email-drafting

name

email-drafting

description

This skill should be used when the user asks to "draft an email", "reply to this message", "forward this thread", "verify my draft", or needs compose workflows in Apple Mail with draft-safe defaults. Covers compose_email, reply_to_email, forward_email, create_rich_email_draft, manage_drafts, verify_draft, and verify_drafts with exact message ids for replies, standalone-draft guardrails, native reply defaults, signatures, and post-draft verification. Do NOT use for inbox triage (inbox-triage), Mail MCP setup (apple-mail-operator), folder taxonomy (mailbox-taxonomy), Mail rules (mail-rules-advisor), staged bulk moves (email-archive-cleanup), or attachment extraction (email-attachments).

Email Drafting

Compose-first workflows against Apple Mail. Default plugin installs run --draft-safe: compose tools default to quiet mode="draft" (no leftover compose windows), and mode="send" returns a structured error until the server is reconfigured. When send is allowed, still confirm intent with the user before calling mode="send" or manage_drafts(action="send").

Recent-first drafting (required when batching replies)

See recent-first-triage.md. When the user asks to draft responses to recent mail, work newest inbound first in batches of 3 to 5. Draft and verify one thread at a time before moving to the next message. Do not batch-draft month-old threads discovered by wide date_from or sender_domain sweeps while newer inbox mail is still unreviewed.

Native drafting only (binding rule)

Always use the native drafting method for replies. Never use the windowless fallback. reply_to_email defaults to native_format=True, and that is the only method to use. It composes in Mail's native reply window so drafts keep the colored quote bar and the account's default logo signature, which is the formatting the user requires; the body is typed in small focus-guarded chunks (never one keystroke of the whole body). The windowless native_format=False path is gated: it returns WINDOWLESS_FALLBACK_DISABLED unless allow_windowless_fallback=True is explicitly passed, and agents must never pass that flag. After saving a native draft/open reply, use a retryable Draft ID only when the plugin emits a complete persisted-Drafts identity: one bounded before/after snapshot gained exactly one new RFC Message-ID, and that message's In-Reply-To exactly links to the source. Draft mode resolves this before closing its window; open mode leaves the saved window available for review. The full-body verifier and any automatic delete-and-retype revalidate the same headers at that numeric ID. A cap limit, indexing delay, ambiguity, malformed headers, or ID drift disables automatic cleanup. A bounded newest-Drafts fallback is diagnostic only and can never trigger deletion or retyping. If the call returns REPLY_BODY_MISMATCH, inspect the named artifact with verify_draft(draft_id=...) before manual cleanup. If a native reply fails with REPLY_WINDOW_FOCUS_FAILED (window never took focus), REPLY_SUBJECT_GUARD_MISMATCH (a compose window opened but its title never matched), or REPLY_BODY_TYPING_INTERRUPTED (focus was lost partway through typing; the partial compose window was already discarded, nothing left behind), retry with Mail visible and not being clicked; do not switch off native formatting. Scheduled intake batches: if focus still cannot be acquired on one message, log draft_deferred, continue other courtesy drafts, and report the blocker. Interactive sessions: stop and report the blocker. Never use native_format=false in either case.

Pre-draft verification (required before replying)

Canonical rules: pre-draft-verification.md. Summary:

1. Check the discovery row first: was_replied_to and has_draft are always present on every read/triage discovery row (search_emails, list_inbox_emails, get_email_by_id, get_email_by_ids, get_email_thread, get_needs_response, inbox_dashboard, and get_inbox_overview). Abort the draft when has_draft=true (a matching draft already exists) or when was_replied_to=true with no matching draft, unless the user explicitly said "redraft", "include already-replied", or "include drafted".
2. Fallback (row fields absent, or has_draft=null): fetch the conversation with get_email_thread(account=..., message_id=...). If no id is known, run bounded search_emails or list_inbox_emails first, then fetch by returned message_id.
3. Cross-check senders in the thread against list_account_addresses(account=...). If any message in the thread was sent by one of the user's own addresses, abort the draft and report which message already replied (date, subject snippet), unless the user explicitly said "redraft" or "include already-replied".
4. Proceed to reply_to_email(message_id=...) only after the row/thread check shows no user-sent message and no matching draft.

