grouped-email-intake-backfill

name	grouped-email-intake-backfill
description	Triage grouped email/intake batches into compact inbox notes and canonical backfills, preserving source provenance and avoiding one-note-per-row noise.

Grouped Email Intake Backfill

Use this skill when a batch of email or inbox-like records arrives grouped by thread/channel and needs to be compacted into durable notes.

Core goal

Turn many raw records into a small number of sourced, useful writebacks:

• one compact inbox note when routing is unclear or cross-entity
• canonical entity notes when the target is clear
• no one-note-per-row spam

Workflow

1. Group first, then dedupe.

   • Compact each thread/channel group before writing anything.
   • Remove repeated facts inside the group.
   • Prefer one summary per conversation or activity window.

2. Classify by signal.

   • Keep business, deal, legal, research, relationship, commitment, process, or billing facts.
   • Skip pure noise: promos, newsletters, empty headers, synthetic pings, and stale notifications with no new fact.

3. Answer the four intake questions for the group.

   • What needs to be done?
   • How can I help now?
   • What facts changed?
   • What patterns/signals changed?

4. Route with provenance.

   • If the target entity is clear, update the canonical note.
   • If routing is uncertain, create or update one sourced Inbox note for the batch.
   • Always include representative source URIs and, when available, line ranges.

5. Keep inbox notes compact.

   • Use bullets per high-signal thread/group.
   • Don’t expand low-signal promos beyond a short skip summary.
   • Keep source handles visible so later grooming can trace back quickly.

6. Write durable facts in the right home.

   • Entity facts → entity state/log note.
   • Open loops or unclear cross-entity items → Inbox note.
   • Repeating workflow lessons → skill update.

7. Verify before closing.

   • Re-read the written notes if needed.
   • Confirm the checkpoint/commit state changed only for the intended source lines.
   • For scripted checkpoint updates, run the exact snippet provided by the batch context and commit only the listed sources.

Pitfalls

• Don’t mirror every raw row into its own note.
• Don’t lose source provenance while compacting.
• Don’t skip the four Qs; they force the note to be actionable.
• Don’t mix noise and signal in the same level of detail.
• Don’t commit unprocessed sources during batch backfill.

Good outputs

• A single inbox note with grouped bullets and source URIs.
• A targeted update to the right entity note.
• A checkpoint commit that advances only the batch sources that were fully processed.

Reference material

• See references/gmail-batch-patterns.md for a concrete example and batch-specific lessons.