Email Triage

Email Triage

Scan Joel's email inboxes (Front), triage conversations by importance, archive noise, and surface items needing attention. All operations use the joelclaw email CLI.

Canonical Email Interface

• Front is canonical for all email triage in joelclaw.
• Never use `gog gmail` for triage — bricks@aihero.dev, VIP threads, and all inboxes are in Front.
• Use gog for Google Workspace operations (Calendar, Drive, Docs, etc.), not email triage.

Front Search API Reference

The search endpoint is GET /conversations/search/{url_encoded_query}. Results sorted by last activity date (not configurable).

Valid is: statuses

open, archived, assigned, unassigned, snoozed, trashed, unreplied, waiting, resolved

There is NO `is:unread`. Use is:unreplied for conversations where the last message was inbound.

Status conflicts (cannot combine):

• archived ↔ open ↔ trashed ↔ snoozed (mutually exclusive)
• assigned ↔ unassigned (mutually exclusive)

Date filters — UNIX TIMESTAMPS ONLY

• before:<unix_seconds> — messages/comments created before this timestamp
• after:<unix_seconds> — messages/comments created after this timestamp
• during:<unix_seconds> — messages/comments on same day as timestamp

Front does NOT accept `before:YYYY-MM-DD` — always convert to unix seconds. The CLI --before and --after flags accept YYYY-MM-DD and convert automatically.

Recipient filters

• from:<handle> — sender (email, social handle)
• to:<handle> — recipient (includes to/cc/bcc)
• cc:<handle>, bcc:<handle> — specific fields
• recipient:<handle> — any role (from, to, cc, bcc)
• Multiple same-type filters use OR logic: from:a@x.com from:b@x.com → either
• Different filter types use AND logic: from:a@x.com to:b@x.com → both

Entity filters (use IDs, not names)

• inbox:<inbox_id> — e.g. inbox:inb_41w25
• tag:<tag_id> — e.g. tag:tag_13o8r1
• assignee:<teammate_id> — e.g. assignee:tea_hjx3
• participant:<teammate_id>, author:<teammate_id>, mention:<teammate_id>, commenter:<teammate_id>
• contact:<contact_id>, link:<link_id>
• custom_field:"<name>=<value>"

Free text

Bare words search subject + body. Phrases in quotes: "exact phrase".

No negation

Front search has no negation — no -from:, no NOT, no exclusion operators.

Max 15 filters per query.

CLI Commands

Scan inbox

joelclaw email inbox                          # default: is:open, 50 results
joelclaw email inbox -n 100                   # more results
joelclaw email inbox -q "is:open is:unreplied"  # awaiting reply
joelclaw email inbox --from notifications@github.com  # by sender
joelclaw email inbox --before 2026-02-01      # auto-converts to unix ts
joelclaw email inbox --after 2026-01-15       # auto-converts to unix ts
joelclaw email inbox --page-token "TOKEN"     # pagination (from previous response)

Flags can be combined:

joelclaw email inbox --from matt@totaltypescript.com --after 2026-02-01 -n 20

Archive single

joelclaw email archive --id cnv_xxx

Archive multiple by ID (fast, parallel, batched)

joelclaw email archive-ids --ids cnv_abc,cnv_def,cnv_ghi

Runs 10 concurrent requests. Best for triaging a page of results — grab the IDs of noise and blast them.

Archive bulk by query (dry-run by default)

joelclaw email archive-bulk -q "is:open from:notifications@github.com"           # dry run — shows count + sample
joelclaw email archive-bulk -q "is:open from:notifications@github.com" --confirm  # execute
joelclaw email archive-bulk -q "is:open from:notifications@github.com" --limit 100 --confirm  # batch size

Read a conversation

joelclaw email read --id cnv_xxx
joelclaw email read --id cnv_xxx --refresh   # bypass local cache

joelclaw email read uses a local thread + attachment cache (default TTL: 60 minutes). Cache path: ~/.cache/joelclaw/email/. Use --refresh to bypass cache and force a fresh fetch from Front.

Read output shape + jq patterns

joelclaw email read returns:

result.conversation: {id, subject, status, from: {name, email}, date, tags}
result.messages[]: {id, from: {name, email}, date, is_inbound, body_preview (or body), attachments[]}
result.attachment_summary: {total, cached, metadata_only, cache_errors}
result.cache: {hit, source, cache_path, age_seconds, ttl_seconds}

Message content is currently in body_preview, with a migration to body underway. Treat both as valid for backwards compatibility.