Never use standalone draft creators (compose_email, create_rich_email_draft, or manage_drafts(action="create")) to answer an existing message. They create standalone new messages, so the original chain is not included. If a standalone draft has a Re: / Fwd: subject or quoted-thread body, the tool returns an error unless standalone_confirmed=True; use that override only for a truly new message whose subject happens to look threaded.

When To Use This Skill

Request signal	Use this skill
"Reply / forward / write / draft"	Yes
"Make a nicer HTML newsletter-style draft"	Yes
Manage open drafts (list/send/delete) with guardrails	Yes
Bulk archive or reorganize folders	No → email-archive-cleanup
Decide folder strategy	No → mailbox-taxonomy

Preconditions

1. Know the account (defaults follow DEFAULT_MAIL_ACCOUNT) and signature intent. Compose/reply/forward default to include_signature=True, which applies DEFAULT_MAIL_SIGNATURE when that env var is set; when unset, the tool does not force a named signature and Mail may still apply the account's normal default signature. Pass include_signature=False to suppress plugin-applied signatures, or signature_name to override the default for one call. For replies, disabling signatures cannot skip reply_body insertion. On native replies (native_format=True) Mail supplies its own default reply signature with the logo preserved; signature_name and include_signature=False still override it, whereas the windowless native_format=False path yields a flattened text signature only.
2. Confirm the mcp__apple-mail__* tools are actually registered before any drafting call. If they are absent, fix MCP registration or use the documented MCP-only absolute-path fallback; do not draft with generic AppleScript, Mail UI scripting, shell osascript, or a standalone compose fallback.
3. For replies/forwards, use the Mail message_id returned by search_emails, get_email_by_id, or thread tools whenever available. list_inbox_emails JSON always includes message_id, so use it directly for reply_to_email. Do not pass subject_keyword to action tools just because the subject is visible. Discovery-only: pass subject_keyword to search_emails, then pass the returned message_id to reply_to_email / forward_email. Use list_inbox_emails for bounded recent listing when no subject filter is needed.
4. Reply drafting requires reply_to_email(message_id=...). If no message_id is known, run search_emails or list_inbox_emails first; subject_keyword on reply_to_email returns TARGET_SELECTOR_DEPRECATED.
5. Load USER_EMAIL_PREFERENCES plus any capture from email-style-profile before writing content.

Pre-call Checklist (every mutate call)

Restate these in chat before invoking compose_email, reply_to_email, forward_email, create_rich_email_draft, or manage_drafts(action="send"):

1. Recipients: explicit to, cc, bcc. Confirm spelling and that no replies stay private.
2. Subject line: exact text. For replies/forwards, confirm the inherited subject if Mail will prepend Re: / Fwd:.
3. Mode: draft (quiet save, default) vs open (saved + window stays open for review) vs send (blocked under --draft-safe). mode="send" requires explicit user confirmation and a non-draft-safe configuration. For reply_to_email, the full-body post-save verification (and its automatic retype-on-mismatch) only runs for mode="draft" / mode="open"; a sent reply leaves no Drafts artifact to verify afterward, so prefer draft first and confirm the saved body before switching to send.
4. Signature intent: include_signature=True applies DEFAULT_MAIL_SIGNATURE if set; when unset, Mail may still apply the account's normal default signature. Pass signature_name to override, include_signature=False to suppress plugin-applied signatures. For replies, disabling signatures cannot skip body insertion above the quoted original. create_rich_email_draft does not accept signature params; switch to a plain compose tool when a named signature is required.
5. Source message id (replies/forwards only): pass the message_id returned by search/list. If no id is known yet, run bounded search_emails or list_inbox_emails first; never pass subject_keyword to reply_to_email or forward_email.
6. Standalone-confirmed override: compose_email, create_rich_email_draft, and manage_drafts(action="create") refuse Re:/Fwd: subjects or bodies containing quoted-thread markers and return a structured error. If the user explicitly wants a fresh standalone message that happens to look threaded (e.g. a new "Re: weekly review" note unrelated to any prior thread), pass standalone_confirmed=True (CLI: --standalone-confirmed); never use this override to substitute for reply_to_email / forward_email.

