process-emails

name	process-emails
description	Process emails from Gmail Watcher, categorize by priority (urgent/normal/low), draft appropriate responses using templates, flag items requiring immediate attention. Use when processing emails, checking inbox, handling Gmail notifications, or user mentions "email", "inbox", "gmail", "messages", "check mail", "respond to email".
user-invocable	true
allowed-tools	["Read","Write","Edit","Grep","Glob","Bash"]

Process Emails Skill

Purpose: Automatically process emails detected by Gmail Watcher, categorize them by priority, draft appropriate responses, and manage approval workflow for sending replies.

Dependencies:

• Gmail Watcher (creates EMAIL_*.md files in Vault/Needs_Action)
• handle-approval skill (for sending email responses)
• Email MCP Server (for actual email sending)
• Vault/Company_Handbook.md (for response guidelines)

Trigger Phrases:

• "process emails"
• "check my inbox"
• "check emails"
• "handle emails"
• "respond to emails"
• "what emails need attention"
• "process gmail"

---

Overview

This skill implements a complete email processing workflow:

1. Detection: Scan Vault/Needs_Action for EMAIL_* files created by Gmail Watcher
2. Analysis: Extract and categorize email metadata
3. Prioritization: Classify emails as urgent/normal/low priority
4. Response: Draft appropriate replies using templates
5. Approval: Create approval requests for email responses
6. Logging: Update Dashboard with all email activities

---

Workflow Phases

Phase 1: Scan for New Emails

Objective: Identify unprocessed email files in the Vault/Needs_Action folder.

Steps:

1. Use Glob tool to find all EMAIL_*.md files in Vault/Needs_Action
2. Filter out files already processed (check Dashboard log)
3. Sort by priority metadata if available
4. Process in order: urgent → normal → low

Output: List of email files to process

---

Phase 2: Extract Email Metadata

Objective: Parse email file to extract sender, subject, body, and metadata.

Steps:

1. Read the EMAIL_*.md file using Read tool
2. Extract YAML frontmatter:
   • type: email
   • from: [e-mail]
   • subject: Email subject line
   • received: timestamp
   • priority: high/normal/low
   • message_id: unique_id
3. Extract email body content
4. Optionally use parse_email_metadata.py script for complex parsing

Reference: See Email File Format below

---

Phase 3: Categorize Email

Objective: Classify email into appropriate category and priority level.

Categorization Process:

1. Load categorization rules from reference/categorization.md
2. Analyze email content for:
   • Sender domain (client, internal, vendor)
   • Subject keywords (invoice, urgent, meeting, etc.)
   • Body content patterns
3. Assign category:
   • Client Communications
   • Sales/Leads
   • Administrative
   • Internal Team
   • Spam/Low Priority

Priority Assessment:

1. Load priority rules from reference/priority-rules.md
2. Check for urgency indicators:
   • Keywords: "urgent", "asap", "immediate", "deadline"
   • VIP sender list
   • Subject line patterns
   • Time-sensitive content
3. Assign priority: urgent / normal / low

Output: Category and priority classification

---

Phase 4: Draft Response

Objective: Generate appropriate email response based on category and content.

Response Generation:

1. Load email templates from reference/email-templates.md
2. Select template based on:
   • Email category
   • Request type (inquiry, invoice, meeting, support)
   • Priority level
3. Personalize template with:
   • Sender name
   • Specific details from original email
   • Vault/Company_Handbook.md tone and style
   • Vault/Business_Goals.md context (if relevant)
4. Draft response following professional standards

Quality Checks:

• Appropriate greeting and closing
• Addresses all questions from original email
• Professional tone consistent with Company_Handbook
• No typos or formatting issues
• Includes relevant information/attachments

Reference: See email-templates.md for all templates

---

Phase 5: Create Approval Request

Objective: Generate approval request for email response following safety protocols.

Approval Logic:

1. Check approval thresholds (from handle-approval skill):
   • Auto-approve: Replies to known contacts < 200 words (NOT IMPLEMENTED - all require approval for safety)
   • Require approval: New contacts, bulk sends, attachments, sensitive content
2. For Silver Tier: ALL EMAIL SENDS REQUIRE APPROVAL

Create Approval File:

1. Use approval-template from handle-approval skill
2. Create file: Vault/Pending_Approval/EMAIL_[recipient-name]_[date].md
3. Include:

   ---
   type: approval_request
   action: send_email
   to: [e-mail]
   subject: Response subject line
   created: [timestamp]
   expires: [48 hours from creation]
   priority: [based on email priority]
   status: pending
   original_email_file: EMAIL_xxx.md
   ---
   

4. Include full email body in approval request
5. Add context from original email
6. Note any risks or considerations

Reference: Use handle-approval skill's approval-template.md

---

Phase 6: Handle Special Cases

Urgent Emails:

• Flag in Dashboard with 🚨 indicator
• Set approval expiration to 24 hours (not 48)
• Add "URGENT" tag to approval filename
• Log with high priority in Dashboard

Spam/Low Priority:

• Move directly to Vault/Done with "SPAM" or "LOW_PRIORITY" tag
• No response needed
• Log in Dashboard as filtered

Automated Notifications:

• Service alerts, newsletters, automated receipts
• Archive to Vault/Done with "AUTO_NOTIFICATION" tag
• No action required
• Brief log entry in Dashboard

Errors/Parsing Issues:

• If email file is malformed or unreadable
• Create error log in Vault/Logs
• Move problematic file to Vault/Needs_Action/ERROR_*
• Alert in Dashboard for manual review

---

Phase 7: Dashboard Logging

Objective: Maintain comprehensive audit trail of all email processing.

