| name | mail-reclaim-storage |
| description | Use this skill to free up mailbox storage via the inkwell CLI — soft-delete (move to Deleted Items) the junk that takes the most space, large attachments first, then old bulk-sender back-catalogs and stale low-value mail. Triggers on "free up storage", "my mailbox is full", "clear space", "trash junk to reduce storage". It never permanently deletes and never empties Deleted Items — the user does that. Confirm every batch. For volume (not size) cleanup use `mail-triage`; to stop the junk arriving use `mail-reduce-noise`. |
Skill: mail-reclaim-storage
Recover mailbox space by moving space-hungry junk to Deleted
Items (soft delete). The user empties Deleted Items themselves
(Outlook, or the tenant's retention auto-purge) — you never
permanently delete and never empty it. Confirm-every-batch,
interactive — never run unattended. This is the mutate stage of
the mail-skill posture.
Order passes by space freed per action: biggest wins first. Scan the
entire mailbox including archived mail (filter --all covers all
subscribed folders) — archived junk still counts against quota.
Storage is dominated by size, so lead with size, not count.
Hard exclusions — never trash these (skip-rails)
- Flagged (
~F / skip_rails: flagged).
- Threads the user participated in (anything they sent into —
check
~v <conv-id> & ~f <own-addr> when in doubt).
- Receipts, invoices, financial/tax/legal records
(
skip_rails: financial).
- Calendar invites for future events
(
skip_rails: meeting-request; verify the date).
- Attachments from real people (colleagues, clients, known
contacts) — only target bulk/automated/promotional senders
(
is_bulk_sender; a person? mark means check, not take).
- Anything newer than the age floor (default 30 days — the
script enforces it; raise it if unsure).
- Anything the user marks keep during review.
When unsure whether something is junk, keep it — Deleted Items is
recoverable, but keep the user's review burden small.
Procedure
-
Preflight + sync. python3 scripts/preflight.py (relative to
this skill's directory; fails clean), then inkwell sync once.
-
Pass 1 — large attachments (highest ROI).
python3 scripts/big_items.py --min-mb 5 ranks messages by
attachment size (the cache tracks no body sizes — attachment
totals are the honest dominant term), with mechanical
skip_rails and an is_bulk_sender hint; --format table for
presentation. Apply the exclusions, group by sender, present the
batch with total MB it would free, get explicit confirmation,
then soft-delete: inkwell messages delete <id> per item (or a
per-sender inkwell filter '~f <addr> & ~A & ~d >30d' --action delete --apply --yes after its dry-run list was shown).
-
Pass 2 — bulk-sender back-catalogs. Use big_items.py's
by_sender totals plus mail-reduce-noise's ranking signals;
prefer senders the user already unsubscribed from or routed away.
Per offender: dry-run the full old history —
inkwell filter '~f <addr> & ~d >1y' — show count (+ MB where
known), confirm, then re-run with --action delete --apply --yes.
-
Pass 3 — stale low-value categories. Old feed/paper-trail
mail, past meeting traffic, and — when the mail-triage workflow
folders exist — the aged contents of the Newsletters folder:
~o feed & ~d >1y, ~m Newsletters & ~d >1y, etc. Same
discipline: dry-run list → exclusions → confirm →
--action delete --apply --yes.
-
After each pass / at the end. Report estimated MB freed
and the running total (attachment-sum based — say so). Remind the
user the space is reclaimed only once they empty Deleted
Items in Outlook (or the auto-purge window passes) — offer to
explain how, but never do it. Suggest mail-reduce-noise so the
junk doesn't refill.
Anti-patterns to refuse
permanent-delete or "emptying trash" by any means. The only
removal verb here is soft delete (messages delete /
--action delete).- Batches without the dry-run list + size estimate shown. Same
presentation bar as
mail-triage hard rule 3.
- Trashing real-person attachments without the user explicitly
saying so, per item.
- Running unattended (cron, "just clean it while I'm out").
- Pausing the rails because the mailbox is "really full". A full
mailbox with its tax records intact beats a roomy one without.