Large-inbox caveat: the pre-draft get_email_thread verification can stall on long threads in a 24k mailbox. If no message_id is known, run bounded search_emails or list_inbox_emails first, then fetch by returned message_id (get_email_thread(account=..., message_id=...) or get_email_by_id(account=..., message_id=...)).

mode="open" saves first then leaves the compose window open, so closing it should not trigger Mail's Save/Don't Save prompt.

Native reply focus: the default native path (native_format=True) is the only supported reply path for normal agent use. It types reply_body into Mail's reply window in small focus-guarded chunks, so Mail must be able to take and keep focus and the host process needs Accessibility permission. If reply_to_email returns REPLY_WINDOW_FOCUS_FAILED, REPLY_SUBJECT_GUARD_MISMATCH, or REPLY_BODY_TYPING_INTERRUPTED, no draft with a partial body was saved and nothing was sent: retry with Mail visible and not being clicked. Do not switch to native_format=False. Scheduled intake: log draft_deferred and continue other drafts. Interactive: stop and report the blocker.

Tool Selection Pattern

Situation	Tool	Notes
New outbound mail	compose_email	Standalone only; default mode="draft"; use mode="open" only for explicit saved-open review; mode="send" blocked under --draft-safe
Structured reply context	reply_to_email	Default quiet draft (send=False / mode="draft"); pass message_id=... from search/list. Discovery-only: use subject_keyword on search_emails only, never on reply_to_email (TARGET_SELECTOR_DEPRECATED). native_format=True is the only supported path (rich quote bar + logo signature, body typed in small focus-guarded chunks, needs Mail focus + Accessibility); native_format=False returns WINDOWLESS_FALLBACK_DISABLED unless allow_windowless_fallback=True is explicitly passed (deliberate headless/CI only, never set by agents). After save, native replies compare the FULL reply_body above the quoted original case-sensitively. Automatic delete-and-retype requires a persisted Drafts identity proven by a bounded before/after snapshot plus exact RFC Message-ID and In-Reply-To linkage, then revalidated before deletion. A bounded fallback can report a suspect Drafts artifact but never deletes it.
Share thread outward	forward_email	Default mode="draft"; pass message_id=... from search/list. Discovery-only: use subject_keyword on search_emails only, never on forward_email (TARGET_SELECTOR_DEPRECATED)
Marketing / HTML layout	create_rich_email_draft	Standalone only; produces multipart .eml, saves to Drafts by default; use review_in_mail=True for saved-open review; no Mail signature params. Use plain compose tools when a named signature is required
Low-level draft listing / CRUD	manage_drafts	Standalone action="create" only; respect cap defaults; never batch-delete without confirming folder scope. action="list" returns each draft's Id, To, and a body snippet (triage without re-fetching), reads newest drafts first, accepts limit=..., and accepts subject_contains="..." (case-insensitive "find the draft I just made"). action="find" locates reply drafts by bounded In-Reply-To / References header scan and is the durable handle for a reply draft (in_reply_to is honored only by find; passing it to action="create" returns CREATE_CANNOT_THREAD before any AppleScript runs, since create has no header property to set In-Reply-To/References). For send, open, or delete, prefer exact draft_id from the list output over draft_subject, and on Exchange/server accounts re-resolve that draft_id with a fresh list/find call immediately before acting, since it can drift across sync even between two list calls with no writes in between. For a guarded synced-draft delete, pass the fresh draft_id plus expected_in_reply_to, expected_subject, and expected_to together; Mail rechecks all three immediately before deletion.
Exact draft readiness check	verify_draft / verify_drafts	Read-only JSON snapshot for one or more Drafts ids: recipients, body sentinel, attachments, signature state, quoted original, and thread headers. Pass resolve_source=True to also resolve the draft's In-Reply-To header back to the source Inbox message's message_id, subject, and sender (bounded, see "Missed-replies queue" below); defaults to False (no behavior change)
Remove orphaned blank drafts	manage_drafts(action="cleanup_empty")	Deletes drafts with blank subject AND empty body; dry_run=True by default (preview first), capped by max_deletes (default 20). Confirm the preview count with the user before dry_run=False

Safety And Compliance

Risk	Mitigation
Accidental dispatch	Maintain --draft-safe; disallow mode="send" silently
Over-broad lookups	Prefer message_id from search/list; when id is unknown, run bounded search_emails (narrow recent_days, subject_keyword on search_emails only) or list_inbox_emails for recent listing, then pass returned ids to action tools
Sensitive content	Warn before quoting full threads into new messages
Signature alignment	Prefer matching recent Sent-tone via email-style-profile routines

