Localized reading guide
inbox-managerPurpose, usage and source
Turns a full inbox into a short, ranked list of what actually needs the owner. Reads the mail, sorts it into needs-you, drafted-and-waiting, and handled, writes replies in the owner's own voice, pulls out the action items and deadlines buried in long threads, files what is finished, and hands bills, leads, and scheduling requests to the skills that own them. Works from pasted or forwarded email text when no mailbox is connected. Use this whenever the owner mentions email at all — including "drowning in email," "I have 300 unread," "what emails need me," "go through my inbox," "clean up my email," "did I miss anything," "who am I supposed to get back to," "draft a reply to this," or "catch me up on my mail." Reach for it for one forwarded message as readily as for a whole morning's backlog.
Source retrieved:
- Source repository
- anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
- SKILL.md
small-business/skills/inbox-manager/SKILL.md- Repository stars
- 34,049
- Repository updated
- 2026-10-30
- Categories
- Business
- Last collected
License: Apache-2.0
Workflow excerpts are reading aids, not executable instructions from Codez. No third-party Skill was run to produce this page.
The purpose and workflow passages below are upstream material, organized and translated for reading. They are distinct from the separately labeled Codez editorial analysis.
What this Skill does
Turns a full inbox into a short, ranked list of what actually needs the owner. Reads the mail, sorts it into needs-you, drafted-and-waiting, and handled, writes replies in the owner's own voice, pulls out the action items and deadlines buried in long threads, files what is finished, and hands bills, leads, and scheduling requests to the skills that own them. Works from pasted or forwarded email text when no mailbox is connected. Use this whenever the owner mentions email at all — including "drowning in email," "I have 300 unread," "what emails need me," "go through my inbox," "clean up my email," "did I miss anything," "who am I supposed to get back to," "draft a reply to this," or "catch me up on my mail." Reach for it for one forwarded message as readily as for a whole morning's backlog.
How the upstream workflow works
Step 1 — Pull the mail
Read from Gmail or Microsoft 365, whichever is connected, once the mailbox is confirmed as the owner's — its address matches the ## Business context block, or the owner names it (../../shared/tenant-scope.md). Default to the last 48 hours plus anything still unanswered from the prior two weeks, because an unanswered thread from Tuesday is more dangerous than a new one from this morning. Add Slack when connected. Owners increasingly get real asks in DMs, and a digest that ignores them is incomplete. In pasted mode, ask one extra question up front: what did you promise anyone in the last two weeks? A paste cannot contain the buried commitments in older read threads, and those are the most expensive thing this skill normally catches.
Step 2 — Sort into three buckets
Read reference/triage_rules.md for what lands where and why. The buckets: Needs you — a decision only the owner can make, money, a real customer problem, or a deadline. Drafted — a reply is written and waiting for a yes. Most mail lands here. Handled — receipts, newsletters, confirmations, notifications. Filed and archived; nothing needs the owner. Listed by count, not by item, and the digest says so — "handled" without a definition reads as "hidden."
Step 3 — Extract what the thread is actually asking
Long threads bury the ask. For each item in "needs you," pull out: The specific thing being asked of the owner, in one line Any dollar amount, date, or deadline mentioned Who is waiting, and how long they have waited
Upstream passage · L46 ↗Requirements and setup
No short requirements passage was selected from this file. This does not mean the Skill has no dependencies. Check the repository setup instructions and referenced files.
Limits and quality checks
No separate limits passage was selected from this file. This does not mean the Skill is safe for every input or environment. Review the complete source and validate your own result.
Start with a safe trial
- Check the supported host and the repository installation instructions. Keep the Skill directory and its referenced scripts, assets and documentation together; SKILL.md alone may omit dependencies.
- Give the agent your real input, desired output and acceptance criteria. Invocation syntax and available tools depend on the host; this site does not assume a universal install command.
- Try the source workflow in a disposable project or on a copy. Review operations that change files, remote services or billable resources before allowing them.
- Validate the output against the source quality checks and your own requirements. A successful trigger or a high repository Star count does not establish a correct result.
Read further in the source
- Inbox Manager
- Step 1 — Pull the mail
- Step 2 — Sort into three buckets
- Step 3 — Extract what the thread is actually asking
- Step 4 — Draft the replies
- Step 5 — Hand off what belongs to another skill
- Step 6 — Show the digest and get approval to send
- Step 7 — File what is finished (skip in pasted mode — nothing to file)
- Step 8 — Record the corrections
- What not to do
- After the digest
- Reference files
- Using a tool that isn't listed
Related Skills
Translation and scope
This reading guide selects passages from the pinned upstream SKILL.md. Translation is assisted. It is not a complete manual or a claim of tested compatibility. Read the original and its referenced files before use.
This introduction refers to the pinned version below; current repository activity and collection time are shown separately.
- Pinned source
- Read the original ↗
- Source retrieved
- Source commit
2574e29377c7173d0cecffef29a6ecbd7f8ccb5d- Source SHA-256
fbe62adda04b8c8da4d0ea1c191ffc174eec367ee8adc86e15d56324e64e1814