - `Weekly status report` — recurring: weekly, tags: `#acme, #reporting`
5. Each week, the recurring status report appears on your dashboard
6. After each meeting, log the interaction on the CTO's contact page
7. Use the "Subtasks Of" query to track project progress
8. When all subtasks are done, "Ready to Complete" query shows the parent task

### Example 5: Freelance Client Management

You're a freelancer managing multiple projects.

1. Create companies for each client
2. Create contacts for each stakeholder at each company
3. Tag active projects: `project-alpha`, `project-beta`
4. Set high priorities for clients with upcoming deadlines
5. Log every meeting and email exchange
6. Before each call, open the contact's detail page and scan recent notes to refresh your memory

---

## Tips for Effective Use

1. **Log interactions immediately.** The 30 seconds it takes to log a call saves you from forgetting important details.

2. **Set Contact Every on every important contact.** Let the system remind you instead of relying on memory.

3. **Use tags consistently.** Pick a convention and stick with it. Tags are only useful if they're reliable.

4. **Keep priorities current.** A monthly review of priorities keeps your dashboard focused on what matters.

5. **Write notes for your future self.** Include enough detail that you can pick up the conversation naturally next time.

6. **Check the Today dashboard daily.** It takes 2 minutes and prevents relationships from falling through the cracks.

7. **Use the Pipeline view weekly.** It shows the health of your business development at a glance.

8. **Search before creating.** Before adding a new contact, search to make sure they don't already exist.

9. **Link contacts to companies.** This lets you see all stakeholders at an organization in one place on the company detail page.

10. **Set birthdays.** A birthday message is the easiest way to maintain a relationship. NIS reminds you automatically.