mail-reclaim-storage

name

mail-reclaim-storage

description

Use this skill to free up mailbox storage via the inkwell CLI — soft-delete (move to Deleted Items) the junk that takes the most space, large attachments first, then old bulk-sender back-catalogs and stale low-value mail. Triggers on "free up storage", "my mailbox is full", "clear space", "trash junk to reduce storage". It never permanently deletes and never empties Deleted Items — the user does that. Confirm every batch. For volume (not size) cleanup use `mail-triage`; to stop the junk arriving use `mail-reduce-noise`.

Skill: mail-reclaim-storage

Recover mailbox space by moving space-hungry junk to Deleted Items (soft delete). The user empties Deleted Items themselves (Outlook, or the tenant's retention auto-purge) — you never permanently delete and never empty it. Confirm-every-batch, interactive — never run unattended. This is the mutate stage of the mail-skill posture.

Order passes by space freed per action: biggest wins first. Scan the entire mailbox including archived mail (filter --all covers all subscribed folders) — archived junk still counts against quota. Storage is dominated by size, so lead with size, not count.

Hard exclusions — never trash these (skip-rails)

• Flagged (~F / skip_rails: flagged).
• Threads the user participated in (anything they sent into — check ~v <conv-id> & ~f <own-addr> when in doubt).
• Receipts, invoices, financial/tax/legal records (skip_rails: financial).
• Calendar invites for future events (skip_rails: meeting-request; verify the date).
• Attachments from real people (colleagues, clients, known contacts) — only target bulk/automated/promotional senders (is_bulk_sender; a person? mark means check, not take).
• Anything newer than the age floor (default 30 days — the script enforces it; raise it if unsure).
• Anything the user marks keep during review.

When unsure whether something is junk, keep it — Deleted Items is recoverable, but keep the user's review burden small.

Procedure

1. Preflight + sync. python3 scripts/preflight.py (relative to this skill's directory; fails clean), then inkwell sync once.

2. Pass 1 — large attachments (highest ROI). python3 scripts/big_items.py --min-mb 5 ranks messages by attachment size (the cache tracks no body sizes — attachment totals are the honest dominant term), with mechanical skip_rails and an is_bulk_sender hint; --format table for presentation. Apply the exclusions, group by sender, present the batch with total MB it would free, get explicit confirmation, then soft-delete: inkwell messages delete <id> per item (or a per-sender inkwell filter '~f <addr> & ~A & ~d >30d' --action delete --apply --yes after its dry-run list was shown).

3. Pass 2 — bulk-sender back-catalogs. Use big_items.py's by_sender totals plus mail-reduce-noise's ranking signals; prefer senders the user already unsubscribed from or routed away. Per offender: dry-run the full old history — inkwell filter '~f <addr> & ~d >1y' — show count (+ MB where known), confirm, then re-run with --action delete --apply --yes.

4. Pass 3 — stale low-value categories. Old feed/paper-trail mail, past meeting traffic, and — when the mail-triage workflow folders exist — the aged contents of the Newsletters folder: ~o feed & ~d >1y, ~m Newsletters & ~d >1y, etc. Same discipline: dry-run list → exclusions → confirm → --action delete --apply --yes.

5. After each pass / at the end. Report estimated MB freed and the running total (attachment-sum based — say so). Remind the user the space is reclaimed only once they empty Deleted Items in Outlook (or the auto-purge window passes) — offer to explain how, but never do it. Suggest mail-reduce-noise so the junk doesn't refill.

Anti-patterns to refuse

• permanent-delete or "emptying trash" by any means. The only removal verb here is soft delete (messages delete / --action delete).
• Batches without the dry-run list + size estimate shown. Same presentation bar as mail-triage hard rule 3.
• Trashing real-person attachments without the user explicitly saying so, per item.
• Running unattended (cron, "just clean it while I'm out").
• Pausing the rails because the mailbox is "really full". A full mailbox with its tax records intact beats a roomy one without.