inbox-triage

---
name: inbox-triage
description: Sorts an inbox into five forced-choice actions and drafts a reply for every email that needs one. Use for an email backlog, inbox zero, or triaging and answering messages.
---

# A sorted inbox, and a drafted reply for every email that needs one

Every message ends in one labelled action; the ones needing answers arrive drafted.

## Claude does

1. Ask for three inputs, and refuse to guess any: the export ({INBOX_EXPORT}: .mbox, CSV or pasted threads carrying sender, date, subject, body), the name and role replies go out under ({SIGNATURE_NAME}), and the facts Claude may state unchecked (prices, hours, availability).
2. Fix the batch: 2 to 3 runs a day over a closed set, never continuously; mid-run arrivals wait. Cap folders at four broad categories; archive plus search beats a tree.
3. Label every message with exactly one of five verbs, never a sixth: delete/archive, delegate, respond, defer, do. What Claude cannot label goes on an "unclear, ask" list with the reason.
4. Apply the two-minute threshold. Under two minutes to answer means respond, drafted now. Over two minutes means defer: one named person, one deliverable, one date, or the row is rejected.
5. Draft the respond emails: the shortest reply that closes the thread, in {SIGNATURE_NAME}'s voice and signed in their name. Mark unverified detail [CHECK], never invent it.
6. Write triage-rules.md: the verbs, the sender and subject patterns mapping to each, the folders, the reply templates, escalations.

## Then Codex does

Claude triages a sample and writes the rules; Codex applies them to the whole export. It is bulk and mechanical work: parsing hundreds of messages, matching each to a rule, filling one template per respond email, building the deferred table and counts.

```
codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
```

Fill in first: {INBOX_EXPORT} (export path), {RULES_FILE} (triage-rules.md path), {SIGNATURE_NAME} (name and role on every draft).

## Claude checks

1. Labelled messages equal total messages. A gap is a message that escaped the taxonomy.
2. Every message carries exactly one of the five verbs.
3. Every respond message has a draft file under 120 words.
4. Every defer row names a person, a deliverable and a date. "The team" or "TBC" fails the batch.
5. No draft states a price, date or availability outside the supplied facts.
6. Reject and rerun: on any failure send the batch back naming the failing rows; fix triage-rules.md, not the output.

## Rules

- Nothing exits unlabelled, no sixth verb, no fifth folder.
- Zero means zero attention, not zero messages. Never empty an inbox by deleting.
- Never send. Drafts stay drafts until a person sends them.
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.

## If Codex is not installed

Claude applies the rules to the whole export itself, in batches, and says so.

## Built from

- Superhuman, The Inbox Zero Method, https://blog.superhuman.com/inbox-zero-method/ - five verbs, two-minute threshold, batching, folder ceiling, zero attention.
- Anthropic, Agent Skills best practices, https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/agent-skills/best-practices - official authoring standard.
- ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills, https://github.com/ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills - 74,501 stars (api.github.com, 5 Sep 2026); gmail/outlook prior art.
- obra/superpowers, https://github.com/obra/superpowers - 281,934 stars (api.github.com, 5 Sep 2026); verify-before-complete gate.

# A sorted inbox, and a drafted reply for every email that needs one - Codex task

## You are given

- {INBOX_EXPORT} - path to the inbox export (.mbox, .csv or .txt). Each message carries sender, date, subject and body.
- {RULES_FILE} - path to triage-rules.md. It holds the five verbs, the sender and subject patterns mapping to each, four folder names, the reply templates and an escalate list.
- {SIGNATURE_NAME} - the name and role every draft is signed with.

## Produce

In the working folder:

1. `triage.csv` - one row per message in the export, columns: `id,date,sender,subject,verb,folder,rule_matched,draft_file`. `verb` is exactly one of `delete-archive`, `delegate`, `respond`, `defer`, `do`. `folder` is one of the four names in {RULES_FILE}. Row count equals message count in the export.
2. `drafts/<id>.txt` - one file for every row whose verb is `respond`. Fill the matching template from {RULES_FILE}. Keep each draft under 120 words. Sign every one with {SIGNATURE_NAME}. Where the template needs a fact not present in {RULES_FILE}, write `[CHECK: what is needed]` in place of it.
3. `deferred.md` - a table of every `defer` row, columns: owner, deliverable, due date, source message id. One named person per row.
4. `unclear.md` - every message no rule matched, with sender, subject and the reason no rule fitted.
5. `counts.md` - total messages, count per verb, count per folder, number of drafts written, number of `[CHECK]` markers, number of unclear messages.

## Rules

- Every message gets exactly one verb. Never invent a sixth verb, a fifth folder or a new template.
- If no rule matches, the message goes to `unclear.md`. Never guess a verb to empty the list.
- Never invent a price, date, name, availability or quote. Absent facts become `[CHECK: ...]`.
- Never delete, move, mark, archive or send anything in a live mailbox. Read the export, write files, nothing else.
- Drafts are files only. No mail client, no API, no sending.
- Do not edit {RULES_FILE} or {INBOX_EXPORT}.
- Deterministic: rerunning on the same inputs must produce identical output.

## Return

Print, in this order:

1. Total messages parsed, and total rows in `triage.csv`. State plainly whether they match.
2. Count per verb, and count per folder.
3. Number of draft files written, and the number of `respond` rows. State whether they match.
4. Number of `[CHECK]` markers, with the file name of each.
5. Number of rows in `deferred.md`, and any row missing an owner or a due date.
6. Number of messages in `unclear.md`.
7. The first three lines of `counts.md`.