Process Emails Skill

Purpose: Automatically process emails detected by Gmail Watcher, categorize them by priority, draft appropriate responses, and manage approval workflow for sending replies.

Dependencies:

• •Gmail Watcher (creates EMAIL_*.md files in Vault/Needs_Action)
• •handle-approval skill (for sending email responses)
• •Email MCP Server (for actual email sending)
• •Vault/Company_Handbook.md (for response guidelines)

Trigger Phrases:

• •"process emails"
• •"check my inbox"
• •"check emails"
• •"handle emails"
• •"respond to emails"
• •"what emails need attention"
• •"process gmail"

Overview

This skill implements a complete email processing workflow:

1. •Detection: Scan Vault/Needs_Action for EMAIL_* files created by Gmail Watcher
2. •Analysis: Extract and categorize email metadata
3. •Prioritization: Classify emails as urgent/normal/low priority
4. •Response: Draft appropriate replies using templates
5. •Approval: Create approval requests for email responses
6. •Logging: Update Dashboard with all email activities

Workflow Phases

Phase 1: Scan for New Emails

Objective: Identify unprocessed email files in the Vault/Needs_Action folder.

Steps:

1. •Use Glob tool to find all EMAIL_*.md files in Vault/Needs_Action
2. •Filter out files already processed (check Dashboard log)
3. •Sort by priority metadata if available
4. •Process in order: urgent → normal → low

Output: List of email files to process

Phase 2: Extract Email Metadata

Objective: Parse email file to extract sender, subject, body, and metadata.

Steps:

1. •Read the EMAIL_*.md file using Read tool
2. •Extract YAML frontmatter:
   • •type: email
   • •from: sender@example.com
   • •subject: Email subject line
   • •received: timestamp
   • •priority: high/normal/low
   • •message_id: unique_id
3. •Extract email body content
4. •Optionally use parse_email_metadata.py script for complex parsing

Reference: See Email File Format below

Phase 3: Categorize Email

Objective: Classify email into appropriate category and priority level.

Categorization Process:

1. •Load categorization rules from reference/categorization.md
2. •Analyze email content for:
   • •Sender domain (client, internal, vendor)
   • •Subject keywords (invoice, urgent, meeting, etc.)
   • •Body content patterns
3. •Assign category:
   • •Client Communications
   • •Sales/Leads
   • •Administrative
   • •Internal Team
   • •Spam/Low Priority

Priority Assessment:

1. •Load priority rules from reference/priority-rules.md
2. •Check for urgency indicators:
   • •Keywords: "urgent", "asap", "immediate", "deadline"
   • •VIP sender list
   • •Subject line patterns
   • •Time-sensitive content
3. •Assign priority: urgent / normal / low

Output: Category and priority classification

Phase 4: Draft Response

Objective: Generate appropriate email response based on category and content.

Response Generation:

1. •Load email templates from reference/email-templates.md
2. •Select template based on:
   • •Email category
   • •Request type (inquiry, invoice, meeting, support)
   • •Priority level
3. •Personalize template with:
   • •Sender name
   • •Specific details from original email
   • •Vault/Company_Handbook.md tone and style
   • •Vault/Business_Goals.md context (if relevant)
4. •Draft response following professional standards

Quality Checks:

• •Appropriate greeting and closing
• •Addresses all questions from original email
• •Professional tone consistent with Company_Handbook
• •No typos or formatting issues
• •Includes relevant information/attachments

Reference: See email-templates.md for all templates

Phase 5: Create Approval Request

Objective: Generate approval request for email response following safety protocols.

Approval Logic:

1. •Check approval thresholds (from handle-approval skill):
   • •Auto-approve: Replies to known contacts < 200 words (NOT IMPLEMENTED - all require approval for safety)
   • •Require approval: New contacts, bulk sends, attachments, sensitive content
2. •For Silver Tier: ALL EMAIL SENDS REQUIRE APPROVAL

Create Approval File:

1. •Use approval-template from handle-approval skill
2. •Create file: Vault/Pending_Approval/EMAIL_[recipient-name]_[date].md
3. •Include:
   yaml

   ---
   type: approval_request
   action: send_email
   to: recipient@example.com
   subject: Response subject line
   created: [timestamp]
   expires: [48 hours from creation]
   priority: [based on email priority]
   status: pending
   original_email_file: EMAIL_xxx.md
   ---
   

4. •Include full email body in approval request
5. •Add context from original email
6. •Note any risks or considerations

Reference: Use handle-approval skill's approval-template.md

Phase 6: Handle Special Cases

Urgent Emails:

• •Flag in Dashboard with 🚨 indicator
• •Set approval expiration to 24 hours (not 48)
• •Add "URGENT" tag to approval filename
• •Log with high priority in Dashboard

Spam/Low Priority:

• •Move directly to Vault/Done with "SPAM" or "LOW_PRIORITY" tag
• •No response needed
• •Log in Dashboard as filtered

Automated Notifications:

• •Service alerts, newsletters, automated receipts
• •Archive to Vault/Done with "AUTO_NOTIFICATION" tag
• •No action required
• •Brief log entry in Dashboard

Errors/Parsing Issues:

• •If email file is malformed or unreadable
• •Create error log in Vault/Logs
• •Move problematic file to Vault/Needs_Action/ERROR_*
• •Alert in Dashboard for manual review

Phase 7: Dashboard Logging

Objective: Maintain comprehensive audit trail of all email processing.

