Inbox Setup

Inbox-Setup — Email Triage Onboarding

Paired with inbox-triage. This skill writes the 7-file knowledge base at ${WORKSPACE}/Email/ that inbox-triage reads on every run. The file contracts (names, sections, fields) MUST match between the two skills exactly. See references/kb_file_contract.md.

Run once (or re-run when business/priorities change). Interview the user about their email patterns, business context, reply style, and priorities. Generate the structured knowledge base in ${WORKSPACE}/Email/ that captures everything inbox-triage needs to process the inbox effectively.

Invocation Triggers

• "set up my inbox"
• "configure inbox triage"
• "set up my email system"
• "configure email triage"
• "build my email knowledge base"
• "initialize email management"
• "set up inbox triage"
• "onboard email triage"

Conduct Discipline

Do NOT generate all files at once. Walk through the 8 sections one at a time. Each section commits its file(s) before moving on. Partial completion (e.g., user drops off mid-interview) still produces a usable partial KB.

Grill-me discipline applies throughout:

• One question per turn. Never bundle. Even across section boundaries.
• "Why I'm asking" on every question — so users can answer well.
• Forcing format where possible. Multi-choice > open-ended.
• Dependency-ordered. Q2 depends on Q1; downstream sections depend on upstream.

See references/grill_me_section_walk.md for the 8-section discipline detail.

Knowledge Base Contract — Files To Produce

Exactly these files at ${WORKSPACE}/Email/:

The contract is identical to what inbox-triage expects — see references/kb_file_contract.md for the full spec.

Stop Condition (Full Interview)

~25–31 questions total across the 8 sections (depending on skip-logic). Hard ceiling: 35 questions including all sub-clarifications. Section 4 (Evaluation Framework) is skipped entirely when Section 1 surfaced no opportunity-email category, dropping the total by 6 questions and the rate-card file. After Section 8's confirmation + handoff message, intake is closed — never re-open it. To change preferences later, the user re-runs the skill (which detects existing files and asks per-file: replace / merge / skip). The grill-me one-at-a-time rule applies across section boundaries: do NOT batch questions even when moving from S{n} to S{n+1}.

Section 1: The Big Picture

Six grill-me questions, one at a time:

• S1.Q1: "What do you do? Give me your role and business in 1–2 sentences. Why I'm asking: Context shapes what email patterns to expect — a solo creator's inbox looks nothing like an enterprise PM's."
• S1.Q2: "What dominates your inbox? Pick the top 1–2: sales pitches / client work / internal team / newsletters / customer support / financial / other. Why I'm asking: Dominant categories drive the taxonomy."
• S1.Q3: "Rough volume split — e.g., '60% business inquiries, 20% ops, 20% noise'. Why I'm asking: The split tells me where to focus triage effort."
• S1.Q4: "Which email address(es) should triage cover? Why I'm asking: If multiple, I'll set up per-address taxonomies."
• S1.Q5: "Run frequency: once daily / 2x daily / 3x daily / on-demand only? Why I'm asking: Drives the default search window in triage (9h overlap for 2x/day)."
• S1.Q6: "Anyone helping manage email — assistant, VA, team — or solo? Why I'm asking: Persona handling differs for delegated inboxes."

Action: Build mental model. Do NOT write files yet. Note whether opportunity emails are a category (drives S4 skip-logic).

Section 2: Email Categories

Propose 5–7 categories based on Section 1 — pre-recommend a subset, not the whole template menu:

• New Opportunities
• Active Conversations
• Action Required
• Financial
• Important/Personal
• Informational
• Ignore/Low Priority

Then three forcing questions, one at a time:

• S2.Q1: "Here's my proposed taxonomy: [list]. Does this match your inbox reality — yes / mostly / no? Why I'm asking: If 'no', I need to redo the taxonomy before any other section makes sense."
• S2.Q2: "Missing categories? List them. (Skip if none.) Why I'm asking: Missing categories produce uncategorized emails downstream, which hurts triage quality."
• S2.Q3: "Which category takes the MOST time per email? Why I'm asking: That's where draft-reply effort needs to focus most."

Action: Generate email-taxonomy.md with categories, signals (for each: trigger phrases / sender patterns / subject markers), and default actions per category.

Section 3: Reply Style & Voice

Six grill-me questions plus the critical sample request:

• S3.Q1: "Register: formal / casual / in-between? Why I'm asking: Calibrates default voice; we'll refine from samples next."
• S3.Q2: "Three communication pet peeves — phrases you hate, openings you avoid. Why I'm asking: I treat these as forbidden tokens in drafts."
• S3.Q3: "Phrases or sign-offs you always use — list as many as come to mind. Why I'm asking: These are your voice fingerprints."
• S3.Q4: "Different persona for different contexts — e.g., assistant replies as you? Why I'm asking: Persona context changes pronoun + signature handling."
• S3.Q5: "Typical reply length — one-liner / short paragraph / longer? Why I'm asking: Length is the easiest voice signal to get wrong."
• S3.Q6: "Hard rules — never X / always Y? (E.g., never emojis, always reply within 24h, never take calls without context.) Why I'm asking: Hard rules are enforced as non-negotiable in every draft."

S3.SAMPLES (the critical highest-quality input)

Paste 3–5 real sent emails from your inbox.

Why I'm asking: Self-description of voice is unreliable. Real samples are the best signal — I'll analyze them for voice patterns that supplement everything above. Use scripts/voice_sample_analyzer.py to extract patterns deterministically.

If user runs a business: also ask about media kits, rate sheets, standard pitches, repeated replies.

Action: Generate email-patterns.md with tone description (with do/don't examples), persona rules, templates, signatures, hard rules. See references/voice_calibration.md for the sample-extraction discipline.

Section 4: Evaluation Framework (Conditional)

Skip-logic: only run this section if Section 1 surfaced opportunity emails as a meaningful inbox category. Otherwise jump straight to Section 5.

Six grill-me questions, one at a time:

• S4.Q1: "First thing you check when pitched something — give me your gut filter. Why I'm asking: That's the top of the decision tree."
• S4.Q2: "Three instant deal-breakers — things that make you decline immediately. Why I'm asking: These become PASS-auto signals."
• S4.Q3: "Three things that make you immediately interested. Why I'm asking: These become TAKE-IT signals."
• S4.Q4: "Standard pricing / terms — or 'no fixed pricing' if you negotiate every time. Why I'm asking: If you have a rate card, I'll generate one; if not, I'll skip."
• S4.Q5: "Negotiation posture: firm / flexible / depends on context? Why I'm asking: Drives draft tone on counter-offers."
• S4.Q6: "VIP senders or organizations that always get engagement — list names or domains. Why I'm asking: VIP list bypasses normal PASS filters."

Action: Generate evaluation-framework.md (decision tree + recommendation categories + VIP list) AND rate-card.md if pricing exists.