email-triage

Imported from borghei/claude-skills (personal-productivity/email-triage/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add borghei/claude-skills --skill email-triage. Copyright stays with the author (MIT + Commons Clause).

Email Triage

Classify a batch of email subjects + senders into action buckets and surface inbox-zero candidates.

Keywords

email, inbox, inbox zero, triage, unsubscribe, mailing list, mailbox, gmail, outlook, productivity

Clarify First

Before triaging, settle the inputs below. When one is missing or vague and would change the result, ask about it; when it wouldn't, use a sensible default and say which one you used.

• Inbox export fields: subject, sender, snippet drive classification accuracy; missing columns degrade the buckets.
• Priority / VIP senders: who should always land in reply_now regardless of content. The classifier has no VIP option, so the assistant moves mail from these senders into reply_now when reviewing its output.
• Unsubscribe tolerance: purge all marketing vs keep newsletters you value; sets how aggressive the unsubscribe/delete buckets are.

Ask about the two or three inputs that matter most for this request, not the whole list. If the user wants a result straight away, produce it and state your assumptions at the top.

Quick Start

1. Export inbox to CSV with columns: subject,sender,snippet,received_at
2. Run: python scripts/email_classifier.py inbox.csv
3. Review action buckets; act on each in order

Core Workflows

Workflow 1: Weekly Inbox Triage

1. Export the past week's inbox
2. Run classifier
3. Action in order: reply-now → reply-later (move to follow-up folder) → archive → unsubscribe → delete
4. Apply Gmail filters (see assets/gmail_filter_template.md) so future similar emails route automatically

Time Estimate: 30-45 minutes for a busy week.

Workflow 2: Unsubscribe Pass

1. Run classifier; review unsubscribe candidates
2. Unsubscribe in batch (most senders honor unsubscribe links within ~10 days)
3. For senders that don't honor, set Gmail filter to auto-delete

Time Estimate: 15 minutes per pass.

Workflow 3: Inbox-Zero Reset

1. Apply the full inbox-zero method from references/inbox_zero_method.md
2. Move every email older than 30 days to archive (you'll find 1% later via search)
3. Triage the remaining recent emails using the classifier

Time Estimate: 1-2 hours one-time; then 20 min/week to maintain.

Tools

email_classifier.py

Classifies email rows into action buckets using rule-based pattern matching on sender domain, subject line, and snippet.

python scripts/email_classifier.py inbox.csv
python scripts/email_classifier.py inbox.csv --json

Action buckets:

• reply_now — direct addressing, time-sensitive language, named-person sender
• reply_later — informational threads, longer non-urgent
• archive — receipts, confirmations, completed transactions
• unsubscribe — newsletters, marketing, promotional
• delete — spam patterns, low-signal senders
• review — couldn't classify confidently

Scope & Limitations

In Scope:

• Classification of an exported inbox CSV into reply_now, reply_later, archive, unsubscribe, delete and review buckets (email_classifier.py).
• Rule-based matching on sender domain, subject line and snippet.
• Weekly triage, unsubscribe-pass and inbox-zero reset workflows, with Gmail filter recipes in assets/gmail_filter_template.md.
• The inbox-zero method and daily routine in references/inbox_zero_method.md.

Out of Scope:

• Connecting to Gmail, Outlook or any mailbox. The skill does not read, move, delete or unsubscribe from mail.
• Drafting replies to the emails it classifies.
• Turning action emails into tasks and running the wider capture habit (see personal-productivity/capture/).
• Security analysis of phishing or malicious email.

Important Caveats:

• Input is a CSV the user exports. Missing sender or snippet columns lower accuracy.
• Classification is keyword and pattern based and can misfile mail. The review and reply_now buckets need a human check before acting.
• The script has no setting for VIP or priority senders. Those are applied by hand when reviewing the output.
• The filter recipes are written for Gmail. Other mail clients need their own rules.

Reference Guides

• references/inbox_zero_method.md — Method, daily routine, common pitfalls

Templates

• assets/gmail_filter_template.md — Common Gmail filter recipes for the action buckets above

Best Practices

• The 2-minute rule: if a reply takes < 2 minutes, do it now.
• Don't archive instead of unsubscribing. Recurring senders compound — kill the source.
• Process in batches. Constant inbox checking destroys focus more than email itself.
• Inbox is not a to-do list. Move action items to a real task tool.