/ops:vip — VIP List

Load ops-rules before acting. Public repo (no personal data). Outbound: one draft → one approval → one send. If AskUserQuestion / Workflow are missing, follow Rule 10 in ops-rules (Hermes: numbered options / two-turn Telegram card; delegate_task).

The priority layer over every inbox. VIPs are checked FIRST in any sweep, answered first, drafted with extra care, and never buried in a bulk digest.

Scope (deliberately narrow)

This skill does four things and nothing else:

1. Enforce the list — VIP senders rank ahead of everything else in every sweep.
2. Require FULL context before answering or drafting for a VIP: the whole thread, every account on that channel, both directions, plus the ledger brief.
3. Order triage output by tier.
4. Suggest additions when the signals below appear.

It does not read histories for their own sake, does not draft unasked, and does not open a second channel just because one record is open. A tier edit is metadata only. Tagging someone is never an instruction to sweep their history.

Configuration

Nothing here is machine-specific. Every value resolves from userConfig, an env var, or $HOME.

PREFS_PATH="${PREFS_PATH:-${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA_DIR:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/data/ops-ops-marketplace}/preferences.json}"
read_pref() { [ -f "$PREFS_PATH" ] && python3 -c 'import json,sys;print(json.load(open(sys.argv[1])).get(sys.argv[2],"") or "")' "$PREFS_PATH" "$1" 2>/dev/null; }

VIP_LIST_PATH="${VIP_LIST_PATH:-$(read_pref vip_list_path)}"
VIP_LIST_PATH="${VIP_LIST_PATH:-$HOME/.claude-ops/state/vip-list.json}"
VIP_MAX_TIER="${VIP_MAX_TIER:-$(read_pref vip_max_tier)}"
VIP_MAX_TIER="${VIP_MAX_TIER:-2}"

# "No VIPs" and "the VIP list was never set up" are DIFFERENT answers and must
# never look the same. An unconfigured install that silently reports an empty
# list turns this skill into a no-op: every inbox sweep then treats the most
# important people as ordinary traffic and nobody finds out. Fail loud.
if [ ! -f "$VIP_LIST_PATH" ]; then
  echo "vip: no list at $VIP_LIST_PATH — set userConfig vip_list_path or VIP_LIST_PATH." >&2
  echo "vip: copy templates/vip-list.example.json there to start one." >&2
  exit 3
fi

The list file lives OUTSIDE the repo tree — it is the operator's identity and must never be committed (ops-rules Rule 0). Shape: templates/vip-list.example.json.

Tiers

The ledger's importance_tier column is the source of truth for the tier value; the JSON file carries the why and the register notes (language, tone, dates to avoid). Both are read; the DB wins on conflict.

Operations

"$RELATIONS_CLI" vip-list --max-tier "$VIP_MAX_TIER"
"$RELATIONS_CLI" vip <person_id> --tier 1 --type personal --reason "<why>"

Tier writes go through the CLI, never raw SQL. The CLI owns source_reference, the audit log, and the rollback path. A direct UPDATE on the ledger DB — inline or wrapped in a script — leaves an unauditable row and is forbidden even where no guard happens to fire.

Sweep order

Any inbox, chat, email, or ticket sweep runs in this order:

1. Resolve the VIP set once (vip list), cache it for the sweep.
2. Tier 1 senders, every channel, both directions, every account.
3. Tier 2 senders, same.
4. Everything else, normal triage.

A VIP with an unanswered inbound is always surfaced individually, with the thread context, never as a line in a digest.

Suggesting additions

Suggest, never add silently. A tier change needs the owner's word, then the audited CLI write. Three signals:

Two filters keep this honest, both learned from real false positives:

• Anchor every keyword on both sides. A bare stem matches inside longer words (ping inside "tapping") and produces phantom frustration hits.
• A thread ending on a sign-off is CLOSED, not broken. "Thanks!", "sounds good", an emoji, or any short ack with no question mark is not an open ask. Without this filter most chain-breaks are noise that buries the real ones.

Present at most 5 a week: who, which signal, the evidence line, and the exact CLI command to apply it. Then ask plainly. On "no", do not raise that person again.

Related skills

• relations — the ledger, decision queue and draft path this list ranks
• ops-inbox — the sweep that consumes the tier order
• ops-comms — the send path, still gated by Rule 6 for every VIP
• people — contact directory / identity resolution
• ops-rules — Rule 0 (the list is operator data, never committed)