Log Entry Format:

## [YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] Email Processing

**Email:** [Subject line]
**From:** [Sender name/email]
**Category:** [Category]
**Priority:** [urgent/normal/low]
**Action:** [Response drafted / Archived as spam / Flagged for manual review]
**Approval Status:** [Created approval request / Auto-archived]
**File:** [Original EMAIL_*.md filename]
**Approval File:** [APPROVAL_EMAIL_*.md filename if created]

---

Dashboard Update:

1. •Read current Vault/Dashboard.md
2. •Append new entry under "Recent Activity" section
3. •Update email processing statistics if tracked
4. •Save Vault/Dashboard.md

Email File Format

Email files created by Gmail Watcher follow this standard format:

---
type: email
from: sender@example.com
from_name: John Doe
subject: Invoice Request for January
received: 2026-01-11T10:30:00Z
priority: normal
message_id: unique_gmail_id
status: pending
---

## Email Content

[Email body text here]

Multiple paragraphs preserved.

## Suggested Actions

- [ ] Reply to sender
- [ ] Forward to relevant party
- [ ] Archive after processing
- [ ] Flag as urgent

## Metadata

- **Labels:** Important, Work
- **Thread ID:** thread_123
- **Attachments:** invoice.pdf (if any)

Integration with Other Skills

handle-approval Skill

• •When: After drafting email response
• •How: Call handle-approval to create approval request
• •Workflow: process-emails → draft response → handle-approval → create APPROVAL_EMAIL_*.md

create-plan Skill

• •When: Email requires complex multi-step action
• •Example: "Please update our website and send me a proposal"
• •How: Create plan for complex request, email response confirms plan creation

Error Handling

File Not Found:

• •Log error to Dashboard
• •Continue processing other emails
• •Do not stop workflow

Malformed Email File:

• •Move to Vault/Needs_Action/ERROR_EMAIL_[filename]
• •Log to Dashboard with error details
• •Create manual review task

Template Not Found:

• •Use generic professional response template
• •Log warning to Dashboard
• •Email still gets processed

Approval Creation Fails:

• •Log error to Vault/Logs
• •Do not send email (safety first)
• •Alert in Dashboard for manual intervention

Security & Safety

Never Auto-Send:

• •All email sends require human approval (Silver Tier standard)
• •No exceptions for "trusted" contacts yet (implement in Gold Tier)

PII Protection:

• •Never include passwords, API keys, credit card numbers in email
• •Validate email addresses before creating approval
• •Check for typos in recipient address

Content Validation:

• •Ensure response is professional and appropriate
• •No offensive language
• •Factually accurate based on Company_Handbook
• •Addresses recipient's actual questions

Rate Limiting:

• •Process maximum 20 emails per batch
• •Prevent overwhelming approval queue
• •Prevent accidental mass sends

Testing & Validation

Test with Dummy Email:

1. •Create test email file in Vault/Needs_Action
2. •Run skill with /process-emails
3. •Verify categorization is correct
4. •Check response draft quality
5. •Confirm approval request created properly
6. •Validate Dashboard logging

Test Cases:

• •Urgent client email
• •Normal inquiry email
• •Spam email
• •Automated notification
• •Malformed email file

Performance Optimization

For Large Email Volumes:

• •Process in batches of 10-20
• •Prioritize urgent emails first
• •Archive spam immediately
• •Defer low-priority processing

For Quick Responses:

• •Use haiku model for categorization (faster, cheaper)
• •Cache email templates in memory
• •Reuse approval template structure

Reference Files

This skill uses progressive disclosure. Load these files on-demand:

1. •

   email-templates.md

   • •Response templates for common scenarios
   • •Client inquiry, invoice request, meeting scheduling, etc.
2. •

   priority-rules.md

   • •Urgency keywords and patterns
   • •VIP sender list
   • •Auto-approve vs require approval logic
3. •

   categorization.md

   • •Email categorization criteria
   • •Domain-based classification
   • •Content pattern matching

Scripts

parse_email_metadata.py:

• •Python script for complex email parsing
• •Extracts sender, subject, body, attachments
• •Returns structured JSON metadata
• •Usage: python scripts/parse_email_metadata.py EMAIL_xxx.md

Success Criteria

✅ Skill Working If:

• •Detects EMAIL_* files in Vault/Needs_Action
• •Correctly categorizes email priority
• •Drafts professional, relevant responses
• •Creates approval requests for all sends
• •Logs all activity to Dashboard
• •Handles errors gracefully

Troubleshooting

Skill doesn't activate:

• •Check trigger phrases in description
• •Verify EMAIL_* files exist in Vault/Needs_Action
• •Try explicit invocation: /process-emails

Wrong email category:

• •Review categorization.md rules
• •Check for new sender domains
• •Update categorization logic

Poor response quality:

• •Review email-templates.md
• •Update Company_Handbook.md tone guidelines
• •Add more context to templates

Approval not created:

• •Verify handle-approval skill is available
• •Check Vault/Pending_Approval folder exists
• •Review error logs in Dashboard

Future Enhancements (Gold Tier)

• •Auto-approve for trusted contacts (after pattern learning)
• •Email threading (reply in context)
• •Attachment handling
• •Calendar integration for meeting requests
• •Multi-language support
• •Sentiment analysis for urgent detection

End of SKILL.md

Total Lines: ~340 (Under 500 ✓) Structure: Progressive disclosure with reference files Status: Ready for testing