Draft-Safe And Read-Only Modes Reminder

• --draft-safe (default plugin install): compose_email, reply_to_email, and forward_email stay on quiet mode="draft" unless the user explicitly requests mode="open"; mode="send" and manage_drafts(action="send") return structured errors; treat send requests as drafting tasks until configuration changes.
• --read-only: Unregisters compose_email, reply_to_email, and forward_email; also enables draft-safe send blocking for manage_drafts(action="send"). create_rich_email_draft and manage_drafts remain for draft workflows where permitted.

Rich Draft Guidance

Choose create_rich_email_draft when plain-text AppleScript insertion would show escaped HTML artifacts. With a nonblank subject and default open_in_mail=True, it writes the .eml, opens Mail only long enough to save the draft, then closes the fresh compose window. Blank subject → .eml only (Mail not opened). Use open_in_mail=False when the caller only needs the .eml artifact, and use review_in_mail=True only when the user explicitly wants Mail left open after the draft has been saved.

Post-Draft Verification

Summarize artifacts for the operator:

1. Mailbox + identifiers (message_id if surfaced).
2. Draft location and whether Mail was left open for explicit review.
3. For replies, whether reply_body was verified above the quoted original.
4. Next actions (edit, attachments, approvals).

To verify a freshly-created draft, do not use search_emails; it runs a date-filtered scan that is slow on large accounts and silently drops brand-new drafts (an unsent outgoing message has a null received date). Instead use the exact Drafts verification: verify_draft(draft_id="...", expected_body_contains="...") or verify_drafts(draft_ids=[...]) or bounded Drafts lookup: manage_drafts(action="list", subject_contains="...") (newest-first) or get_email_by_id(account=..., message_id=..., mailbox="Drafts"). Use the returned exact draft_id for manage_drafts(action="open"|"delete"|"send"). Confirm to/cc are the intended recipients and the body is present. For replies, reply_body must appear above the quoted original; mere presence below the quote is not enough. verify_draft(expected_body_contains="...") treats an Apple Mail On <date>, <sender> wrote: attribution, an Outlook header block, or an Outlook original-message separator as a quote boundary. An authored phrase such as As Keynes wrote: is not a boundary. If no reliable boundary is present, the tool checks the complete available body preview instead of rejecting authored text before a bare wrote: phrase.

Reply threading note: reply_to_email defaults to native_format=True: it opens Mail's native reply window so the saved draft keeps Mail's colored quote bar and the account's default reply signature (logo included), and types reply_body above the quoted original via System Events keystrokes sent in small focus-guarded chunks, never one keystroke of the whole body (a single-keystroke pass silently dropped the tail of long bodies and could leak shift state into ALL CAPS output). This path needs the Mail reply window to take and keep focus and Accessibility permission for the host process; if focus cannot be acquired before typing starts it returns REPLY_WINDOW_FOCUS_FAILED or REPLY_SUBJECT_GUARD_MISMATCH without saving, and if focus is lost partway through typing it returns REPLY_BODY_TYPING_INTERRUPTED, discarding the partially typed compose window so no partial draft is ever left behind. native_format=False is gated: it returns WINDOWLESS_FALLBACK_DISABLED unless the caller explicitly passes allow_windowless_fallback=True, and that path is reserved for deliberate headless/CI runs only (agents must never set it). It is not a normal fallback. Native draft/open replies expose a retryable Draft ID only after a complete, bounded Drafts snapshot proves exactly one new persisted RFC Message-ID whose In-Reply-To contains the source RFC token. Draft mode resolves that identity before closing its window; open mode leaves the saved window available for review. The verifier and delete path revalidate the draft's RFC Message-ID and In-Reply-To at the numeric ID. A cap limit, indexing delay, malformed headers, ambiguity, or numeric-ID drift exposes no retryable ID and never permits automatic deletion. A bounded newest-Drafts lookup remains diagnostic only. The native path compares the FULL saved body above the quote against the requested reply_body (whitespace-flattened, smart-punctuation-folded, then case-sensitive so an ALL-CAPS draft still fails). Otherwise it returns the structured REPLY_BODY_MISMATCH error naming the suspect artifact id; a placement failure after the quote or a not-found/timeout case keeps the pre-existing REPLY_DRAFT_BODY_AFTER_QUOTE / REPLY_DRAFT_VERIFICATION_TIMEOUT / REPLY_DRAFT_VERIFICATION_ERROR codes. For machine-readable reply draft metadata, call reply_to_email(..., output_format="json") only with mode="draft" or mode="open". The JSON payload includes mode, sent, subject, draft_id, captured_draft_id, draft_id_source, verified_draft_id, exact_id_verified, verification_status, body_present, body_verified, retyped, stale_artifact_id, attachment_status, attachment_count, attachments_applied, signature_status, and mailbox. draft_id_source="persisted_header_identity" and exact_id_verified=true mean the verifier matched the same header-linked persisted Drafts artifact. verification_fallback is non-destructive and must be checked manually. retyped=true means the automatic delete-and-retype retry ran only after identity revalidation. stale_artifact_id, when set, names an earlier draft whose deletion before retyping could not be confirmed, so check Drafts for a stray truncated/miscased duplicate. If verification times out or errors after a persisted identity was available, the error preserves the known draft_id / Drafts artifact id for exact cleanup. output_format="json" with effective mode="send" is rejected before Mail mutation; send mode is not draft-verifiable. body_html on reply_to_email is accepted for compatibility but ignored; use create_rich_email_draft / compose_email only for rich HTML on a confirmed standalone message.

