inbox-automations

name	inbox-automations
description	Natural-language inbox automation rules (manage-automations, trigger-automations) and provider-native Gmail filters (manage-gmail-filters), including how the two differ. Use when the user asks to auto-label, auto-archive, auto-star, or otherwise handle incoming mail automatically, or to create/replace/delete a Gmail filter.

Inbox Automations and Gmail Filters

Automation rules

manage-automations rules match new inbound mail against a natural-language condition using AI, then apply actions (label, archive, mark_read, star, trash). Rules run on a per-minute cron automatically; trigger-automations forces immediate processing (debounced — a just-triggered run may report "skipped, try again in 30 seconds").

Gmail filters are a different mechanism

Gmail filters (manage-gmail-filters) are a distinct, provider-native mechanism from automation rules — filters run inside Gmail itself, apply before automations, and support raw Gmail criteria/actions. Gmail has no filter-update endpoint: the replace operation works by creating a new filter and deleting the old one.

Pick the mechanism deliberately: use a Gmail filter when the rule is expressible in Gmail's own criteria and should apply even when this app isn't running; use an automation rule when the condition needs natural-language judgement.

Related Skills

• inbox-reads-and-triage — one-off triage and refreshing the UI afterwards.
• mail-backends — Gmail filters require a connected Google account.