Correct extraction pattern (current field):

joelclaw email read --id cnv_xxx 2>&1 | jq '.result.messages[] | {from: .from.email, date: .date, body: .body_preview}'

Backwards/forwards-compatible extraction pattern:

joelclaw email read --id cnv_xxx 2>&1 | jq '.result.messages[] | {from: .from.email, date: .date, body: (.body // .body_preview)}'

List inboxes

joelclaw email inboxes

Triage Workflow

1. Load inbox state

joelclaw email inbox -n 50

Parse the JSON result. Each conversation has: id, subject, from (name + email), date, status, tags.

Useful follow-up queries:

joelclaw email inbox -q "is:open is:unreplied" -n 50   # awaiting reply
joelclaw email inbox --before 2026-01-01 -n 50          # old stuff to clean
joelclaw email inbox --from notifications@github.com    # CI noise check

2. Categorize using inference

Read each conversation and decide its category based on sender, subject, and context. Do NOT use hardcoded domain lists. Use judgment:

• Reply needed — Real people expecting a response. Colleagues, collaborators, friends, business contacts with personal messages. Look for reply threads (Re:), questions, invitations to specific meetings, requests.
• Read later — Interesting content worth saving. Newsletters Joel subscribes to intentionally (The Information, Astral Codex Ten, Lenny's Newsletter), industry news, technical deep-dives.
• Actionable — Requires action but not a reply. Bills, security alerts, expiring trials, tax documents, delivery updates for real orders, calendar invites needing RSVP.
• Archive — No value. Marketing spam, promotional offers, cold outreach, duplicate notifications, resolved alerts, automated reports nobody reads, vendor upsells.

3. Present triage summary

Organize findings for Joel. Lead with what matters:

## 🔴 Reply needed (N)
- **Name** — Subject (why it needs a reply)

## ⚡ Actionable (N)
- **Sender** — Subject (what action)

## 📖 Read later (N)
- **Source** — Subject

## 🗑️ Archive candidates (N)
- Count by type (e.g., "14 marketing, 8 CI failures, 5 duplicate notifications")

4. Execute decisions

Fastest path for noise: scan a page, collect noise IDs, use archive-ids:

joelclaw email archive-ids --ids cnv_aaa,cnv_bbb,cnv_ccc,cnv_ddd

For sender-based cleanup: use archive-bulk with from: filter:

joelclaw email archive-bulk -q "is:open from:notifications@github.com" --limit 100 --confirm

Rate limiting: Front allows ~50 req/s. If archiving large batches (>200), add pauses between batches or expect 429s. The CLI handles batching for archive-ids (10 concurrent), but archive-bulk iterates page-by-page and may hit limits on very large sets.

Read before deciding:

joelclaw email read --id cnv_xxx

Key Context

• Joel has 8 Front inboxes across joel@egghead.io, joelhooks@gmail.com, joel@skillrecordings.com, joel@badass.dev, joel.hooks@vercel.com, LinkedIn, DMs, and Inngest
• joelclaw email inboxes lists them all with IDs
• Joel's teammate ID: tea_hjx3
• The CLI handles Front API auth automatically via secrets lease front_api_token
• Draft-then-approve for replies — never send directly
• Front search results are eventually consistent — recently archived items may still appear in search for a few minutes
• Pagination: responses include next_page_token when more results exist; pass via --page-token
• [aih] subject prefix indicates AI Hero project threads via bricks@aihero.dev Google Group. Key participants: Alex Hillman (alex@indyhall.org), Matt Pocock (mattpocockvoice@gmail.com), Amy Hoy (team@stackingthebricks.com). Treat as VIP: always surface, never archive.

Signals for "Reply Needed"

These are heuristics, not rules. Use judgment for each:

• Re: prefix + real person sender (not a bot/noreply)
• [aih] prefix — AI Hero collaboration via bricks@aihero.dev (Alex Hillman, Matt Pocock, Amy Hoy). VIP: always surface, never archive.
• Direct questions in subject line
• Meeting invitations from known contacts
• Threads where Joel was the last sender and someone replied
• Slack notification summaries (may indicate missed conversations worth checking)

Signals for "Archive"

• noreply@, no-reply@, notifications@ senders with no actionable content
• Marketing subject patterns: "LAST chance", "% off", "deal", "unlock", "limited time"
• Duplicate conversations (same subject from same sender — archive all but most recent)
• Resolved monitoring alerts (RESOLVED in subject)
• CI failure notifications older than 24h (stale — either fixed or won't be)
• Cold outreach from unknown senders with sales language

Common Noise Senders (bulk-archive candidates)

These are historically high-volume, low-signal senders. Use archive-bulk with from: filter:

notifications@github.com        — CI failures, dependabot, PR notifications
alerts@alerts.betterstack.com   — resolved uptime alerts
no-reply@is.email.nextdoor.com  — neighborhood spam

Always dry-run first to verify the query matches what you expect.