/email-triage

Triage inbox emails, classify by urgency, and batch action them (delete, move, draft reply, skip).

Accounts

Two accounts are configured in himalaya. Use -a <name> to target a specific account:

When no --account is specified, triage both accounts sequentially (harlanzw first, then hotmail). The hotmail account uses OAuth2 via Thunderbird's public client ID; if the token expires, re-auth with ortie auth get -a hotmail.

Gotchas

• IMAP connection timeouts -- himalaya connects over IMAP. If commands hang, the connection may have dropped. Retry once before reporting failure.
• Hotmail OAuth2 token expiry -- the hotmail access token expires after ~1 hour. If you get a keyring/auth error, run ortie auth get -a hotmail to re-authenticate, then re-store tokens with the himalaya keyring attributes (service=himalaya-cli, username=hotmail-oauth2-access-token/refresh-token, target=default, application=rust-keyring).
• Envelope IDs are session-volatile -- IDs change after moves/deletes. Always action emails in a single pass; do not cache IDs across steps.
• Delete = move to Trash -- himalaya message delete moves to Trash unless already in Trash. Safe for triage.
• template send is irreversible -- never send a reply without explicit user confirmation. Always save drafts first using himalaya template save -f Drafts.
• Large inboxes -- default page size is 50. If inbox has hundreds of unread, triage in batches using --page and --page-size.
• Folder names with spaces/slashes -- quote folder names in commands: himalaya message move "Finance/Stripe" 1234.

Data Storage

Track triage sessions:

echo "$(date -I) FOLDER TOTAL DELETED MOVED REPLIED SKIPPED" >> "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}/email-triage-history.log"

On subsequent runs, show time since last triage.

Available Folders

These are the known folders for routing:

Workflow

Step 0: Parse arguments and check last triage

• If $ARGUMENTS provided, parse:
  • --account <name> = triage a specific account (default: both)
  • --folder <name> = triage a specific folder (default: INBOX)
  • --unread = only unread messages (filter: not flag seen)
  • --limit <n> = override page size (default: 50)
  • --from <pattern> = filter by sender
  • --follow-ups = switch to follow-up detection mode (see Step 8)
• Check ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}/email-triage-history.log for last triage timestamp
• If --follow-ups flag is set, skip to Step 8

Step 1: Fetch envelopes

himalaya envelope list -o json -s <limit> -f <folder> [QUERY]

Query examples:

• Unread only: not flag seen
• Recent: after 2026-03-20
• From specific sender: from github

Step 2: Parallel batch classification

Split envelopes into batches of 10, one parallel haiku classification agent per batch; classification is cheap mechanical extraction, so haiku is the right tier. For 10 or fewer envelopes, use a single agent.

Each agent receives a batch of envelopes (id, subject, from, date, flags) and classifies using references/heuristics.md, returning a JSON array conforming exactly to this schema (reject and re-run any batch with malformed entries):

interface EmailClassification {
  id: string
  urgency: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
  category: 'client' | 'finance' | 'notification' | 'newsletter' | 'spam' | 'personal' | 'project' | 'automated'
  suggestedAction: 'reply' | 'move' | 'delete' | 'skip'
  suggestedFolder: string
  reason: string
}

Step 3: Read high-urgency emails

For any email classified as urgency 4-5 or suggestedAction: reply, read the full message body to provide better context:

himalaya message read <id> -f <folder> --no-headers

Read only the bodies you need to decide the action. Spawn the reads in parallel.

Step 4: Present triage table

Display merged results sorted by urgency (descending):

Group by suggested action:

1. Delete (spam, expired promos, automated noise)
2. Move (sorted by destination folder)
3. Reply needed (show message preview)
4. Skip (keep in inbox, needs manual attention)

Step 5: User confirmation

Present action summary and ask for confirmation:

📬 Triage Summary:
  Delete: 12 emails
  Move: 8 emails (3→Notifications/GitHub, 2→Finance/Stripe, 3→Clients/inbound)
  Reply: 2 emails
  Skip: 3 emails

Proceed? You can also:
  - Remove specific IDs from actions: "skip 5129, 5130"
  - Change action for an ID: "move 5129 to Finance/Stripe"
  - "delete all newsletters"
  - "show me 5128" to read a specific email

Allow iterating until user says "go", "proceed", or "do it".

Step 6: Execute actions

Execute in this order (to handle ID volatility):

1. Draft replies first -- for each reply email:

   himalaya template reply <id> -f <folder>

   Show the generated template. Let user edit the body. Save to Drafts:

   himalaya template save -f Drafts "<edited template>"

   Only send if user explicitly says "send" for that reply.

2. Move messages -- batch by destination:

   himalaya message move "<target_folder>" <id1> <id2> <id3> -f <folder>

3. Delete messages -- batch delete:

   himalaya message delete <id1> <id2> <id3> -f <folder>

Step 7: Log and summarize

echo "$(date -I) <folder> <total> <deleted> <moved> <replied> <skipped>" >> "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA}/email-triage-history.log"

Show final summary with counts. If replies were drafted, remind user to review Drafts folder.

Step 8: Follow-up detection (when --follow-ups or trigger words used)

Detect sent emails that never got a reply. Useful for chasing up clients, support tickets, etc.

1. Fetch recent sent emails:

   himalaya envelope list -o json -s <limit> -f Sent after <date>

   Default: last 14 days. Override with --since <yyyy-mm-dd>.

2. For each sent email, check for replies in INBOX: Search for responses by matching subject (strip "Re: "/"Fwd: " prefix) and recipient:

   himalaya envelope list -o json -f INBOX subject "<stripped subject>" from "<original recipient>"

   Also check Trash and relevant subfolders in case the reply was already triaged.

   Spawn parallel haiku agents in batches of 10 to do this matching; use a single agent for 10 or fewer sent emails.

3. Filter to unanswered only -- emails where no matching reply envelope was found.

4. Classify staleness:

   Days since sent	Status	Suggested action
   1-3	Fresh	skip, too early to chase
   4-7	Due	gentle follow-up
   8-14	Overdue	direct follow-up
   15+	Stale	flag for manual decision, may no longer be relevant

5. Present follow-up table:

   To	Subject	Sent	Days ago	Status	Action
   client@example.com	Invoice #42	2026-03-18	7	Due	draft follow-up
   support@github.com	Abuse report	2026-03-15	10	Overdue	draft follow-up

6. User picks which to chase -- for each selected email:

   himalaya template reply <original_sent_id> -f Sent

   Pre-fill with a polite follow-up nudge referencing the original subject. Save to Drafts. Only send on explicit confirmation.