gog-email-triage

name	gog-email-triage
description	Triage and prioritize inbox emails. Summarize unread messages, classify by urgency and category, propose actions (reply, archive, schedule, create task). Use when user wants to review inbox, process unread emails, or needs help prioritizing messages. Outputs structured summary with top priorities and suggested next actions.
compatibility	Requires gog CLI tool with email access
metadata	{"author":"gog-skills","version":"1.0"}
allowed-tools	Bash(gog:*) Read

Email Triage & Prioritization

Efficiently review and prioritize your inbox by classifying emails and suggesting actions.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• User wants to "review my inbox" or "check my email"
• User asks to "triage emails" or "prioritize messages"
• User mentions "what's urgent" or "what needs my attention"
• User wants help deciding what to do with emails
• At the start of workday for inbox review

Important: This skill is READ-ONLY. It analyzes and proposes actions but NEVER sends, archives, or modifies emails.

Dynamic Context

The following live data is available:

Unread emails:

!`gog gmail search "is:unread" --max 25 --json 2>/dev/null || echo "GOG_NOT_CONFIGURED"`

Inputs You Need

Before triaging:

1. User preferences (ask if not known):

   • Categories of interest (work vs personal filter)
   • Urgency threshold (show only high/urgent, or include all)
   • Any auto-archive patterns (newsletters, notifications)

2. Context clues (extract from conversation):

   • Current projects or priorities
   • Upcoming deadlines
   • People user is waiting to hear from

Workflow

Step 1: Fetch Unread Emails

If dynamic context shows GOG_NOT_CONFIGURED:

• Inform user that GOG is not configured
• Point to: skills/gog/_shared/references/gog-interface.md
• Offer to help with configuration
• STOP here until configured

If email list is empty:

• Inform user: "No unread emails! Inbox Zero achieved."
• Ask if they want to review recent emails instead
• If yes, fetch: gog gmail search "is:inbox" --max 25 --json

Step 2: Analyze Each Email

For each email, determine:

Urgency Level:

• urgent: Immediate attention required (< 2 hours)
  • Keywords: "urgent", "ASAP", "immediately", "emergency"
  • From: Boss, critical clients, system alerts
  • Context: Blocking your work or others
• high: Should respond today
  • Action required by EOD
  • Meeting invitations for soon
  • Client/stakeholder requests
• medium: Can respond within 2-3 days
  • FYI with potential follow-up
  • Non-urgent requests
  • Team updates that may need input
• low: No time pressure
  • Newsletters, automated reports
  • Social correspondence
  • Informational only

Category:

• action-required: Needs a decision or action from you
• fyi: Informational only, no action needed
• meeting: Meeting invitation or scheduling
• social: Personal correspondence
• newsletter: Automated newsletters/updates
• spam: Likely spam or unwanted

Suggested Action:

• reply: Draft a reply (use gog-email-draft skill)
• reply-all: Draft reply-all
• forward: Forward to someone else
• archive: No action needed, remove from inbox
• create-task: Convert to task (use gog-tasks skill)
• schedule-meeting: Set up meeting (use gog-calendar skill)
• block-sender: Mark as spam/block
• delete: Junk, delete immediately

Step 3: Generate Triage Summary

Output in this format:

# Email Triage Summary

📧 **Total Unread**: [N] messages
⚠️  **Urgent**: [N] | 🔴 **High**: [N] | 🟡 **Medium**: [N] | 🟢 **Low**: [N]

## Top 3 Priorities

1. **[Subject]** from [Sender]
   - Urgency: [urgent/high/medium/low]
   - Reason: [1-line rationale]
   - Suggested action: [action]

2. [...]

3. [...]

## All Messages

| ID (last 6) | From | Subject (truncated) | Urgency | Category | Action | Rationale |
|-------------|------|---------------------|---------|----------|--------|-----------|
| abc123 | [e-mail] | Meeting tomorrow? | high | meeting | reply | Needs response by EOD |
| def456 | newsletter@... | Weekly update | low | newsletter | archive | FYI only |
| [...] | [...] | [...] | [...] | [...] | [...] | [...] |

## Suggested Next Actions

- [ ] **Reply to [N] urgent/high priority emails** (IDs: abc123, def456)
- [ ] **Create tasks for [N] action items** (IDs: ghi789)
- [ ] **Schedule meeting for [topic]** (ID: jkl012)
- [ ] **Archive [N] newsletters and FYI messages**
- [ ] **Block [N] spam senders**

---

**Next Steps**:
- To draft a reply: "Draft a reply to [email ID or subject]"
- To create task: "Create a task for [email ID or subject]"
- To schedule meeting: "Schedule meeting about [topic]"
- To see email content: "Show me email [ID]"

Step 4: Save HTML Artifact

Read the template at .claude/templates/html/custom/email-triage.html, fill all {{PLACEHOLDER}} values with the data from Step 3 (email counts, priority groups, suggested actions), and save the completed HTML to workspace/daily-logs/[C] YYYY-MM-DD-email-triage.html.

Create the workspace/daily-logs/ directory if it does not exist.

Step 5: Offer Follow-Up

After presenting the triage:

• Ask: "Which email would you like to tackle first?"
• Or: "Would you like me to draft replies for the top priorities?"
• Or: "Should I create tasks for the action items?"

Do NOT proceed to take actions without user confirmation.

