Inbox

AI-powered email triage, categorization, and draft management for Gmail.

What Does Inbox Zero Do?

The Inbox namespace is your frontline defense against email overload. It connects to Gmail via the gws CLI tool, scans your unread messages, and categorizes each one using an Eisenhower matrix-based priority system. The result is a structured summary that tells you exactly which emails need your attention and which can be archived.

In its default mode, Inbox delivers a fast single-agent triage summary -- category counts, top urgent emails, and archive candidates. When you activate team mode with --team, a full 4-agent pipeline takes over: a Triage Agent categorizes, an Action Agent creates Notion tasks, a Response Agent drafts replies, and an Archive Agent flags low-priority messages for cleanup. The pipeline writes action items to the [FOS] Tasks database (with Type = "Email Task") and drafts to the [FOS] Content database (with Type = "Email Draft").

The Inbox namespace also includes a companion command for pushing approved drafts back to Gmail. Once you review AI-generated drafts in Notion and mark them "Approved," the drafts-approved command creates real Gmail drafts ready for you to review and send.

Required Tools

Tool	Required	Purpose
gws CLI (Gmail)	Yes	Fetch unread emails, create Gmail drafts
Notion CLI	Optional	Write tasks to [FOS] Tasks, drafts to [FOS] Content (team mode)

Commands

`/founder-os:inbox:triage`

What it does -- Scans your Gmail inbox for unread emails within a configurable time window, categorizes each message (action required, waiting on, FYI, newsletter, promotions), and assigns a 1-5 priority score using the Eisenhower matrix. In team mode, it also extracts action items, drafts replies, and recommends archiving.

Usage:

/founder-os:inbox:triage
/founder-os:inbox:triage --hours=8
/founder-os:inbox:triage --max=50
/founder-os:inbox:triage --team
/founder-os:inbox:triage --team --hours=48

Example scenario:

It's Monday morning and you have 87 unread emails from the weekend. You run /founder-os:inbox:triage --team --hours=72 to process the full weekend backlog. The triage agent categorizes everything, the action agent creates 6 Notion tasks for items that need follow-up, the response agent drafts 4 replies for urgent threads, and the archive agent flags 44 newsletters and promotions for cleanup. You get a full pipeline report in under a minute.

What you get back:

In default mode, a structured summary with category counts, the top 5 most urgent emails (priority 4-5) with subject, sender, and recommended action, archive candidate count, and quick stats (total processed, needs response count).

In team mode, a full pipeline report with triage summary, action items created in Notion, drafts generated with confidence scores, archive recommendations, and a list of emails needing manual attention.

Flags:

--team -- Activate the full 4-agent pipeline (Triage, Action, Response, Archive agents)
--hours=N -- Hours to look back for unread emails (default: 24)
--max=N -- Maximum number of emails to process (default: 100)

`/founder-os:inbox:drafts-approved`

What it does -- Scans your Notion [FOS] Content database for email drafts with Status = "Approved" and Type = "Email Draft", then creates corresponding Gmail drafts using the gws CLI. Each approved entry needs a recipient, subject, and body. On success, the Notion status updates to "Sent to Gmail"; on failure, it updates to "Error" with details.

Usage:

/founder-os:inbox:drafts-approved

Example scenario:

After running /founder-os:inbox:triage --team, the Response Agent created 5 draft replies in Notion. You open the [FOS] Content database, tweak the wording on two of them, and mark all 5 as "Approved." Then you run /founder-os:inbox:drafts-approved. It creates 5 Gmail drafts, updates their Notion status, and reminds you to review and send from your Gmail Drafts folder.

What you get back:

A results table showing each draft with recipient, subject, and creation status (success or error with details). Includes a count of successfully created drafts and a reminder to review them in Gmail before sending.

Flags:

This command takes no flags. It processes all currently approved drafts.

How Does Email Categorization Work?

Each email is classified into one of five categories: Action Required (needs your response or decision), Waiting On (you sent something and are awaiting a reply), FYI (informational, no action needed), Newsletter (subscription content), and Promotions (marketing emails). Priority scoring uses the Eisenhower matrix: emails are rated 1-5 based on urgency and importance. Priority 5 means urgent and important (respond now), while priority 1 means neither urgent nor important (safe to archive).

Tips & Patterns

Morning triage workflow: Start your day with /founder-os:inbox:triage --team to process overnight emails, then run /founder-os:briefing:briefing to fold those results into your daily briefing.
Review-then-send loop: After team triage creates drafts, review them in Notion, mark the good ones "Approved," then run /founder-os:inbox:drafts-approved to push them to Gmail.
Quick check vs. deep process: Use default mode (no --team) for a fast scan when you just want to know what's waiting. Reserve --team for when you have time to process the full pipeline.
Combine with Follow-Up Tracker: Action items created by the inbox pipeline can be tracked with /founder-os:followup:check to ensure nothing gets missed.

Briefing -- Folds email highlights into your daily briefing; the briefing's email section uses the same priority scoring
Actions -- Extracts action items from pasted text; the inbox team pipeline uses a similar extraction process internally
Review -- Your weekly review includes email volume metrics and unanswered thread detection
Prep -- Meeting prep searches email history with attendees, complementing inbox triage