Inbox Cleanup

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

assistant/CLAUDE.md

assistant/src/approvals/CLAUDE.md

assistant/src/notifications/CLAUDE.md

assistant/src/runtime/CLAUDE.md

gateway/CLAUDE.md

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 19bc86343b63 · 14 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishervellum-ai GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldervellum-ai/vellum-assistant/skills/inbox-cleanupThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceMITAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict19bc86343b63A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 1 day ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Run a high-recall, multi-pass email inbox cleanup. Pattern-based subject queries catch 25x more archivable email than sender scans alone. Includes urgency triage, classification signals, and post-cleanup filter setup.

---
name: inbox-cleanup
description: Run a high-recall, multi-pass email inbox cleanup. Pattern-based subject queries catch 25x more archivable email than sender scans alone. Includes urgency triage, classification signals, and post-cleanup filter setup.
compatibility: "Designed for Vellum personal assistants"
metadata:
  icon: assets/icon.svg
  emoji: "📭"
  vellum:
    category: "email"
    display-name: "Inbox Cleanup"
    includes: ["gmail"]
    activation-hints:
      - "When the user asks to clean up, organize, or triage their email inbox"
      - "When the user wants to archive old or unwanted emails in bulk"
      - "When the user asks to set up email filters to prevent inbox clutter"
    avoid-when:
      - "When the user wants to read, send, or draft a specific email"
      - "When the user is setting up email OAuth or connecting a new provider"
---

# Inbox Cleanup Skill

A playbook for large-scale email inbox cleanup. The core insight: sender-based scans are low-recall. Subject/body pattern queries catch 25x more archivable email. This skill is a multi-pass pipeline built around that insight.

Works with any connected email provider. Adapt query syntax to whatever the provider supports — the strategy (what to search for, how to decide what to archive) is universal.

> **Gmail is a required integration.** It's declared via `includes: ["gmail"]` in the frontmatter so it loads synchronously on activation, not lazily after the preferences form. Load/confirm the Gmail integration the moment this skill activates — before Phase 1 — so a missing or unauthorized connection surfaces up front rather than mid-cleanup.

---

## Phase 1: Preference Capture

Do this before touching anything. Ask the user:

**1. Aggressiveness level**

- _Conservative_ — newsletters with unsubscribe headers + obvious spam only
- _Standard_ — above + cold outreach heuristics (subject patterns, unknown senders)
- _Aggressive_ — above + anything from senders with no prior thread history

**2. Age threshold**
Archive everything older than X days? Common choices: 30 / 60 / 90 days. Or no age filter.

> **First-run scope:** On first invocation, scope to last 30 days or top 3 noise patterns, whichever surfaces faster. Show result, offer to expand. Prove the approach on a fast, visible slice before draining the whole backlog.

**3. VIP senders to protect**
Ask: "Are there any senders that might look like cold outreach but you actually care about? Think: specific individuals at investors, advisors, your lawyer, accountant, recruiters you're actively working with."

Build an explicit keep list. Do not archive anything matching it, ever, regardless of aggressiveness.

**4. Categories to confirm before archiving**
These need a sample + explicit approval before bulk action:

- Financial/billing alerts
- Legal/contracts
- Account suspension notices
- Government/regulatory

---

## Phase 2: Urgency Triage (do this before any archiving)

Scan the inbox first for high-stakes items that should be _surfaced_, not archived. Look for:

| Signal                                                            | Why it matters                                |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| "past due", "overdue", "final notice", "balance due"              | Outstanding invoice — financial consequence   |
| "will be suspended", "account suspension", "service interruption" | Service shutoff — operational consequence     |
| "collections", "case #", "recovery" in sender domain              | Collections agency — credit/legal consequence |
| "signature required", "agreement", "DocuSign pending"             | Legal action needed                           |
| Government TLDs (.gov), "IRS", "state of", "department of"        | Regulatory — can't be skipped                 |

Surface these to the user _before_ running the cleanup. They're easy to miss buried in a big inbox.

---

## Phase 3: The Query Pipeline

Run these passes in order. Each pass should paginate to exhaustion (keep fetching while more results exist). After each pass, **show the user a count + 5 sample subjects** before archiving anything.

### Pass 1: Age-based bulk (biggest catch)

Search for all inbox messages older than the user's age threshold (e.g. 30 days). Typically 50–80% of the archivable backlog. Always show a sample before bulk archiving.

> **Note on result caps:** Some providers cap query results (e.g. ~5,000). If a query returns exactly at the cap, archive that batch and re-run the same query — the next batch will surface. Repeat until it returns fewer than the cap.

### Pass 2: Personalized cold outreach (subject patterns)

Ask the user for their first name and company name, then search for subject lines containing patterns like:

- `[FirstName] -`, `[FirstName],`, `for [FirstName]`, `hi [FirstName]`, `hey [FirstName]`, `[FirstName] |`
- `[CompanyName] -`, `[CompanyName]?`, `for [CompanyName]`, `re: [CompanyName]`, `[CompanyName] AI`

These are the highest-recall patterns for cold outreach and partnership spam. A startup founder's inbox will see the biggest wins here.

### Pass 3: Generic cold outreach phrases

Search for subject lines containing:

- "quick question", "quick note", "checking in"
- "following up", "just following up", "circling back"
- "would love to connect", "15 minutes", "quick call"
- "intro call", "reaching out", "came across your"
- "are you the right person", "happy to hop on"

### Pass 4: No-reply & newsletters

Search for:

- Messages from noreply/no-reply/donotreply sender addresses
- Subject lines containing "unsubscribe", "newsletter", "weekly digest", "monthly digest"

### Pass 5: Calendar noise

Search for subject lines containing:

- "accepted:", "declined:", "tentative:"
- "has accepted", "has declined", "invitation:"

Calendar response confirmations are pure noise. Safe to bulk archive without review.

### Pass 6: Transactional/receipts

Search

Excerpt, first 6,001 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/vellum-ai/vellum-assistant
git -C vellum-assistant checkout 19bc86343b63

Works in

1. 2026-10-14
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 19bc86343b63

Questions about Inbox Cleanup

• github.com/vellum-ai/vellum-assistant/tree/main/skills/inbox-cle — the audited source at commit 19bc86343b63 and every finding aboveObserved · 14 Oct 2026

Spotted something wrong? Report a correction · Methodology