email

name	email
description	Use when reading, searching, drafting, or sending email. Triggered by 'read my email', 'check my inbox', 'send an email', 'reply to that email', 'search my mail', or any request to read/send mail.
allowed-tools	Bash
user-invocable	true

Email

Reach for the lightest tool that does the job. Walk the tool ladder below top to bottom, trying each tier first and falling through to the next ONLY on tool absence OR auth failure.

Repo Context Probe

If .claude/skill-context/email.md exists, read it and honor its declarations; otherwise use the generic defaults described below.

The context file is where a repo declares a faster project-local mail CLI (e.g. a Redis-cached mail CLI) to try as Tier 1, above the generic ladder. When the file is absent (the common case in a foreign repo), start the ladder at Tier 2 (gws gmail) — the generic tiers below need nothing beyond a Google Workspace login or an interactive MCP session.

Tool Ladder (priority order)

Tier 1 — project mail CLI (only if the context file declares one)

If the context file declares a fast project email CLI, try it first for both read and send. Fall through to Tier 2 if it is not on PATH, or a read/send fails because its backing service is unreachable. If no context file is present, skip this tier entirely.

Tier 2 — gws gmail (Google Workspace CLI, direct API)

Google's official Workspace CLI. On PATH after npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli. Requires a one-time human gws auth setup / gws auth login OAuth step — if a call fails with an auth error, fall through.

gws gmail users messages list --params '{"userId": "me", "maxResults": 5}'
gws gmail users messages get --params '{"userId": "me", "id": "MSG_ID"}'

Fall through to Tier 3 if gws is not on PATH OR every call errors with an authentication failure (binary present but unauthenticated).

Tier 3 — Gmail MCP (mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__*, interactive sessions only)

The registered Gmail MCP tools. Available only in interactive Claude sessions, not in headless/agent runs. Use for read and draft-first composition.

mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__search_threads   (search the inbox)
mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__get_thread       (read a full thread)
mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__create_draft     (draft a reply — never auto-send)

Fall through to Tier 4 if the MCP tools are not available in this session.

Tier 4 — BYOB browser automation (LAST RESORT)

Only when no tier above can reach the mailbox at all (e.g. a webmail provider with no CLI/MCP path). BYOB is slow, flaky, and burns browser context.

Rules

• Fall through on absence OR auth failure, not just absence. A present-but- unauthenticated gws must hand off to the next tier — do not stall on it.
• Never use BYOB for a simple read or send. If you find yourself opening a browser to read the inbox, stop and re-walk the ladder from the top.
• Draft-first for composition. When sending on the user's behalf, prefer a draft the user reviews unless explicitly told to send.
• De-slop gate before anything leaves. Any composed email to an external recipient — send or finalized draft — must first PASS Skill('de-slop'), invoked as a fresh-context review of the draft text only (never the drafting conversation). On BLOCK, revise per the diagnosis and re-run; after 2 BLOCKs, surface to the user instead of sending. Skip the gate only for trivial logistical one-liners ("confirmed, see you at 3").