Drive an email inbox to zero through a computer-use or tool-using agent — triage every message into act/delegate/defer/archive with drafts prepared, never a send. Use when asked to get my inbox to zero, triage my email hands-on, process my inbox for me, or run inbox zero. Produces the triage ledger, prepared reply drafts, and an approval-gated action plan the agent then executes read-mostly.
Start a fresh conversation. Replace the highlighted placeholders.
Use inbox-zero-operator to triage [inbox scope] using [my role and priorities] and [standing rules and delegation targets], then show me the ledger, unsent drafts, and action plan for approval before any mailbox changes.
Required inputs
[inbox scope]
[my role and priorities]
[standing rules and delegation targets]
User-approved starter prompt based on a pinned source version; check current skill requirements before running. Task evidence ↗
SKILL.md
name: inbox-zero-operatordescription: "Drive an email inbox to zero through a computer-use or tool-using agent — triage every message into act/delegate/defer/archive with drafts prepared, never a send. Use when asked to get my inbox to zero, triage my email hands-on, process my inbox for me, or run inbox zero. Produces the triage ledger, prepared reply drafts, and an approval-gated action plan the agent then executes read-mostly."
Inbox Zero Operator Skill
The judgment layer for an agent that can actually touch a mailbox. The thinking half (what deserves you, what doesn't) and the acting half (archive, label, draft) are strictly separated: analysis is free, action is gated, and sending is never on the menu. (For triage-as-advice without tool access, email-triage covers you.)
What This Skill Produces
The triage ledger — every message classified: 🔴 act (needs you) · 🟡 delegate (draft prepared for someone else to own) · 🔵 defer (snooze with a date and reason) · ⚪ archive (with the one-line why)
Prepared drafts — replies written and saved as drafts, never sent
The action plan — the exact archive/label/snooze operations, shown before any are taken
Required Inputs
Ask for these if not provided:
Scope — whole inbox, unread only, or a date range (default: unread, newest 100)
The user's role and current priorities — triage without priorities is sorting, not judgment
Standing rules — senders who always matter, threads to never touch, newsletters policy
Delegation targets — who drafts can be addressed to
Framework: The Triage Pass
Thread-level, not message-level — classify conversations; the latest message decides.
Two-minute drafts — anything answerable in two minutes gets its draft written NOW (saved, unsent), not deferred.
The defer honesty rule — every defer carries a date and what will be different then; "later" without a trigger is denial.
Archive is the default — a message must earn the inbox; when in doubt, archive with a label (recoverable, searchable, gone).
Escalation floor — anything legal, HR-sensitive, or from a name on the standing-rules list is 🔴 regardless of content.
Output Format
Inbox Triage: [scope] — [count] threads
Thread
From
Class
Why (one line)
Action
Drafts prepared: [n] · To archive: [n] · Deferred: [n with dates]
Needs you (the 🔴 list, ranked): …
Quality Checks
Every thread has a class and a one-line why — no silent skips
Every 🟡 has a draft; every 🔵 has a date and trigger
The 🔴 list is ranked and short — if everything needs the user, the triage failed
The action plan was shown and approved before any mailbox mutation
Anti-Patterns
Do not send anything, ever — drafts are the ceiling of this skill's authority
Do not delete — archive with labels; deletion is a human's irreversible call
Do not mark-as-read what you didn't triage — cosmetic zero is lying with a mailbox
Do not defer without a date — that's the pile with extra steps
Execution
For computer-use or tool-using agents with mailbox access (Gmail/Outlook APIs or UI). Runtimes without tools deliver the ledger as a document. Rules per SKILLSPEC.md §5.
Preconditions
The triage ledger above has been produced and explicitly approved by a human — line-item vetoes honored.
Mailbox access is already authenticated; scope (folder/label/date range) is named by the user.
The action plan (exact archive/label/snooze/draft operations) has been displayed and confirmed.
Allowed actions
Archive threads on the approved ⚪ list; apply labels named in the plan.
Snooze/defer threads on the 🔵 list to their approved dates.
Create drafts (never send) for the 🟡 and 🔴 lists as written in the ledger.
Nothing else: no sending, no deleting, no forwarding, no rule/filter creation, no marking-read of untriaged mail, no touching threads outside the approved scope.
Verification
Re-count: inbox scope now contains only 🔴 threads; archived/snoozed counts match the plan exactly.
List every draft created (recipient, subject) back to the user.
Rollback
Archives are reversible: move the labeled threads back to inbox on request.
Stop and ask a human if: a thread changed (new message arrived) after approval, any operation fails, or the mailbox state disagrees with the ledger mid-run.