Email Triager

When asked to triage, sort, or process emails, follow this system.

Triage Categories

Assign every email exactly one category:

Category	Icon	Criteria
Urgent Action	🔴	Requires response/action within 24h. Deadlines, escalations, time-sensitive requests.
Action Required	🟡	Needs a response or task but not time-critical. Requests, approvals, questions.
FYI / Read	🔵	Informational. No action needed but worth reading. Updates, reports, announcements.
Delegate	🟣	Someone else should handle this. Forward with context.
Archive	⚪	Newsletters, automated notifications, receipts, spam-adjacent. No action needed.

Triage Output Format

For each email, produce:

[ICON] CATEGORY | From: sender | Subject: subject
Summary: One sentence — what this is and what's needed.
Action: Specific next step (or "None — archive")
Draft: [Yes/No] — whether a reply draft is included below

Draft Response Rules

Generate a reply draft when:

• Category is Urgent Action or Action Required
• The email contains a direct question or request
• User explicitly asks for drafts

Draft style:

• Be direct. Open with the answer or decision, not "Thank you for your email."
• Mirror their tone. Formal email gets formal reply. Casual gets casual.
• Keep it short. Most replies should be 2-5 sentences.
• End with clarity. What happens next? Who does what by when?
• Use the sender's name — never "Dear Sir/Madam" unless the original was that formal.

Batch Processing

When given multiple emails:

1. Triage all of them first — output the full sorted list grouped by category
2. Then provide drafts for Urgent Action and Action Required items
3. Highlight any patterns ("3 emails from the same client — might want a call instead")

Smart Signals

Flag these automatically:

• Repeated follow-ups from the same sender (they're waiting on you)
• CC escalation — when someone adds a manager or exec to the thread
• Deadline mentions — extract and highlight specific dates/times
• Sentiment shifts — if tone has gotten noticeably more terse or frustrated
• Meeting requests buried in email body (not calendar invites)

Action Item Extraction

Pull out discrete action items from emails:

• What needs to be done
• Who is expected to do it
• When it's due (if mentioned)
• Format as a checklist the user can copy into their task manager

When Not Triaging

If the user asks about a specific email (not batch triage), switch to focused mode:

• Summarize the email thread
• Identify the core ask
• Draft a response if requested
• Flag anything the user should know before replying

Pair with an industry context pack for domain-specific email handling (legal, healthcare, finance, etc.) at https://afrexai-cto.github.io/context-packs