gtd-email-triage

Email Triage v3.0 — Token-Optimized GTD Pipeline

Triage unread inbox emails across all connected accounts. Classify using deterministic rules first, Haiku sub-agents for ambiguous emails only, then auto-archive noise via Gmail API.

TOKEN EFFICIENCY — Tool Selection:

• Use mcp__google-workspace__manage_email(operation: "search") as the PRIMARY fetch tool — returns clean metadata (sender, subject, date, snippet)
• Use manage_email(operation: "triage") only for quick counts — it caps at ~20 results, not suitable for full triage
• Reserve manage_email(operation: "read") for Phase 2 body reads only
• Use mcp__google-workspace__queue_operations to batch archive operations (up to 10 per call)

Rule Files

Load these from plugins/work/skills/gtd-email-triage/ before processing:

• sender-rules.json — deterministic sender-based classification (by exact sender, domain, or display-name substring)
• subject-patterns.json — regex patterns for auto-keep (invoices, confirmations) and auto-skip (spam markers, tool noise)

Phase 1: Fetch + Deterministic Triage (Main Agent)

1. Load rule files — read sender-rules.json and subject-patterns.json

2. Discover accounts — call mcp__google-workspace__manage_accounts(operation: "list") to get all connected accounts.

3. Fetch ALL emails per account (mandatory pagination) — for each account:

   • Call mcp__google-workspace__manage_email(operation: "search", email: "<account>", query: "in:inbox is:unread", maxResults: 50)
   • If the batch returns exactly 50 results, more emails exist — paginate:
     • Take the date of the oldest email in the batch (e.g. Mar 28)
     • Call again with query: "in:inbox is:unread before:YYYY/MM/DD" using that date
     • Repeat until a batch returns fewer than 50 results
   • Deduplicate by messageId and merge all batches
   • Never stop at 50 — always paginate to completion This returns sender, subject, date, and snippet inline — no per-message reads needed. Run the first call per account in parallel; pagination calls are sequential per account.

4. Report totals to the user. Warn if any count is suspiciously round (100, 200).

5. Classify each email by applying rules in this priority order:

   Priority 1 — Subject KEEP patterns (from subject-patterns.json keep_patterns). These override ALL other rules. Invoices and booking confirmations are always kept regardless of sender.

   Priority 2 — Subject OR Snippet SKIP patterns (from subject-patterns.json skip_patterns). Apply each regex against both the subject AND the snippet returned by the search results. Spam markers like iOJDH1 are often embedded in the body (not the subject) — a snippet match is sufficient to SKIP. Ashby job applications, Productive time reminders. If a pattern has sender_contains, both must match.

   Priority 3 — Sender exact match (sender-rules.json → by_sender)

   Priority 4 — Sender domain match (sender-rules.json → by_domain)

   Priority 5 — Sender name contains (sender-rules.json → by_name_contains). Case-insensitive substring match on the sender display name.

   Priority 6 — General heuristics (no rule matched):

   • Phishing: sender domain ≠ claimed service, redirect chains, bulk sender impersonating trusted service → flag to user
   • Cold sales to Neurons Lab → ARCHIVE. Add sender domain to sender-rules.json immediately.
   • Fake-Re: cold sales: subject starts with "Re:" but sender is not in contacts/NL/known domain → read snippet; if body is a product pitch or ends with "should I stop following up?" → ARCHIVE cold-sales, add domain to sender-rules.json
   • HubSpot/system admin notifications where the added user IS Alex himself → ARCHIVE (not a security event)
   • NL internal threads (CC'd, other NL staff present) → RELEVANT unless user is directly asked to act
   • Multi-party external client threads where an NL account manager (Pinar, Euphemia, Lina, Weronika, Alex Tishin, Andrew, Nik, etc.) is present and managing the relationship, and Alex has no direct question or request → ARCHIVE (NL staff is handling it). This applies even when Alex is in the To: field — if NL delivery/account staff are the primary actors, it's not actionable for Alex.
   • Unknown newsletters → RELEVANT (default: keep newsletters, archive software notifications)
   • Restaurants/cafes → ARCHIVE (unless booking confirmation caught by Priority 1)

   Priority 7 — AMBIGUOUS — needs body read. Mark for Phase 2.

