notion-db-hygiene

Notion DB Hygiene (Live)

Trackers rot: entries stuck "In progress" for months, blank owners, the same project logged twice, statuses that no longer match reality. In Claude Cowork this skill reads the real database, finds the rot, and — after showing you the plan — fixes it in place, so the tracker becomes trustworthy again.

What This Skill Produces

• The hygiene report — stale entries, missing required fields, duplicates, and status drift, each with the row and the issue
• The fix plan — exactly what would change (archive, fill, merge, re-status), shown before anything is written
• The applied fixes — executed via the connector after confirmation, with an undo-friendly change log

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The database — a Notion DB link or name
• The rules — what "stale" means (e.g. no update in 30 days), which fields are required, what the valid statuses are
• Autonomy — preview-only, or apply after confirmation (default: preview then apply on approval)

Framework: The Four Rots

1. Stale — no update past the threshold while still "active" → nudge, re-status, or archive.
2. Incomplete — required fields blank (owner, due date, status) → fill or flag.
3. Duplicate — same entity logged more than once → merge, keep the richer record.
4. Status drift — status contradicts reality (done items still open, shipped items "in progress") → correct.

Execution (Cowork)

1. Read the DB — via the Notion connector, pull all rows and the schema (properties, required fields, status options).
2. Audit — apply the four rots using the user's rules; group findings by type; detect duplicates by title/key similarity, not exact match only.
3. Preview the plan — present every proposed change (row → field → old → new, or archive/merge) and wait for confirmation. Never write first.
4. Apply — on approval, execute via the connector: update fields, set statuses, archive stale rows, merge duplicates (keeping the richer record and its links). Log each change.
5. Emit the artifact — the hygiene report + the applied change log, plus anything left for the human.

Guardrails: never write before the preview is approved; never hard-delete — archive; when merging, preserve the richer record and its relations; respect the user's rules over defaults; if the connector is unauthorised, produce the report and plan without applying, and say so.

Output Format

A Notion Hygiene Report:

Summary

R rows · S stale · I incomplete · D duplicates · X status-drift

Findings & plan

| Row | Issue | Proposed fix |

|---|---|---|

Applied (after approval)

| Row | Change made |

|---|---|

Left for you

• rows needing a human call (e.g. which duplicate is canonical)

Quality Checks

• [ ] Nothing was written before the preview was approved
• [ ] No hard deletes — stale rows archived, not destroyed
• [ ] Merges kept the richer record and its relations
• [ ] "Stale/required/valid status" followed the user's rules, not defaults
• [ ] The change log lets the user see (and reverse) every edit

Anti-Patterns

• Editing before showing the plan. Preview, confirm, then apply.
• Deleting rows instead of archiving.
• Exact-match-only dedupe that misses "Acme" vs "Acme Corp".
• Guessing owners/dates to fill blanks — flag them for the human.

Example Trigger Phrases

• "Clean up my Notion projects database in Cowork."
• "Find the stale and duplicate entries in my tracker and fix them."
• "My Notion CRM is a mess — audit it and show me the plan."
• "Tidy my tasks DB: fill blanks, archive dead rows, fix statuses."