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SKILL.md
Email Triage
The Problem
Most of us spend real time triaging email that could be sorted automatically. Scrolling through a mixed inbox of newsletters, order confirmations, Jira notifications, and actual human asks is a tax on focus. The 40 emails since lunch contain maybe 4 that actually need you — this skill finds those 4.
Prerequisites
Requirement
Details
Gmail connector
Must be active in Claude settings (Settings → Connectors → Gmail)
Gmail account
The account you want triaged
If the Gmail connector is not connected, Claude will prompt you to connect it before proceeding.
Specific names or email addresses that always surface, regardless of content
Always-ignore senders
No
None
Domains or addresses to always suppress (e.g. noreply@*, [email protected])
Focus area
No
None
Optional context: "focus on anything from clients" or "flag anything about the launch"
What Gets Filtered Out
Claude suppresses the following categories. They are counted in the summary but not shown:
Order confirmations and shipping notifications
Marketing and promotional emails (including "one-time" offer emails)
Newsletter subscriptions and digest emails
Automated system notifications (monitoring alerts, CI/CD, build reports)
Calendar invites that have already been accepted or declined
Read receipts and delivery confirmations
Social media notifications (LinkedIn, Twitter/X, etc.)
Internal ticket updates unless the ticket is assigned to you and requires action
Bank and financial statements (surfaced count only, not content)
What Gets Surfaced
Claude surfaces only emails that meet one or more of these criteria:
A human is waiting for a reply
A decision is being requested
There is a deadline or time-sensitive ask, explicit or implied
The sender is someone who does not usually email you (potential priority signal)
The email is from a sender in your always-include list
Output Format
## Inbox Triage — [Time window] | [Date], [Time]
**Total emails scanned:** X | **Actionable:** Y | **Filtered out:** Z
---
### 🔴 High Priority — Needs reply or decision today
**From:** [Name] <[email protected]>
**Subject:** [Subject line]
**Received:** [Time, e.g. 2:14 PM]
**What they need:** [One sentence — the actual ask, not a summary of the email]
**Reply starter:** "[A draft opener they can continue — 1 sentence max]"
---
**From:** [Name] <[email protected]>
**Subject:** [Subject line]
**Received:** [Time]
**What they need:** [One sentence]
**Reply starter:** "[Draft opener]"
---
### 🟡 Medium Priority — Reply within 24–48h
**From:** [Name] <[email protected]>
**Subject:** [Subject line]
**Received:** [Time]
**What they need:** [One sentence]
**Reply starter:** "[Draft opener]" *(or "No reply needed — action only: [what to do]")*
---
### 🟢 FYI — Worth knowing, no action required
- **[Name]** re: [Subject] — [One-line summary of why it might be relevant]
- **[Name]** re: [Subject] — [One-line summary]
---
### ⚪ Filtered Out — [Z emails]
Receipts: X | Newsletters: X | Notifications: X | Other automated: X
*(No action needed — not shown in detail)*
Instructions for Claude
Step 1 — Connect and confirm the time window
Confirm the Gmail connector is active. Parse the requested time window and translate it to an exact datetime range (e.g. "last 8 hours" = [current time minus 8 hours] to now). State the window at the top of the output.
Step 2 — Read the inbox
Fetch emails from the inbox for the specified time window. Include: sender name, sender email, subject, received time, and email body (or first 500 words if long). Do not fetch emails older than the window.
Step 3 — Apply ignore rules
If the user specified always-ignore senders or domains, suppress those immediately. If no ignore list was given, apply standard suppression (see What Gets Filtered Out). Track counts for the filtered summary.
Step 4 — Classify each remaining email
For each non-suppressed email, classify into one of four categories:
High Priority: A human is waiting on a reply today, or there is an explicit deadline within 24 hours
Medium Priority: A reply is needed but not urgently, or there is an implicit ask without a hard deadline
FYI: No action needed, but the user would likely want to know about it
Filtered Out: Falls into a suppressed category — add to count, do not show
Apply the always-include list after classification: any email from a flagged sender surfaces regardless of category, with its actual classification.
Step 5 — Write the "What they need" line
This is the highest-value part of the output. Write exactly one sentence that captures the actual ask — not a summary of the email, the ask.
Bad: "Sarah sent an email about the Q3 report."
Good: "Sarah needs your sign-off on the Q3 report before she sends it to the board at 5 PM."
If there is no clear ask, it is probably FYI or filtered out.
Step 6 — Write the reply starter
For High and Medium priority emails, write a one-sentence reply opener. The opener should:
Match the tone of the sender (formal vs. casual)
Acknowledge the ask directly
Be something the user can actually send with minimal editing
Example: "Thanks for flagging this — let me check with the team and get back to you by EOD."
If the email requires an action rather than a reply (e.g. "please approve this expense"), write: "No reply needed — action only: [describe the action]."
Step 7 — Assemble and deliver the output
Use the output format exactly as specified. Do not add extra sections, editorialise, or explain your reasoning. The output should be scannable in under 60 seconds.
Step 8 — Offer next steps
After the triage output, offer one of:
"Want me to draft replies to any of these?"
"Say 'reply to [name]' and I'll draft it."
Keep this to one line. Do not elaborate.
Quality Checks
Time window was applied correctly — no emails outside the window are included
Gmail connector was confirmed active before reading
Every High Priority email has a specific, concrete "What they need" sentence — not a vague summary
Reply starters match the tone of the original email (formal/informal)
Filtered-out count is accurate and broken down by category
FYI section contains only emails with no action required — nothing actionable is buried here
Always-include senders surfaced regardless of category
Always-ignore senders/domains are fully suppressed
Output is scannable — no unnecessary prose, no padding
Financial statements and sensitive content were counted but not shown in full
Anti-Patterns
Do not surface FYI emails in the High or Medium priority sections — burying actionable items with informational ones defeats the purpose of triage
Do not write vague "What they need" summaries ("Sarah sent an email about the report") — every summary must state the actual ask, not a description of the email
Do not apply the same tone to every reply starter — a formal email from a client requires a different opener than a casual Slack-style email from a colleague
Do not include emails outside the requested time window — time window accuracy is the core trust signal for this skill
Do not omit the filtered-out count — users need to know how much was scanned, not just what was surfaced, to trust the triage is complete
Dispatch / Mobile Usage
This skill works from the Claude mobile app (Dispatch). On mobile, the output renders cleanly with the emoji priority markers serving as visual anchors for quick scanning. Recommended mobile trigger: "Check my emails" or "/email-triage".
Example Trigger Phrases
/email-triage
"Check my emails"
"What emails need my attention?"
"Triage my inbox for the last 8 hours"
"What came in since this morning?"
"Any urgent emails I need to deal with?"
"Triage my inbox — ignore anything from Jira and the marketing domain"
"Check emails from the last 24 hours, flag anything from [client name]"
