Brief (Engagement Brief)
A brief is a persistent markdown file that serves as the index for a local SEO engagement. One brief per business location. It tracks identity data, audit findings, session history, tool runs, deliverables, and the single highest-priority next action.
Definition
An engagement brief is a structured text file that accumulates work state across sessions. When Claude starts a session for a client, it reads the brief to understand current state, recent history, and outstanding priorities. When the session ends, Claude updates the brief with what was worked on, what was found, and what comes next.
The brief is the memory layer between sessions. Without it, every session starts from zero. With it, every session starts with full context.
Structure
A location brief contains:
- Identity — business name, address, GBP URL, target keywords, service area
- Session Log — date and one-line summary of each session, newest first
- Tools Run — date, tool, endpoint, and finding for each data pull
- Findings — categorized as Critical, Important, or Monitor
- Deliverables — checkbox tracker for pending and completed work
- Next Action — single explicit priority for the next session
Brief vs. Report
A brief is not a report. Reports are deliverables produced for clients. Briefs are internal working documents that track engagement state. Reports live in the reports/ subdirectory of a brief. The brief itself stays lean — it’s an index pointing to detailed outputs.
Multi-Location Briefs
Clients with multiple locations get a two-tier structure:
- Location briefs — one per physical location or service area
- Brand brief — cross-location rollup with configuration for approval workflows, alert thresholds, and notification channels
The brand brief includes a summary table tracking all locations’ current state.
How Local SEO Skills Uses Briefs
Every skill that runs updates the brief automatically. Audit findings go to the Findings section. Data pulls go to Tools Run. Completed work gets checked off in Deliverables. Scheduled tasks write their outputs into brief subdirectories and add a session log entry.
The brief directory (briefs/) is gitignored by default to protect client data privacy. Templates and structure are version-controlled; client data is not.
Related Terms
- Scheduled Task — automated workflows that write outputs to briefs
- Approval Tier — the level of human oversight required before acting on brief contents
- Dispatch — the routing skill that reads briefs for context during sessions