| name | outlook-ops |
| description | How the [YOUR_FIRM] sales harness reads from and writes to Outlook via the Copilot MCP. Composer uses it to save drafts. Cadence uses it to detect sends, detect replies, and queue templated follow-ups. Use when the harness needs to draft a new email, draft a threaded reply, search sent items for a send, scan inbox for a reply, or propose meeting times. |
| cowork | {"category":"automation","icon":"Mail"} |
Outlook Ops
In Copilot, Outlook is a native MCP. The harness uses these tools directly — no helper scripts, no markdown-to-Outlook sync bridge needed.
What's available
Read
| Operation | Tool |
|---|
| Search any mailbox content | SearchM365 with sources=["email"] |
| List messages with filters | ListMessages (folder, from, date, unread, flagged) |
| Get a specific message | GetMessage |
| List mail folders | ListMailFolders |
| List calendar events | ListCalendarView / ListEvents |
| Find free/busy slots | FindMeetingTimes |
| Search SharePoint/OneDrive | SearchM365 with sources=["files"] or SearchDrive |
Write
| Operation | Tool |
|---|
| Draft a new email (NOT send) | CreateDraftMessage |
| Draft a threaded reply (NOT send) | CreateReplyDraft |
| Draft a reply-all (NOT send) | CreateReplyAllDraft |
| Update an existing draft | UpdateDraft |
| Send a draft | SendDraftMessage |
| Add file attachment to a draft | AddDraftAttachments |
In v1, the harness uses CreateDraftMessage / CreateReplyDraft only. It never calls SendDraftMessage. The human clicks Send in Outlook — that click is the approval.
Tenant configuration
From sales-harness-config.md in OneDrive:
OUTLOOK_FROM: [YOUR_OUTLOOK_EMAIL]- Drafts folder ID:
[YOUR_DRAFTS_FOLDER_ID] (well-known name drafts works in most calls)
- Sent Items folder ID:
[YOUR_SENT_FOLDER_ID] (well-known name sentitems works in most calls)
- Inbox folder ID:
[YOUR_INBOX_FOLDER_ID] (well-known name inbox works in most calls)
Most ListMessages calls accept the well-known names directly, so you don't actually need to look up the IDs unless you want stable references. To get IDs, call mcp__outlook__ListMailFolders once and copy them into your config.
Composer flow — saving a first-touch draft
When the Composer finishes a draft and the lead's state is researched → draft_pending_approval:
- Write the draft text to the prospect MD file's
## Draft (pending approval) section (for audit + human review in OneDrive).
- Call
CreateDraftMessage:
to=[<prospect email>]subject=<draft subject>body=<draft body, HTML or plain text>
- Capture the returned draft
id and store it in the prospect frontmatter as draft_message_id.
- Set
state: draft_pending_approval. Append to ## Audit.
Composer flow — saving a reply draft
When the Composer is drafting a reply to a prospect's reply:
- Get the inbound message ID (from Cadence's reply detection — stored in the lead's
## Conversation section).
- Call
CreateReplyDraft(message_id=<inbound>, comment=<draft body>).
- Update the MD file and capture
draft_message_id.
Cadence flow — queueing a templated step
When next_step_at is due for a lead in awaiting_reply:
- Load the cadence template (e.g.
cadence-rules/templates/outbound-email-v1.md).
- Render the next step using lead variables.
- Run compliance checks (
compliance/SKILL.md).
- Call
CreateReplyDraft(message_id=<original thread root>, comment=<rendered body>) — follow-ups are always threaded.
- Increment
touch_count. Set state: draft_pending_approval. Append to ## Audit.
Cadence flow — detecting a send
Periodically scan for sends that have completed:
ListMessages(folder_id="sentitems", received_after=<draft created time>) — or SearchM365 with sources=["email"], from_user=<OUTLOOK_FROM>, query=<subject>.- Match on subject + recipient + send time after the draft creation.
- If exactly one match → transition lead
draft_pending_approval → sent, set sent_at, capture thread_id from the message's conversationId, clear draft_message_id.
- If zero matches and the draft is older than 7 days → set
hold_reason: draft never sent, do not transition.
- If multiple matches → take the most recent, log a warning in
## Notes.
Cadence flow — detecting a reply
Periodically scan for replies on threads we're awaiting:
- For each lead in
awaiting_reply with a thread_id, call ListMessages(folder_id="inbox", received_after=<sent_at>) and filter by conversationId matching thread_id and sender matching the prospect's domain. Or SearchM365 with sources=["email"], from_user=<prospect email>, after=<sent_at>.
- If a match → transition to
state: replied, copy the reply body and message ID into the lead's ## Conversation section, hand off to Composer for reply drafting.
Authentication
All Graph access is delegated using the operator's M365 sign-in ([YOUR_OUTLOOK_EMAIL]). The harness never holds a service-principal token. If a tool call fails with Unauthorized, the operator needs to re-authenticate — the harness does not retry blindly.
