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Skill

Inbox triage skill

Every morning's inbox sorted into reply, delegate, file and ignore, with the drafts written.

By
Caleb and Ryan, the founders
Updated
August 28, 2026
Version
1.0, in the library
  • Claude Code
  • Cursor

A SKILL.md that teaches Claude Code your triage rules and applies them to a mailbox export or a live inbox connector: what needs a reply today, what goes to someone else, what is a receipt to file, what is noise. It drafts the replies in your voice and never sends one.

Built, documented, running.

Part of the working library we deploy from on every engagement.

Bring this into a project

Runs on

  • Claude Code
  • Cursor

2 requirements and 3 install steps, below.

  • Complete and documented: the same files we run ourselves.
  • Deployed and tuned to your stack as part of an engagement.

The file

Draft excerpt
---name: inbox-triagedescription: Sort a day's email into reply, delegate, file, ignore; draft the replies.triggers: triage inbox, sort my email, what needs a reply--- # Inbox triage Read every message in the export folder once. Put each one in exactly one bucket. | Bucket | Test ||---|---|| Reply | A person is waiting on a decision or an answer only the owner can give || Delegate | The rules.md owner map names someone else for this kind of ask || File | A receipt, a confirmation, a notification with no ask in it || Ignore | Marketing, digests, anything rules.md lists as noise | For every Reply, draft the answer in the owner's voice (see voice.md) andsave it to drafts/. Never send. Never mark anything read.

What is inside

4 items. Includes deployment guide.

  • skills/inbox-triage/SKILL.mdThe skill: the four buckets, the rules, the draft format.
  • skills/inbox-triage/rules.example.mdA worked rule set from a services business, to edit into yours.
  • skills/inbox-triage/scripts/export-mbox.shPulls the last 24 hours from Gmail or Outlook into a folder the skill reads.
  • GUIDE.mdSetup in ten minutes, and the one safety rule: it drafts, you send.

Who it is for

  • You open the inbox to forty messages and spend the first hour deciding which ten matter.
  • Your assistant or office manager already triages by rules you could write down in a page.
  • You want drafts waiting, not messages sent on your behalf.

Requirements

  • Claude Code 2.x or Cursor with skills enabled
  • Gmail or Outlook, via export or the MCP connector

Install

  1. 01

    Copy the skills folder into your project.

    cp -r skills/inbox-triage ./skills/
  2. 02

    Edit rules.example.md into your own rules and rename it rules.md.

  3. 03

    Run the triage on this morning's mail.

    claude "triage today's inbox"

Where this sits

  1. This system

    Inbox triage skill

    In the library, running.

  2. Pairs with

    The install call

    Sixty minutes with us and it runs on a schedule against your real inbox.

  3. In your stack

    Deployed on an engagement

    The audit finds which system earns its place first; we install and tune it around how you work.

Questions

Will it send email?
No. The skill has no send tool and the guide tells you not to give it one. It writes drafts to a folder.
Does it work with Outlook?
Yes, through the export script or the Outlook MCP connector. The rules are the same.
How much does it get wrong?
On our own inbox, with rules written in an afternoon, a handful a week land in the wrong bucket. The guide shows how to add a rule when one does.
What if I want it to run on its own?
That is the install call: we schedule it, connect the inbox, and leave you with it running.

Changelog

  1. August 28, 2026In the library. Version 1.0 runs in our own operation.

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