Missed-replies queue (bounded, no Inbox-wide search)

Discovery rows now carry has_draft automatically, so most callers never need this workflow: check the row first, and only fall back here when has_draft is null (the scan was skipped, errored, or the bounded 50-draft-per-account scan was truncated without a match; check draft_scan.status plus draft_scan.truncated / draft_scan.total) or absent from an older result already in hand. Use this workflow to find drafts that answer a message but were never sent, without an unbounded Inbox scan. It is a three-call, bounded path:

1. manage_drafts(action="list", limit=25): a bounded, Drafts-only slice (newest first). Read each returned draft's Id (its draft_id) and body snippet to shortlist candidates; do not scan beyond limit.
2. verify_draft(draft_id=..., resolve_source=True): use an exact-id snapshot for one shortlisted draft. It returns the usual recipients, body preview, attachments, signature state, and threading.in_reply_to, plus a new source object when resolve_source=True. source resolves the draft's In-Reply-To header back to the SOURCE Inbox message via one bounded search_emails(internet_message_id=...) call and returns the original message's numeric message_id, subject, and sender, avoiding a second manual lookup. resolve_source defaults to False, so existing callers see no behavior change unless they opt in.
3. If source.resolved is false, do not assume the source does not exist. Check source.reason: no_in_reply_to_header means this draft is not a reply (nothing to resolve); not_found_in_window means the source is likely older than the default 30-day lookback. Either widen the window a little (resolve_recent_days=90, still bounded, still a single search call, never unbounded) or fall back to manage_drafts(action="find", in_reply_to=<threading.in_reply_to>), which scans the bounded Drafts window by header instead of the Inbox.

Do not cache a draft_id across turns. On Exchange and other server accounts, numeric Drafts ids are reassigned on sync, including between two action="list" calls with no writes in between. Re-resolve the id with a fresh action="list" or action="find" call immediately before verify_draft, manage_drafts(action="open"|"send"|"delete"), or cleanup_empty; action="find" with in_reply_to is the durable handle for a reply draft since it matches by header, not by store-assigned id.

Never call search_emails directly to "find the original message" for a draft. resolve_source=True already does that lookup the bounded way (account set, mailbox="INBOX", capped recent_days, max_results=1); a manual search_emails call without account plus a bounded recent_days risks an unbounded, slow scan on large mailboxes and duplicates work verify_draft already did. Call Mail tools one at a time in this sequence; the server serializes Mail access, so do not fan out manage_drafts / verify_draft calls concurrently.

Related Skills

• email-style-profile: learn voice from Sent mail samples.
• email-attachments: after drafting, optionally attach binaries with validated filesystem paths (compose_* attachments parameters).
• apple-mail-operator: if tools error on account scope or timeouts, fix infra before rewriting prose.