Workflow
Inbox Triage
Reduce inbox time with prioritized summaries and draft replies.
Overview
Email overload slows down decision-making and wastes valuable time. Claude Code helps you process your inbox efficiently by connecting via MCP servers, identifying priority messages, extracting action items, and drafting contextual replies. Instead of spending hours reading and responding to emails, you can focus on high-value work while Claude handles the initial triage and response drafting.
Use this workflow when returning from vacation, processing daily email volume, preparing for meetings, managing support tickets, or handling high-volume customer communication.
Step-by-step process
Connect email via MCP
Set up an MCP server to give Claude access to your email. Configure permissions carefully to ensure Claude can read and draft but not send without approval.
Define priority senders and topics
Establish rules for what matters most. Identify VIP senders, urgent keywords, and time-sensitive topics that should surface to the top.
Summarize new messages with action items
Have Claude scan unread messages, group by topic or sender, extract key information, and identify what requires your response or action.
Draft replies for approval
For messages requiring responses, have Claude draft appropriate replies based on context and your communication style. Review and edit before sending.
Example prompts
"I have 200+ emails from the past week. First, filter out automated notifications and newsletters. Then prioritize by: 1) customer escalations, 2) internal blockers, 3) partnership opportunities. Summarize the top 20 in a table with sender, subject, urgency, and required action."
"Review overnight emails. Flag anything from our top 10 customers, board members, or containing 'urgent'. For the rest, create a 3-sentence summary of what happened overnight that I should know about."
"Analyze the 15 new support tickets. Categorize by: bug report, feature request, account issue, or documentation question. For bug reports, extract: steps to reproduce, expected vs actual behavior, and user impact level."
"I have a meeting with the sales team in 30 minutes. Find all recent emails from sales@ mentioning deals, blockers, or questions. Summarize the context I need before the meeting."
Expected outputs
Priority summary
Ranked list of emails requiring attention, organized by urgency and sender importance with key context for each
Action list
Extracted tasks and deadlines from your emails, formatted as a checklist with owners and due dates
Draft replies
Pre-written responses matching your tone and style, ready for review and sending with minimal editing
Categorized archive
Organized grouping of informational emails by topic, saving you time while ensuring nothing important is missed
Best practices
Common pitfalls
Granting too much access initially
Solution: Start with read-only, then gradually add draft permissions. Never grant auto-send without explicit approval gates.
Not reviewing drafted replies
Solution: Always read drafts before sending. Claude doesn't have full context on sensitive topics, relationships, or politics.
Over-automating personal communication
Solution: Use triage for high-volume operational emails. Write personal messages to key relationships yourself—authenticity matters.
Pro tips
Create response templates for common scenarios
""Create draft templates for: bug report acknowledgments, feature request thank-yous, and customer escalation responses. Include placeholders for specific details.""
Set up automated morning briefs
""Every weekday at 8am, generate a summary of overnight emails. Send it to me via Slack so I see priorities before opening my inbox.""
Use sentiment analysis for customer emails
""Analyze the tone of customer emails. Flag anything angry or frustrated in red, neutral in yellow, and positive in green. Prioritize angry messages first.""