Output Format (Strict)

The triage summary MUST include:

1. Header stats: Total count + urgency breakdown
2. Top 3 priorities: Most urgent/important emails with rationale
3. Complete table: All emails with classifications
4. Suggested next actions: Checklist of proposed actions grouped by type
5. Next steps prompt: Clear options for follow-up

Table columns (in order):

1. ID (last 6 chars) - for reference
2. From - sender email or name
3. Subject (truncated to ~40 chars)
4. Urgency - urgent/high/medium/low
5. Category - action-required/fyi/meeting/social/newsletter/spam
6. Action - reply/archive/create-task/etc
7. Rationale - 1-line explanation

Examples

Example 1: Morning Inbox Review

User: "Review my inbox"

Assistant:

Let me triage your unread emails.

[Fetches emails...]

# Email Triage Summary

📧 **Total Unread**: 12 messages
⚠️  **Urgent**: 1 | 🔴 **High**: 3 | 🟡 **Medium**: 5 | 🟢 **Low**: 3

## Top 3 Priorities

1. **Budget approval needed** from [e-mail]
   - Urgency: urgent
   - Reason: Blocks Q2 planning, needs approval by noon today
   - Suggested action: reply

2. **Client demo tomorrow** from [e-mail]
   - Urgency: high
   - Reason: Meeting in < 24h, needs confirmation of attendees
   - Suggested action: reply

3. **Code review request** from [e-mail]
   - Urgency: high
   - Reason: Blocking deployment, requested 2 days ago
   - Suggested action: create-task

## All Messages

| ID | From | Subject | Urgency | Category | Action | Rationale |
|----|------|---------|---------|----------|--------|-----------|
| 7a3f2e | [e-mail] | Budget approval needed | urgent | action-required | reply | Blocks Q2 planning |
| 9b4c1d | [e-mail] | Client demo tomorrow | high | meeting | reply | Needs confirmation |
| 2e8f6a | [e-mail] | Code review request | high | action-required | create-task | Review needed |
| [...] | [...] | [...] | [...] | [...] | [...] | [...] |

## Suggested Next Actions

- [ ] **Reply to 4 urgent/high emails** (IDs: 7a3f2e, 9b4c1d, 5d7e3c, 8f1a9b)
- [ ] **Create task for code review** (ID: 2e8f6a)
- [ ] **Archive 3 newsletters** (IDs: 4c9e2f, 6a3d8b, 1f7c5e)

---

**Next Steps**: Which email would you like to tackle first? I can draft replies for the top priorities or create tasks for follow-up items.

Example 2: Filtered Triage

User: "Show me only urgent and high priority emails"

Assistant:

Let me filter for urgent and high priority emails only.

[Fetches and filters...]

# Email Triage Summary (Urgent + High Only)

📧 **Total Unread**: 12 messages (showing 4 urgent/high)
⚠️  **Urgent**: 1 | 🔴 **High**: 3

## Top Priorities

1. **Budget approval needed** from [e-mail]
   - Urgency: urgent
   - Action: reply
   [...]

[Table with only urgent/high priority emails]

The remaining 8 emails are medium/low priority. Want to see those too?

Failure Modes / Troubleshooting

GOG Not Configured

Symptom: Dynamic context shows GOG_NOT_CONFIGURED

Resolution:

1. Inform user: "GOG CLI is not configured. Let me help you set it up."
2. Point to: skills/gog/_shared/references/gog-interface.md
3. Suggest: "Run gog auth login to authenticate"
4. Do not proceed with triage until configured

No Unread Emails

Symptom: Email list is empty []

Resolution:

1. Celebrate: "Inbox Zero! No unread emails."
2. Ask: "Want to review recent emails instead?"
3. If yes, fetch last 25 emails without unread filter

Invalid JSON from GOG

Symptom: jq parse error or non-JSON output

Resolution:

1. Try without --json flag
2. Parse human-readable output (less reliable)
3. Or inform user: "GOG output format unexpected. Please check GOG version."

Too Many Emails (> 25)

Symptom: User has 100+ unread emails

Resolution:

1. Inform: "You have [N] unread emails. Showing top 25."
2. Suggest: "Want to filter by sender, date, or keyword?"
3. Or: "Let's focus on urgent/high priority only"
4. Consider batching: "Let's triage in batches of 25"

Classification Uncertainty

Symptom: Can't determine urgency or category from email metadata

Resolution:

1. Fetch full email with gog email get --id <id>
2. Read first ~200 chars of body for context
3. If still uncertain, default to "medium" urgency and "action-required" category
4. Note in rationale: "Needs review to determine priority"

Safety Rules

1. Never send, archive, or delete emails - This skill is READ-ONLY
2. Never modify email labels or folders - Only analyze and propose
3. Always propose, never execute - Present options, user decides
4. Privacy-aware output - Truncate email subjects in output if they appear sensitive
5. No automation without consent - Even for "obvious" spam, ask before suggesting block/delete

Safe Test

To safely test this skill using only [e-mail]:

Read-only test (always safe):

gog gmail search "is:unread (to:[e-mail] OR from:[e-mail])" --max 10 --json

In Claude Code:

1. Load the gog-email-triage skill
2. Say: "Triage my inbox"
3. Skill will fetch unread emails
4. Verify output includes:
   • Email count and urgency breakdown
   • Top 3 priorities with rationale
   • Complete table with all emails
   • Suggested next actions checklist
5. Confirm NO emails are sent, archived, or modified

See skills/gog/_shared/references/testing.md for complete test plan.

Notes

• This skill integrates with:

  • gog-email-draft: For drafting replies to prioritized emails
  • gog-tasks: For converting emails to tasks
  • gog-calendar: For scheduling meetings mentioned in emails
  • gog-followups: For tracking emails awaiting responses

• Consider user's timezone when assessing urgency (EOD means their EOD)

• If email subject/sender contains obvious credentials or secrets, redact in output

• For recurring newsletters, suggest creating a filter/rule rather than manual archiving