> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vistaly.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Generate a Workspace Summary

> Get a 20,000 foot view of your workspace for executive updates and status reports

## Overview

Generate executive-level summaries of your Vistaly workspace—what's happening, what's prioritized, and what's changed. Perfect for stakeholder updates, leadership reviews, or keeping yourself oriented across a large workspace.

This works because Vistaly structures your product work as a connected graph. AI can walk through that graph, cluster by priorities, and generate a summary that captures the strategic context.

## Prerequisites

* Vistaly MCP integration configured ([setup guide](/documentation/integrations/model-context-protocol))
* An existing workspace with outcomes, opportunities, and solutions
* Cards with statuses set (Now, Next, Later, Done)

## The Prompt

Copy and paste this prompt to start the workflow:

```xml theme={null}
<Goal>
Generate an executive-level summary of a Vistaly workspace using the Vistaly MCP service.
</Goal>

<Context>
## Workflow Purpose
Create a 20,000 foot view of a workspace—what's being worked on, what's coming up, and what's recently completed. Designed for stakeholder updates, leadership reviews, or personal orientation.

## Key Definitions
- **Outcomes**: Measurable results the product team is trying to achieve
- **Opportunities**: Customer pain-points, needs, or desires that connect to outcomes
- **Solutions**: Ideas or features being built to address opportunities
- **Experiments**: Tests validating assumptions before committing to solutions

## Role Definitions
- **facilitator**: Ask the user questions, guide the process, and wait for responses.
- **actor**: Perform an action (fetching data, processing information, generating output).
- **collaborator**: Work together with the user through back-and-forth dialogue.

## Status Meanings
- **Now**: Actively being worked on
- **Next**: Queued up, coming soon
- **Later**: On the backlog, not yet prioritized
- **Done**: Completed work

## Terminal Environment
- When evaluating the output formats, links should be formatted as markdown when working in a non-termial based enviroment. But when working in the terminal (ex: Claude Code), you must print the name of Card or insight, followed by the full URL.
</Context>

<Steps>
<Step number="1" title="Get Starting Card" role="facilitator">
Ask the user to share a Card ID, URL, or name for the root of the workspace they want summarized. This is typically an outcome or top-level strategic card.

Also ask if they have a previous summary to compare against (for delta reporting).
</Step>

<Step number="2" title="Recursive Tree Traversal" role="actor">
Traverse the tree **one level at a time**, deciding which branches to explore further. This prevents context overflow on large workspaces.

**1. Fetch Ancestors**
Use `getCardContext` with the provided card ID:
- Direction: `ancestors`
- Max levels: 10
- Include target card: true
- Exclude: insights, comments, descriptions

**2. Start Recursive Descent**
Begin at the root card, fetch `maxLevels: 1`, excluding insights/comments/descriptions.

**3. For Each Card Returned, Evaluate and Decide:**

| Card Type | Status | Action |
|-----------|--------|--------|
| **Objective, KPI, Outcome** | (any) | Always continue down |
| **Opportunity** | Now | Continue down + fetch insights for this card |
| **Opportunity** | Next | Continue down + fetch insights for this card |
| **Opportunity** | Done | Continue down (no insights) |
| **Opportunity** | Identified | Fetch 1 more level for context, then stop |
| **Opportunity** | Later | Fetch 1 more level for context, then stop |
| **Solution** | Now | Continue down + fetch insights |
| **Solution** | Next | Continue down + fetch insights |
| **Solution** | Done | Continue down (no insights) |
| **Assumption, Experiment** | (any) | Record but don't expand further |

**4. Recurse**
For each card that qualifies for "continue down", call `getCardContext` with `direction: descendants`, `maxLevels: 1`. Repeat step 3 until no more qualifying children.

**5. Build Mental Map**
As you traverse, build a complete picture of the workspace structure and note which cards have insights attached.
</Step>

<Step number="3" title="Cluster and Analyze" role="actor">
Group all cards by type and status:

**By Type:**
- **Strategic layer**: Outcomes, KPIs, Objectives
- **Discovery layer**: Opportunities
- **Execution layer**: Solutions, Assumptions, Experiments

