Inbox Management

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-managementThe 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: Ongoing Gmail inbox management via scheduled runs. Archives known noise, flags urgent items, drafts replies in-thread (never auto-sends), and catches stale follow-ups. Empty polls spend no model tokens. Starts in…

---
name: inbox-management
description: Ongoing Gmail inbox management via scheduled runs. Archives known noise, flags urgent items, drafts replies in-thread (never auto-sends), and catches stale follow-ups. Empty polls spend no model tokens. Starts in flag-only mode.
compatibility: "Designed for Vellum personal assistants"
metadata:
  icon: assets/icon.svg
  emoji: "📬"
  vellum:
    category: "email"
    display-name: "Inbox Management"
    includes: ["gmail", "schedule"]
    activation-hints:
      - "When the user explicitly asks for ongoing or automatic inbox management"
      - "When the user wants periodic email triage, archiving, or follow-up tracking on a schedule"
      - "When the user says 'manage my inbox automatically' or 'set up inbox management'"
    avoid-when:
      - "When the user wants a one-time inbox cleanup (use inbox-cleanup instead)"
      - "When the user wants a quick inbox check, summary, or unread count"
      - "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 Management Skill

Companion to `inbox-cleanup`. Cleanup drains the backlog once. **Management keeps the inbox clean on a schedule**: archiving noise, flagging urgents, drafting replies, and catching stale follow-ups.

Runs as a **script-mode schedule**. Each fire polls Gmail deterministically. An empty poll (no new inbox mail and no due follow-up) exits without waking the assistant, so leftover Stage 0 mail is not re-judged every few hours. The assistant runs only when the poll attaches a digest.

> **Default posture:** high recall on noise archiving, high precision on user interruption. Archive aggressively on known-safe patterns. Ping sparingly. Never auto-send a reply. When unsure, flag instead of archiving.

---

## Trust Ladder

A single wrong archive of an important email kills trust. Earn autonomy in stages:

| Stage                      | Archive behavior                                                                                                                                         | Draft behavior                                | Alerts              |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------- |
| **0. Flag-only** (default) | Nothing archived. All archive calls use `--dry-run`. Summary shows what _would_ be archived for user review.                                             | Drafts created in-thread, listed in summary.  | Urgent scan active. |
| **1. Standard**            | Silent archive of known-safe categories only (calendar responses, no-reply, newsletters). Cold outreach still flagged. Batches > 1,000 ops auto-dry-run. | Drafts created in-thread, summarized per run. | Urgent scan active. |
| **2. Aggressive**          | Above + cold outreach archived by LLM judgment (default archive, flag only when relevant to user). All ops logged for reversal.                          | Same as Stage 1.                              | Urgent scan active. |

**Graduation requires the user to explicitly say "graduate me" or equivalent.** Do not infer from silence.

**Never auto-send a draft. No toggle for this rule.**

---

## Setup (one-time, before enabling schedule)

### 0. Informed consent

Before anything else, explain what the user is opting into. Be direct:

> "Here's what inbox management does: on a schedule you choose (e.g. every few hours on weekdays), I'll scan new mail and take action based on a trust level you control. Quiet polls (no new mail) do not use the model.
>
> **Stage 0 (the default starting point):** I watch but don't touch. I'll tell you what I _would_ archive among new mail, show you draft replies I wrote, and flag urgent items, but I won't move or delete anything. This lasts until you explicitly tell me to graduate.
>
> **Stage 1 (you opt in):** I silently archive obvious noise (calendar responses, no-reply senders, newsletters). Everything else is still flagged for your review.
>
> **Stage 2 (you opt in):** I also archive cold outreach using my judgment. Higher autonomy, slightly higher risk of a wrong call.
>
> At every stage: I will never send an email on your behalf. I create drafts for you to review. You can pause or stop this at any time."

Wait for explicit confirmation before proceeding. If the user hesitates or asks clarifying questions, answer them. Don't rush past this step.

### 1. Stage

Default to **Stage 0** (flag-only). When the user (directly or via a caller like
`admin-copilot` setup) has made an explicit, informed choice to start higher,
honor it: **Stage 1** (silent archive of known-safe categories only) or **Stage 2**
(also cold outreach by judgment). Do not infer a higher stage from enthusiasm;
require an explicit choice made after the §0 consent framing for that stage. Store
the chosen stage via `gmail-prefs.ts --action set-management-config --stage <0|1|2>`.

### 2. Safe-list

Ask for senders/domains that may look like outreach but matter. Seed categories:

- Financial advisors, lawyers, accountants
- Active investors and VCs
- Customer domains
- Family/personal contacts
- Paid subscriptions (billing addresses)

Store via `gmail-prefs.ts --action add-safelist --emails "..."`. The safe-list is shared with `inbox-cleanup`.

### 3. Interrupt threshold

Default urgency bar for alerts:

- Customer at risk (churn, renewal, escalation)
- Investor/board with time-sensitive ask
- Legal/compliance deadline
- Team member flagging urgency
- Explicit markers ("EOD today", "ASAP", "urgent") from real humans

Store threshold level via `gmail-prefs.ts --action set-management-config --interrupt-threshold "default"`.

### 4. Schedule

Do not create an execute-mode job. Empty inbox fires must not start an agent turn. This skill only sets up new script-mod

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.

1. 2026-10-14
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 19bc86343b63

Questions about Inbox Management

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

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