Email Triage Skill

Triage inbox emails with MANDATORY archive receipt logging. Receipts are written to task body concurrently during execution, not after.

CRITICAL: Archive Receipt Requirement

Every archive operation MUST produce a receipt log in the task body.

This is non-negotiable. The user cannot audit or revert archive operations without receipts. Writing receipts to scratchpad is UNACCEPTABLE - scratchpad is ephemeral, task body is persistent.

Receipt Format

markdown

## Archive Receipt Log (N emails)

| #   | Date       | From             | Subject                             |
| --- | ---------- | ---------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| 1   | 2025-11-19 | Email Quarantine | End User Digest: 7 New Messages     |
| 2   | 2025-11-19 | QUT Travel       | Your Travel (#893940) has concluded |
| ... |            |                  |                                     |

All N emails moved to [Archive Folder] folder.

Concurrent Write Pattern

WRONG (batch at end - data loss risk):

code

1. Archive email 1
2. Archive email 2
...
N. Archive email N
N+1. Write all receipts to task body  # If this fails, ALL receipts lost

RIGHT (concurrent - partial receipt on failure):

code

1. Archive email 1 → immediately append receipt to task body
2. Archive email 2 → immediately append receipt to task body
...
N. Archive email N → immediately append receipt to task body

Workflow

Step 1: Bind to Task

MANDATORY: This skill requires a task to write receipts to.

python

# Option A: Use existing task
task_id = "<provided-task-id>"

# Option B: Create new task
result = mcp__plugin_aops-core_task_manager__create_task(
    task_title="Email triage: [date range/criteria]",
    type="task",
    project="<project>",
    tags=["email", "triage"]
)
task_id = result["task"]["id"]

If no task is bound, HALT. Do not proceed without a task ID for receipt logging.

Step 2: Initialize Receipt Log

Before archiving ANY emails, initialize the receipt table header in the task body:

python

mcp__plugin_aops-core_task_manager__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    body="""## Archive Receipt Log

| # | Date | From | Subject |
|---|------|------|---------|"""
)

Step 3: Fetch and Classify Emails

Fetch emails based on criteria:

python

# Recent emails
emails = mcp__outlook__messages_list_recent(limit=50, folder="inbox")

# Or search by criteria
emails = mcp__outlook__messages_search(
    subject="keyword",
    person="sender@example.com",
    is_unread=True
)

Classification categories (semantic, not keyword-based):

Category	Description	Action
Task	Requires action, response, or decision	Create task
FYI	Useful information, no action needed	Read and archive
Skip	Spam, irrelevant, auto-generated noise	Archive immediately

Reply-waiting signals (ALWAYS Task, never FYI):

•"following up", "checking in", "any update", "wanted to touch base"
•"haven't heard back", "just checking", "circling back"
•Questions awaiting answer from a previous thread
•External parties waiting for scheduling, confirmation, or decision
•PhD/collaboration inquiries requesting supervision or meeting

Step 4: User Checkpoint Before Archive

MANDATORY: Get user approval before archiving.

Use AskUserQuestion to present:

•Count of emails per category
•Sample subjects from each category
•Confirmation to proceed with archive

python

AskUserQuestion(
    questions=[{
        "question": "Ready to archive N emails (X Skip, Y FYI)?",
        "header": "Archive",
        "options": [
            {"label": "Archive all", "description": "Proceed with archiving classified emails"},
            {"label": "Review first", "description": "Show me the full list before archiving"},
            {"label": "Cancel", "description": "Do not archive anything"}
        ],
        "multiSelect": False
    }]
)

Step 5: Archive with Concurrent Receipts

For each email to archive:

•Move the email:

python

mcp__outlook__messages_move(
    entry_id=email["entry_id"],
    folder_path="Archive"  # Or user-specified folder
)

•IMMEDIATELY append receipt to task body:

python

mcp__plugin_aops-core_task_manager__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    body=f"| {count} | {email['date']} | {email['from']} | {email['subject']} |"
)

Do NOT batch receipt writes. Each archive operation = immediate receipt append.

Step 6: Finalize Receipt Log

After all emails archived, append summary:

python

mcp__plugin_aops-core_task_manager__update_task(
    id=task_id,
    body=f"\nAll {total_count} emails moved to {folder_name} folder."
)

Batch Processing (Large Volumes)

For 100+ emails, use chunking per [[workflows/batch-processing]]:

Chunking Strategy

•Temporal: By month (e.g., "Nov 2025", "Dec 2025")
•Categorical: By sender domain or type
•Size-based: Fixed chunks of 20-50 emails

Parallel Worker Pattern

Spawn parallel workers, each with the task ID for receipt logging:

python

Task(
    subagent_type="general-purpose",
    prompt=f"""Process Nov 2025 emails for triage.

    Task ID for receipts: {task_id}

    For EACH email archived, IMMEDIATELY append receipt:
    mcp__plugin_aops-core_task_manager__update_task(
        id='{task_id}',
        body='| N | DATE | FROM | SUBJECT |'
    )

    Classification criteria: [criteria]
    Archive folder: Archive
    """,
    run_in_background=True
)

Worker Receipt Responsibility

Each worker is responsible for its own receipts. The supervisor does NOT aggregate receipts after the fact - they are written during execution by each worker.

Error Handling

Error	Response
Archive fails mid-batch	Task body contains partial receipt up to failure point - audit trail preserved
Task update fails	HALT immediately. Log error. Do NOT continue archiving without receipt persistence
Outlook unavailable	HALT. Do not proceed without email access
No task bound	HALT. Create or specify task before any archive operations

Quality Gates

Before marking triage complete:

• All archived emails have receipt entries in task body
• Receipt count matches archive count
• User approved archive operation
• Task body contains final summary with total count and folder

Example Output

Task body after successful triage:

markdown

# Email triage: QUT inbox (Nov 2025 - Feb 2026)

## Archive Receipt Log (188 emails)

| #   | Date       | From                         | Subject                             |
| --- | ---------- | ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------- |
| 1   | 2025-11-19 | Email Quarantine             | End User Digest: 7 New Messages     |
| 2   | 2025-11-19 | QUT Travel                   | Your Travel (#893940) has concluded |
| 3   | 2025-11-18 | QUT DVC Research             | Read and Publish Agreement Update   |
| ... |            |                              |                                     |
| 188 | 2026-02-01 | alerts-noreply@clarivate.com | Web of Science Alert                |

All 188 emails moved to QUT Archive folder.