6. If zero ambiguous — skip Phase 2, go directly to report + Phase 3.

Phase 2: Body Read + Classify (Haiku Sub-Agents) — only if ambiguous emails exist

1. Create /tmp/claude-email-triage/ (wipe if exists)
2. Batch ambiguous emails into groups of 30
3. Launch parallel sub-agents using the Agent tool with model: "haiku". Each sub-agent gets:
   • The list of message IDs with subjects and senders, plus the account email address for the batch
   • Instruction to read plugins/work/skills/gtd-email-triage/sub-agent-prompt.md
   • Instruction to use mcp__google-workspace__manage_email(operation: "read", email: "<account>", messageId: "<id>") to read each email body
   • Output file path: /tmp/claude-email-triage/batch-N.json
4. After all sub-agents complete, read result files and merge with Phase 1 classifications
5. Update sender-rules.json — append newly discovered automated/system senders (never cache human senders)
6. Clean up /tmp/claude-email-triage/

Phase 3: Auto-Archive via API

Skip if no emails were classified as ARCHIVE, ARCHIVE_UNSUB, or SKIP.

1. Group archive targets by account — collect all messageIds classified as ARCHIVE, ARCHIVE_UNSUB, or SKIP, grouped by their account email.
2. Batch archive via queue_operations — for each account, use mcp__google-workspace__queue_operations to batch up to 10 modify operations per call:

   mcp__google-workspace__queue_operations(operations: [
     { tool: "manage_email", args: { operation: "modify", email: "<account>", messageId: "<id1>", removeLabelIds: "INBOX,UNREAD" } },
     { tool: "manage_email", args: { operation: "modify", email: "<account>", messageId: "<id2>", removeLabelIds: "INBOX,UNREAD" } },
     ...up to 10 per call
   ], onError: "continue")
   

   If more than 10 emails need archiving for an account, make multiple queue_operations calls.
3. For ARCHIVE_UNSUB senders (expert networks like GLG, AlphaSights, Guidepoint, Third Bridge): archive programmatically as above, then note them in the report for manual unsubscribe.

Report archived counts per account.

Output Format

Write the triage report to 100 Periodics/Weekly/[current week folder]/[date]-email-triage.md:

## Inbox Triage — [date]

### Top Priorities (≤5)
1. [sender] — [subject] — [why urgent]

### [account] — Actionable (X)
#### Urgent
- [sender] — [subject] — [why]
#### Deferred
- [sender] — [subject] — [what needs doing]

### [account] — Relevant (X)
- [sender] — [subject]

### [account] — Discovery (X)
- [sender] — [subject] — [why interesting]

### Archived (X emails)
Auto-archived via API: [account-1] (Y), [account-2] (Z)

### Unsubscribed
- [sender] — unsubscribed and archived

### Stats
Total: N | Cached: X% | Body-read: Y | Haiku sub-agents: Z | Errors: W

Notion Task Creation

For actionable emails that require follow-up, apply the GTD 2-minute rule:

> 2 minutes → Dedicated Notion task

For actions requiring research, document review, writing a proposal, or multi-step work, create a dedicated task in the personal Tasks database (data_source_id: 9a01d2e3-d4bc-427a-ba05-29a4c0db5032):

• Task name: Short imperative summary
• Status: Backlog
• Priority: High for URGENT, Medium for DEFERRED
• Task type: Low / Operational for approvals/reviews; Average / Professional for decisions/analysis
• Content: Source email, sender, what needs doing, relevant links

< 2 minutes → Daily Review aggregator task

For quick approvals, brief replies, minor decisions, or awareness items (e.g., "approve time entries", "submit Ashby feedback", "check hiring pipeline"), add to the existing "Daily Review — [YYYY-MM-DD]" task:

1. Search the Tasks database for an existing "Daily Review — [today]" task first
2. If it exists: append the item via notion-update-page (update_content)
3. If it doesn't exist: create it with Status: Backlog, Priority: Medium, Task type: Low / Operational
4. Format each entry as: - [Email / Source] — [one-line summary]

Default to Daily Review for most email-triggered action items — standalone tasks are only for genuinely complex, multi-step work.

After creating any Notion task (standalone or Daily Review entry), always archive the source email immediately — remove INBOX,UNREAD labels via manage_email(operation: "modify").

Tone

Executive assistant. Crisp, organized, surface only what matters.

Safety

• Flag phishing emails explicitly — never bury them
• Apply NL business filter: buy/invest FROM = surface, sell TO = archive
• Default to ACTIONABLE > DEFERRED when uncertain
• When explicitly instructed to reply to an email: send the reply, then immediately archive the entire thread by searching for all messages with the same subject/thread and removing INBOX,UNREAD labels — the reply itself can resurface the thread in the inbox
• During triage: never reply, forward, or send emails unprompted — only read, classify, and archive
• GLOBAL RULE: Never send any message to any real person without explicit user confirmation. Even when instructed to reply, always show the draft first and wait for explicit approval ("yes" / "send it" / "go ahead") before executing. No exceptions.