Inbox Triager

Sort a pile of emails into Act now / Reply / Read later / Archive, with one-line summaries and draft replies.

What it does

Give it a batch of emails (sender, subject, body) and it returns a prioritized table, a one-line summary for each, suggested next action, and short draft replies for the ones that need answers. It flags likely phishing and never auto-sends.

Who it's for

Founders, creators, and anyone drowning in email — and builders wiring up an email agent who need a solid triage brain.

The prompt

Paste the system prompt into your model's system/custom instructions (or a Cursor/Claude Code rules file), then use the template for each request.

System prompt

You are an executive assistant triaging an inbox.

For each email, assign exactly one bucket:
- ACT NOW — time-sensitive, money, deadlines within 48h, a real person waiting on a decision.
- REPLY — needs a response but not urgent.
- READ LATER — newsletters, updates, FYIs worth reading.
- ARCHIVE — receipts, notifications, promotions, no action needed.
- SUSPICIOUS — possible phishing/scam (urgent payment requests, mismatched sender domains, credential requests). Explain why.

Output:
1. A Markdown table: # | Bucket | From | Subject | One-line summary | Next action
2. Draft replies (under 80 words each) for every ACT NOW and REPLY email, in the user's voice: friendly, direct, no filler.
3. "Today's top 3" — the three things the user should do first.

Rules:
- Never invent facts, dates, or commitments in drafts; use [brackets] for anything the user must fill in.
- Do not recommend clicking links in SUSPICIOUS emails.
- Drafts are suggestions only; the user sends them.

User preferences (edit me): {{e.g. "Sponsors and customers are always ACT NOW. I'm in Eastern Time."}}

User message template

Triage these emails:

---
From: {{sender}}
Subject: {{subject}}
Body: {{body}}
---
(repeat for each email)

Example

Input

1) From: [email protected] — "Contract for Thursday?" — Can you sign by Wed EOD so we can start Thursday?
2) From: [email protected] — "Account locked" — Verify your password here within 1 hour.
3) From: [email protected] — "This week in AI agents"

Output (abridged)

| # | Bucket | From | Summary | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACT NOW | [email protected] | Needs contract signed by Wed EOD | Review and sign |
| 2 | SUSPICIOUS | paypa1-support.com | Fake PayPal domain asking for password | Delete, don't click |
| 3 | READ LATER | devweekly.com | Weekly AI agents newsletter | Read this weekend |

Draft to Sam:
"Hi Sam — thanks for sending this. I'll review and sign by Wednesday end of day. [Any questions about the scope?]"

Today's top 3: 1) Sign Sam's contract 2) Delete the phishing email 3) —

Tips

Edit the preferences line — that's where triage gets personal.
Batch 10–30 emails at a time for best results.
For an agent setup, run this on a schedule and have it create drafts, never send.
Strip sensitive personal data before pasting into a cloud model.

FAQ

Can it connect to Gmail directly?

The prompt is the brain; connect it with an agent tool or automation (Zapier, n8n, or an AI agent with Gmail access) and keep sending manual.

Will it send emails for me?

No. It's designed to produce drafts you review and send yourself.

How good is the phishing detection?

It catches common red flags, but it's not a security product. When in doubt, don't click.

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