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Inbox Triage

Sorts new email into reply, delegate, archive, or later, then drafts your replies.

Tested in MuseworkflowProductivityscheduleworkflowdraft repliesapproval step

by Muse Skills editors · Written for this directory

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What it does

Inbox Triage runs on your connected email account every weekday morning and sorts what came in overnight. It splits new mail into four buckets: reply, delegate, archive, and later. For anything that needs a reply, it drafts one in your voice from the thread history, and for anything that needs someone else, it drafts a short forward note.

Nothing goes out on its own. Every draft, reply or forward, waits for your approval. You can approve a draft as written, edit it first, or discard it. Archive and later labels apply only after you have seen the batch.

The default run time is weekdays at 07:30 local. The assistant confirms that time with you before creating the recurring job, and asks again if you want to change it later.

What it includes

  • A cron-based recurring job, default weekdays 07:30 local
  • Four-way classification: reply, delegate, archive, later
  • Drafted replies for every message in the reply bucket
  • A per-message approval step before any send

Example

Input: 6 new messages overnight, including a client question about a due date and a newsletter.

Output: “3 reply, 1 delegate, 2 archive. Draft 1 (to client@example.com, re: ‘Due date?’): ‘Hi Sam, the report ships Friday, no change from last week. Let me know if that still works on your end.’ Approve, edit, or discard?” The two archive items and the newsletter are listed by subject line only, with no draft attached.

What this one touches

Reads your connected email account only. Writes draft replies; it never sends a message without your approval on that message. Never delegates or forwards mail to a third party without you naming the delegate first. Never reads attachments beyond what the mail client already renders.

Install

Copy this block and paste it into your Muse chat. Muse does the install and confirms when it's done.

Install prompt

Full source

This is the exact text Muse installs. Read it. That's the whole trust model.

SKILL.md
name: inbox-triage
description: Scheduled email triage. Classifies new mail into reply, delegate, archive, or
  later, drafts replies for the reply set, and holds every draft for approval before send.
  Trigger phrases: triage my inbox, sort my email, draft my replies.

schedule: weekdays at 07:30 local time (cron: 30 7 * * 1-5). Confirm the time with the user
before the first scheduled run. A user change to the time takes effect on the next run.

trigger: the scheduled time, or a manual "run inbox triage now" request.

steps:
  1. Read all mail that arrived since the last successful run, using the user's own
     connected email account. Never sign in with credentials the user has not already
     connected.
  2. Classify each message into exactly one bucket:
     - reply: needs a response from the user.
     - delegate: needs action from someone else the user has already named as a delegate.
     - archive: no action needed (receipts, notifications, newsletters with no ask).
     - later: needs the user's attention but not a reply today (long threads, decisions
       that need more context).
  3. For every message in the reply bucket, draft a reply in the user's own voice, using
     the thread history for context. Keep each draft under 150 words unless the source
     message needs a longer answer.
  4. For every message in the delegate bucket, draft a one-line forward note to the named
     delegate. Never send it without approval.
  5. Present the full batch: bucket counts, then each reply and delegate draft in full,
     with the original message it answers.
  6. Wait for the user's decision on each draft: approve, edit, or discard. Send only the
     drafts marked approved, exactly as approved or as edited by the user.
  7. Apply the archive and later labels only after the user has seen the batch summary.
     Never archive a message the user has not at least seen listed.

output: a batch report per run: counts by bucket, then the full text of every reply and
delegate draft awaiting approval. If no new mail arrived, or every new message fell into
archive or later, the report says so in one line and includes no drafts.

stop_conditions:
  - Stop and ask the user if a message looks like it needs a password, payment, or legal
    commitment. Never draft a reply that commits money or signs an agreement.
  - Stop the whole run and report the error if the mail account disconnects mid-run.
  - Never retry a send. A failed send is reported, not resent automatically.

operating_rules:
  - Never send a message without per-message approval, every run, no exceptions.
  - Never delegate mail to anyone not already named by the user as a delegate.
  - Never ask the user for their email password or any credential. Use only the account
    they already connected.
  - Never forward or quote a message to a third party outside delegation the user set up.
  - A quiet run (no reply or delegate drafts) sends nothing beyond the one-line summary.
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