Log Entry Format:

## [YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] Email Processing

**Email:** [Subject line]
**From:** [Sender name/email]
**Category:** [Category]
**Priority:** [urgent/normal/low]
**Action:** [Response drafted / Archived as spam / Flagged for manual review]
**Approval Status:** [Created approval request / Auto-archived]
**File:** [Original EMAIL_*.md filename]
**Approval File:** [APPROVAL_EMAIL_*.md filename if created]

---

Dashboard Update:

1. Read current Vault/Dashboard.md
2. Append new entry under "Recent Activity" section
3. Update email processing statistics if tracked
4. Save Vault/Dashboard.md

---

Email File Format

Email files created by Gmail Watcher follow this standard format:

---
type: email
from: [e-mail]
from_name: John Doe
subject: Invoice Request for January
received: 2026-01-11T10:30:00Z
priority: normal
message_id: unique_gmail_id
status: pending
---

## Email Content

[Email body text here]

Multiple paragraphs preserved.

## Suggested Actions

- [ ] Reply to sender
- [ ] Forward to relevant party
- [ ] Archive after processing
- [ ] Flag as urgent

## Metadata

- **Labels:** Important, Work
- **Thread ID:** thread_123
- **Attachments:** invoice.pdf (if any)

---

Integration with Other Skills

handle-approval Skill

• When: After drafting email response
• How: Call handle-approval to create approval request
• Workflow: process-emails → draft response → handle-approval → create APPROVAL_EMAIL_*.md

create-plan Skill

• When: Email requires complex multi-step action
• Example: "Please update our website and send me a proposal"
• How: Create plan for complex request, email response confirms plan creation

---

Error Handling

File Not Found:

• Log error to Dashboard
• Continue processing other emails
• Do not stop workflow

Malformed Email File:

• Move to Vault/Needs_Action/ERROR_EMAIL_[filename]
• Log to Dashboard with error details
• Create manual review task

Template Not Found:

• Use generic professional response template
• Log warning to Dashboard
• Email still gets processed

Approval Creation Fails:

• Log error to Vault/Logs
• Do not send email (safety first)
• Alert in Dashboard for manual intervention

---

Security & Safety

Never Auto-Send:

• All email sends require human approval (Silver Tier standard)
• No exceptions for "trusted" contacts yet (implement in Gold Tier)

PII Protection:

• Never include passwords, API keys, credit card numbers in email
• Validate email addresses before creating approval
• Check for typos in recipient address

Content Validation:

• Ensure response is professional and appropriate
• No offensive language
• Factually accurate based on Company_Handbook
• Addresses recipient's actual questions

Rate Limiting:

• Process maximum 20 emails per batch
• Prevent overwhelming approval queue
• Prevent accidental mass sends

---

Testing & Validation

Test with Dummy Email:

1. Create test email file in Vault/Needs_Action
2. Run skill with /process-emails
3. Verify categorization is correct
4. Check response draft quality
5. Confirm approval request created properly
6. Validate Dashboard logging

Test Cases:

• Urgent client email
• Normal inquiry email
• Spam email
• Automated notification
• Malformed email file

---

Performance Optimization

For Large Email Volumes:

• Process in batches of 10-20
• Prioritize urgent emails first
• Archive spam immediately
• Defer low-priority processing

For Quick Responses:

• Use haiku model for categorization (faster, cheaper)
• Cache email templates in memory
• Reuse approval template structure

---

Reference Files

This skill uses progressive disclosure. Load these files on-demand:

1. email-templates.md

   • Response templates for common scenarios
   • Client inquiry, invoice request, meeting scheduling, etc.

2. priority-rules.md

   • Urgency keywords and patterns
   • VIP sender list
   • Auto-approve vs require approval logic

3. categorization.md

   • Email categorization criteria
   • Domain-based classification
   • Content pattern matching

---

Scripts

parse_email_metadata.py:

• Python script for complex email parsing
• Extracts sender, subject, body, attachments
• Returns structured JSON metadata
• Usage: python scripts/parse_email_metadata.py EMAIL_xxx.md

---

Success Criteria

✅ Skill Working If:

• Detects EMAIL_* files in Vault/Needs_Action
• Correctly categorizes email priority
• Drafts professional, relevant responses
• Creates approval requests for all sends
• Logs all activity to Dashboard
• Handles errors gracefully

---

Troubleshooting

Skill doesn't activate:

• Check trigger phrases in description
• Verify EMAIL_* files exist in Vault/Needs_Action
• Try explicit invocation: /process-emails

Wrong email category:

• Review categorization.md rules
• Check for new sender domains
• Update categorization logic

Poor response quality:

• Review email-templates.md
• Update Company_Handbook.md tone guidelines
• Add more context to templates

Approval not created:

• Verify handle-approval skill is available
• Check Vault/Pending_Approval folder exists
• Review error logs in Dashboard

---

Future Enhancements (Gold Tier)

• Auto-approve for trusted contacts (after pattern learning)
• Email threading (reply in context)
• Attachment handling
• Calendar integration for meeting requests
• Multi-language support
• Sentiment analysis for urgent detection

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End of SKILL.md

Total Lines: ~340 (Under 500 ✓) Structure: Progressive disclosure with reference files Status: Ready for testing