Why did this item's urgency change automatically?

If an item’s urgency badge changes after it was first classified, that’s expected behavior, not a bug — here’s why.

Urgency can escalate automatically as a deadline approaches

AMT checks deadlines once a day. If an item has a deadline and that deadline gets close or passes, AMT raises the urgency level automatically:

• Deadline today or already passed → urgency becomes Critical
• Deadline within the next 1–3 days → urgency becomes High
• Deadline 4 or more days away → no change

When this happens, you’ll see a small up-arrow next to the urgency badge, indicating the urgency was raised automatically after the item was first classified — it didn’t start out at this level.

Note: Urgency only ever escalates upward over time, never automatically downward. It also only affects the urgency level itself — the short hint describing what’s at stake stays exactly as it was when the item was first classified, even after urgency changes.

Note: The daily escalation check compares deadlines against the current UTC date, not your local date. If you’re in a timezone ahead of UTC, there’s a window each day where your local calendar and AMT’s idea of “today” differ by a day. See How do I write @mentions to get the most accurate classification? for a full explanation.

The timeframe label next to your urgency badge

Items also show a short timeframe label alongside the urgency badge — things like OVERDUE, TODAY, SOON, or a day count. This reflects how close the deadline actually is, independent of whether escalation has happened yet.