A Walkthrough of the Getting Things Done Skill: What Each Command Actually Does
The GTD BookSkill has six commands that map to the full GTD workflow. Here's what each one does, what it produces, and which to run first.
David Allen's Getting Things Done has been one of the most influential productivity books for over two decades. The methodology is detailed, interconnected, and famously hard to implement without external support.
The Getting Things Done BookSkill translates the full GTD workflow into six interactive commands you run with Claude Code. This walkthrough covers what each command does, what it produces, and how to sequence them.
How the GTD Skill Is Different from the GTD Book
The book describes a system. The BookSkill runs the system with you.
Reading about the Capture phase is one thing. Sitting with an AI that prompts you through every domain of your life — work, personal, financial, health, someday/maybe — until your capture list is genuinely complete is another experience. The skill makes the abstract concrete by asking the questions Allen asks in his workshops, adapting to your context, and producing actual outputs you can act on.
The Six Commands
/capture — Complete Brain Dump
What it does: Runs a guided capture session across every domain of your life. Prompts you through work, personal, financial, home, health, relationships, and "someday/maybe" categories to ensure you haven't missed anything.
What you get: A complete, categorized collection of every open loop in your life — every commitment, project, task, and nagging thought externalized from your head.
When to use it: First, before anything else. A thorough capture is the prerequisite for every other GTD practice. Also useful anytime you feel overwhelmed or scattered — a capture session surfaces what's creating the noise.
Time: 45–90 minutes for a thorough first session. Faster for weekly maintenance captures.
/clarify — Process Your Inbox
What it does: Takes items from your capture list and applies the GTD clarification process: Is this actionable? What's the next physical action? Is it a project (multiple steps) or a single action? Who needs to do it?
What you get: Each item classified and converted into either a next action (a specific, physical action), a project with a defined next action, a waiting-for item (something you've delegated), or a someday/maybe item for future consideration.
When to use it: After every capture session. The goal is an empty inbox — not things done, but every item classified and placed correctly in your system.
/project-plan — Single-Project Deep Dive
What it does: Takes one specific project from your list and applies Allen's natural planning model to it: purpose and principles, outcome visioning, brainstorming, organizing, and identifying next actions.
What you get: A complete project plan with a clear outcome, an organized set of tasks, and a defined next action for immediate execution.
When to use it: When you have a project that feels stuck, overwhelming, or unclear. The natural planning model is specifically designed to break through the "I don't know where to start" feeling by working from purpose down to next action.
/weekly-review — The Practice That Makes Everything Work
What it does: Runs the full GTD weekly review — the ritual Allen considers the keystone of the entire system. Captures anything new that's accumulated, processes your inbox to empty, reviews active projects, reviews the calendar, and sets your priorities for the week ahead.
What you get: A completely current GTD system — an empty inbox, up-to-date project lists, a clear next-action list — and a sense of control over the coming week.
When to use it: Weekly. Allen recommends Friday afternoon; others prefer Sunday evening. The specific day matters less than the consistency. If you only run one GTD command regularly, run this one.
Time: 45–75 minutes per session.
/context-lists — Organizing by Context
What it does: Helps you organize your next-action list by context — the tool, location, or condition required to do each task. @Computer, @Phone, @Waiting For, @Errands, @Agenda (for specific people).
What you get: Context-specific next-action lists that let you work efficiently when you're in a particular context. When you're on a call, you pull up your @Phone list. When you're at your computer, you pull up @Computer.
When to use it: When setting up your GTD system for the first time, or when reorganizing after the system has gotten disorganized.
/someday-maybe — The Inventory of Future Possibilities
What it does: Reviews your Someday/Maybe list — the collection of things you might want to do someday but aren't committed to now — and helps you decide what stays, what gets activated as a project, and what gets removed.
What you get: A current Someday/Maybe list that reflects what you actually still care about, with any newly activated items promoted to active projects.
When to use it: Monthly, or during your weekly review if your Someday/Maybe list has grown large. The Someday/Maybe list is not a graveyard — it's an active inventory of future possibilities that needs periodic curation.
The Right Sequence
If you're new to the GTD Skill, run commands in this order:
/capture— complete the brain dump first/clarify— process everything you captured/context-lists— organize your next actions by context/project-plan— run on any project that feels stuck or unclear/weekly-review— establish as a weekly habit
Then /weekly-review becomes your regular maintenance practice, with the other commands available on demand.
What GTD Actually Delivers
The measurable output of a working GTD system is cognitive: your head is quieter. The background monitoring process — the low-level anxiety of tracking uncaptured commitments — stops running. You're not more productive because you have a better to-do app. You're more productive because the mental overhead of tracking everything has been offloaded to a system you trust.
Allen describes the end state as "mind like water" — the ability to respond appropriately to what's in front of you without being distracted by everything else. The GTD Skill is the fastest path from "I'm overwhelmed and scattered" to "I know exactly what I'm doing and why."
Ready to run your first capture session? Get the Getting Things Done BookSkill and start with /capture.