**By Status:**
- **Now**: What's actively in focus
- **Next**: What's queued up
- **Later**: What's on the backlog
- **Done**: What's been completed

Count cards in each cluster and note the distribution.

Note: Insights for Now/Next items were already fetched during traversal (Step 2). Use those to extract key quotes that explain WHY things are prioritized.
</Step>

<Step number="4" title="Generate Summary" role="actor">
Create the workspace summary using OUTPUT_FORMAT step="4".

Include:
1. **Strategic Context** - Where this workspace sits in the broader strategy (from ancestors)
2. **Workspace Overview** - High-level composition and distribution
3. **Current Focus (Now)** - What's actively being worked on, with supporting evidence
4. **Coming Up (Next)** - What's queued up
5. **Recently Completed (Done)** - What's shipped
6. **Key Themes** - Patterns or clusters you observed
</Step>

<Step number="5" title="Delta Comparison (Optional)" role="collaborator">
If the user provided a previous summary:

1. Compare the current state to the previous summary
2. Identify:
   - New cards added since last summary
   - Cards that moved from Next to Now
   - Cards that moved to Done
   - Any significant shifts in priority or focus

3. Add a "What's Changed" section to the summary
</Step>
</Steps>

<Output_Formats>
<Output_Format step="4">
## Workspace Summary: {Outcome/Card Name}
**Generated**: {Today's Date}
**Scope**: [{Starting Card Name}]({link to card})

---

### Strategic Context
{1-2 sentences on where this workspace sits in the broader product/company strategy, based on ancestor cards}

---

### Overview

| Layer | Count | Now | Next | Later | Done |
|-------|-------|-----|------|-------|------|
| Opportunities | {X} | {X} | {X} | {X} | {X} |
| Solutions | {X} | {X} | {X} | {X} | {X} |
| Experiments | {X} | {X} | {X} | {X} | {X} |

**Total Cards**: {X}

---

### Current Focus (Now)

#### [{Opportunity Name}]({link})
{Brief description of what this opportunity is about}

**Why this matters:**
> "{Key quote from insight}"

**Active work:**
- [{Solution name}]({link}) - {status}
- [{Experiment name}]({link}) - {status}

#### [{Opportunity Name}]({link})
{Repeat for each "Now" opportunity}

---

### Coming Up (Next)
| Card | Type | Notes |
|------|------|-------|
| [{Name}]({link}) | Opportunity | {Brief context if available} |
| [{Name}]({link}) | Solution | Under: {parent opportunity} |

---

### Recently Completed (Done)
| Card | Type | Completed |
|------|------|-----------|
| [{Name}]({link}) | Solution | {Date if available} |
| [{Name}]({link}) | Experiment | {Outcome: passed/failed} |

---

### Key Themes
- **{Theme 1}**: {Brief observation about patterns in the workspace}
- **{Theme 2}**: {Another observation}

---

*Summary covers {X} cards across {Y} levels of hierarchy.*
</Output_Format>

<Output_Format step="5_delta">
### What's Changed
**Since**: {Date of previous summary}

**New Work:**
- [{Card name}]({link}) - {Type} added under {parent}

**Priority Shifts:**
- [{Card name}]({link}) moved from Next → Now

**Completed:**
- [{Card name}]({link}) - {Type} marked Done

**Removed/Archived:**
- {Card name} - no longer in workspace
</Output_Format>
</Output_Formats>
```

## Tips for Success

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Start at the Right Level" icon="bullseye">
    Choose a starting card that captures the scope you want to summarize. An outcome gives you a focused view; a higher-level objective gives you broader coverage.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Save Your Summaries" icon="floppy-disk">
    Keep your generated summaries so you can use them for delta comparisons. Copy the output to a doc or note for next time.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Adjust Depth as Needed" icon="layer-group">
    For very large workspaces, you may want to generate summaries for sub-sections rather than the entire tree.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Use for Stakeholder Updates" icon="users">
    The output format is designed to be shareable. Copy it into Slack, email, or your team's update channel.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## When to Use This Recipe

* **Weekly/monthly leadership updates** - Quick status on what's in progress
* **Onboarding to a new workspace** - Get oriented on priorities and structure
* **Pre-meeting prep** - Understand the current state before a planning session
* **Tracking progress over time** - Compare summaries to see how work is evolving