Recipe: Newsletter Cleanup

Audit and prune newsletter subscriptions. Block the unwanted, unsubscribe from the noisy, and enable AI summaries for the ones worth keeping.

Prerequisite: Read the spark base skill for tool reference and filter syntax.

Access level required: triage.

Steps

Step 1: List all newsletters

emails { "folder": "Inbox", "filter": "category:newsletter" }

Review the senders. Look for patterns: senders the user never reads, duplicates, or obsolete subscriptions.

Step 2: Review individual newsletters

For each sender the user wants to evaluate:

thread { "message_id": "<id>" }

Step 3: Remove unwanted subscriptions

For mailing lists with an unsubscribe mechanism:

action { "action_name": "unsubscribe", "message_ids": ["<id>"] }

For senders that should be blocked entirely:

contact-action { "action_name": "blockContact", "emails": ["spammer@example.com"] }

To block an entire domain:

contact-action { "action_name": "blockDomain", "emails": ["example.com"] }

Step 4: Enable AI summaries for keepers

For newsletters the user wants to keep but not read in full:

contact-action { "action_name": "enableAutosummaryForContact", "emails": ["newsletter@example.com"] }

Step 5: Group repetitive senders

For senders that send frequently, group their emails to reduce inbox clutter:

contact-action { "action_name": "groupEmailsFromContact", "emails": ["sender@example.com"] }

Tips

• Start with emails on Inbox filtered to category:newsletter and a page_size of 50 to see a broad list of senders.
• Ask the user which senders they actually read before blocking anything.
• unsubscribe works through the mailing list's unsubscribe mechanism - it's cleaner than blocking.
• blockContact stops all future mail from appearing; blockDomain is more aggressive.
• Auto-summary generates a brief AI summary at the top of each email from that sender - great for digests.
• Grouping (groupEmailsFromContact) collapses repeated messages from the same sender into a single entry.
• Run this recipe periodically (monthly) to keep the newsletter list pruned.