gmail-onmyplate

name	gmail-onmyplate
description	Check what's on the user's Gmail plate by triaging unread and recent threads for actionable items. Use when the user asks about email, inbox, what's on their plate, what they owe replies to, or what follow-ups are waiting in email. Also trigger on "check my gmail", "what's in my inbox", or "anything actionable in email".

Gmail: What's On My Plate

This skill reports what needs the user's attention in Gmail. All queries go through the Gmail MCP (mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__* tools) — there is no CLI.

Three buckets, each a separate query:

1. Needs your reply — Unread threads where the last message is from someone else AND the user is a direct recipient (To/Cc)
2. Your open threads — Threads where the user sent the last message but no response has come back (stale ≥ follow_up_wait_days)
3. FYI — Remaining unread threads (newsletters, CI noise, notifications) — counts only, not individual list

Configuration

Everything this skill needs is in 05 Meta/config.yaml under google::

google:
  self_name: "Jane Smith"
  self_email: "[e-mail]"
  gmail:
    denylist_labels: [CATEGORY_PROMOTIONS, CATEGORY_SOCIAL, CATEGORY_UPDATES, SPAM]
    vip_senders: []                     # always surface these senders in Bucket 1
    lookback_days: 3
    follow_up_wait_days: 3

Read this file first. If google.self_email is empty, tell the user to fill it in (used to detect "the user is a direct recipient" vs Cc-only noise).

Workflow

Step 1: Query each bucket

Bucket 1 — Needs your reply

Build a Gmail search query:

in:inbox is:unread -category:promotions -category:social -category:updates newer_than:3d

Where 3d comes from gmail.lookback_days, and the -category:* tokens come from gmail.denylist_labels (translated: CATEGORY_PROMOTIONS → -category:promotions, SPAM → -in:spam, etc.).

Use:

mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__search_threads with q="<query>"

For each returned thread, call mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__get_thread and inspect the latest message:

• Keep if the latest message is from someone other than the user AND the user is in To: or Cc:.
• Drop if the latest message is from the user (move to Bucket 2 consideration).
• Drop if the user is only on Bcc: / implicit (likely mass email).

Then apply a second pass for VIP senders — for any sender address in gmail.vip_senders, include the thread in Bucket 1 even if already read (subject to lookback_days).

Collect: thread ID, subject, latest sender (name + email), received timestamp, short preview of the latest message, web URL (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/<thread_id>).

Bucket 2 — Your open threads

Search:

in:sent newer_than:14d -in:chats

Use a wider lookback than Bucket 1 because outbound threads can legitimately sit for days. For each result, fetch the thread:

• Keep if the user's message is the latest in the thread AND the thread is older than follow_up_wait_days.
• Drop if someone has replied since.
• Drop if the thread is a one-shot transactional email (single message, no recipient likely to reply — heuristic: body contains an unsubscribe link, or sender is a no-reply address on the original thread before user's reply).

Collect: thread ID, subject, recipients (names + emails), days since last sent, 1-sentence gist of what the user asked / said.

Bucket 3 — FYI

Re-use the Bucket 1 search but without the recipient filter. Subtract the threads already placed in Bucket 1. Count the remainder and group by label (e.g. CATEGORY_UPDATES, CATEGORY_FORUMS, or specific labels like ci / github). Do NOT list individual threads — just counts per label.

Step 2: Cross-reference the vault

Gmail threads are not persisted in the vault by default (no type: email). The only cross-reference worth doing is the Gemini meeting minutes case:

• If a thread in Bucket 1 or Bucket 3 matches the Gemini sweep pattern (sender_patterns + subject_patterns from google.gemini in config), flag it: "Gemini meeting notes — will be auto-ingested by /eod, or run /gemini-import <thread_id>."
• Do this flag inline inside the relevant bucket; don't carve out a separate bucket.

Step 3: Synthesize the briefing

Present a summary grouped by bucket. Use clear visual separation:

Needs your reply (N):

• For each: sender, subject, 1-line gist, received time, URL
• Sort: VIP senders first, then most recent
• Mark overdue (> 24h) distinctly from fresh

Your open threads (N):

• For each: recipient, subject, "sent X days ago", 1-sentence gist of what the user sent, URL
• Sort: oldest first (most likely to need a nudge)

FYI (N unread):

• Summary line per label: "12 CI notifications, 3 GitHub digests, 5 newsletters"
• No individual threads

Always present Gmail URLs as full clickable links (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/<thread_id>), not markdown-wrapped text.

When to Use This Skill

Trigger on prompts like:

• "What's on my gmail plate?"
• "What's in my inbox?"
• "Check email / gmail"
• "Anything actionable in email?"
• "What replies do I owe?"
• "Any stale follow-ups in email?"

Do NOT use this skill to:

• Search Gmail for arbitrary content — use mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__search_threads directly
• Read a specific thread — use mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__get_thread directly
• Ingest a Gemini meeting note — that's /gemini-import
• Send, draft, or label messages — this skill is read-only triage

Known Limitations

• No persistent state — every run re-queries Gmail. If the user asks the same question twice in a session, results may shift slightly as new mail arrives.
• Latest-message heuristics — "who sent the last message" is extracted from the most recent message header in the thread. Forwarded threads can confuse this; accept the occasional false positive.
• Category translation — Gmail MCP may expose labels as CATEGORY_PROMOTIONS (system) while search queries use category:promotions (search syntax). Translate by convention: strip CATEGORY_ prefix and lowercase.
• VIP matching — compare senders case-insensitively on the email portion only (From: "Alice Example" <[e-mail]> → match [e-mail]).
• Threading — Gmail threads can include messages across multiple labels (Sent + Inbox). Treat the thread as a unit and use its latest message for bucket placement.