Zero Inbox - Triage Skill

name: zero-inbox
description: >
  Triages unanswered Slack messages and unread emails. Fetches messages,
  filters for what needs a response, routes to domain-specific skills,
  and drafts replies. Goal: get to inbox zero efficiently.
triggers:
  - zero inbox
  - triage my inbox
  - check my messages
  - what needs my attention

---

MCP connectors

Connector	Purpose
Slack	Read DMs and channel mentions, send replies
Gmail	Read unread emails, draft replies

Slack Triage Routine

Step 1: Fetch Incoming Messages

Fetch all DMs and channel mentions from the last 10 days.

• Use the Slack MCP to read channels and DMs
• Focus on messages that mention the user or are direct messages to them
• Capture: sender, channel, timestamp, message content, thread context

Step 2: Fetch Sent Messages

Fetch the user's own sent messages from the same time period.

• This is needed to identify which conversations are already handled
• Also fetch messages sent by designated proxies (e.g., co-CAO, EA) who may have replied on the user's behalf

Step 3: Filter Unanswered

Compare incoming vs sent. A message is "unanswered" if:

• It was directed at the user (DM or @mention)
• Neither the user nor a designated proxy replied in that thread
• It contains a question, request, or action item (not just a reaction or FYI)
• It is not from a bot or automated notification

Skip messages that are:

• Already answered by the user or a proxy
• Pure informational (no response needed)
• From bots or integrations (unless they require action)
• Older than 10 days (flag these separately as "stale")

Step 4: Present for Review

Present unanswered messages grouped by priority:

## Needs Response (X messages)

### High Priority
[Messages from important contacts, time-sensitive items, blockers]

### Normal Priority
[Standard questions, requests, follow-ups]

### Low Priority / FYI
[Nice-to-respond but not urgent]

### Stale (over 10 days)
[Messages that may need a "sorry for the delay" if still relevant]

For each message, show:

• Sender and channel
• Message preview (first 2 lines)
• Suggested action: reply / acknowledge / delegate / skip

Step 5: Draft Replies

For each message the user wants to respond to:

• Load the email-writer skill for tone and formatting
• Read the full thread for context
• Draft a reply that matches the sender's energy and language
• Present the draft for user review before sending

---

Email Triage Routine

Step 1: Fetch Unread Emails

Fetch unread emails from the inbox.

• Use the email MCP (Gmail, Outlook, etc.)
• Capture: sender, subject, date, preview, labels/folders
• Sort by date (newest first)

Step 2: Detect Domain

For each email, determine which domain it belongs to:

Signal	Domain	Route To
From a candidate, job board, or contains resume	HR	hr-screening skill
From a prospect, contains pricing/demo request	Sales	head-of-sales skill
From an existing customer, support request	Customer Success	customer-success skill
From an investor, board member, or financial	Finance	investor-update skill
From a partner, agency, or collaboration request	Partnerships	manual review
Internal team communication	Internal	reply directly
Newsletter, marketing, automated	Noise	archive or skip
Unknown or ambiguous	Other	present to user for routing

Step 3: Call Domain Skill

Route each email to the appropriate domain skill for handling:

• HR emails: load hr-screening skill for candidate evaluation
• Sales emails: load head-of-sales skill for pipeline management
• CS emails: load customer-success skill for follow-up drafting
• For all domains: the skill handles context gathering and draft creation

Step 4: Act

For each email, take the appropriate action:

Action	When
Draft reply	The email needs a response. Draft via email-writer skill.
Archive	Newsletter, notification, or FYI that needs no action.
Flag for user	Requires a decision only the user can make.
Delegate	Can be handled by someone else. Note who and why.
Snooze	Not urgent, but needs attention later. Suggest a date.

Step 5: Summary

Present a summary at the end:

## Inbox Triage Complete

- Emails processed: [X]
- Replies drafted: [X] (awaiting your review)
- Archived: [X]
- Flagged for you: [X]
- Delegated: [X]
- Snoozed: [X]

### Drafts Ready for Review
[List each draft with recipient and one-line summary]

### Needs Your Decision
[List items that require user input]

---

Domain Routing Map

Domain	Skill	Trigger Signals
HR / Recruiting	hr-screening	Candidate names, job applications, interview scheduling, resume attachments
Sales / Pipeline	head-of-sales	Pricing questions, demo requests, prospect domains, CRM contacts
Customer Success	customer-success	Existing customer domains, support tickets, feature requests, renewal mentions
Finance / Investors	investor-update	Investor names, board meeting, financial reports, fundraising
Product / Engineering	product-manager	Bug reports, feature requests from internal team, GitHub notifications
Content / Marketing	cmo	Press inquiries, collaboration requests, podcast invites
Partnerships	Manual review	Agency outreach, co-marketing proposals, integration requests
Internal	email-writer	Team members, internal tools, calendar invites
Noise	Auto-archive	Newsletters, marketing blasts, automated notifications

---

Guardrails

1. Never send a reply without user approval. Always present drafts for review first.
2. Never archive emails that might need a response. When in doubt, flag for user.
3. Never share email content across domains. A customer email doesn't go to the sales skill.
4. Respect language. Match the language of the incoming message in replies.
5. Flag sensitive items. Legal threats, escalations, or anything unusual gets flagged immediately, not auto-drafted.
6. Don't draft for strangers. If the sender is unknown and the email looks suspicious, flag it rather than drafting a reply.
7. Time-sensitive items first. If something has a deadline within 24 hours, surface it at the top regardless of domain.
8. Track patterns. If the same type of email keeps coming in (e.g., repeated support questions), note it in _insights.md as a potential process improvement.

Self-improvement

After the CAO reviews an inbox triage batch:

1. If the CAO overrides a classification (e.g. moves an email from "archive" to "urgent"), note the pattern in admin/_insights.md
2. If she changes a draft reply before sending, diff what was drafted vs what she sent - update the email-writer skill if the pattern is voice-related
3. If the routing table is wrong (e.g. a domain was assigned to the wrong agent), update the Domain Routing Map section
4. If new email patterns emerge (e.g. a new type of inbound that needs its own category), add them to the classification guide