Find the thread, then read it

An inbox answer is a thread, not a summary. Narrow to the threads that can hold the answer, read the ones that do, and tie each claim to the message it came from.

1. Know which account you are reading

list_accounts first. Superhuman can link several accounts to one connection, and every other tool reads the primary one unless acting_email says otherwise. When the question could span accounts (a personal and a work inbox), run it once per account and say which one each result came from. An empty result from the wrong account looks exactly like a thread that does not exist.

2. Filter on people and time before words

list_threads takes from, to, subject_contains, body_contains, start_date, end_date, labels, and split. "The invoice from Stripe last month" is a sender and a date range, not a body search. Address filters match substrings, so a domain finds everyone at the company. body_contains is the widest net and ranks nothing, so pair it with a sender or a date range rather than running it alone.

Splits behave differently: split reads a precomputed membership list, so it ignores the date filters, and sort reorders only the page you got back. To walk a split by date, page with cursor and compare timestamps yourself.

3. Ask the question tool questions, not lookups

query_email_and_calendar answers a natural-language question across mail, calendar, and contacts ("what is still waiting on me from the Acme deal", "what is on my calendar Thursday"). Use it when the question spans threads or needs the calendar. Do not use it to fetch a thread you already identified: read that one with get_thread, because a synthesized answer blurs which message said what.

4. Read the thread before answering

get_thread returns every message with bodies, recipients, attachments, drafts, and any team comments. Long threads are trimmed to the root plus the newest messages, so raise message_limit when the answer sits in the middle. get_message fetches one message in full, with include_raw_html when a table or a layout matters. get_attachment returns image and audio content directly and a one-hour download link for everything else.

Mail sent or received in the last minute may not be indexed yet. When the user says "I just sent it", wait and retry rather than reporting it missing.

5. Cite the thread

A mail claim names who said it and when, and links the thread: https://mail.superhuman.com/<account email>/thread/<thread id>. A calendar or contact claim from query_email_and_calendar has no thread to link; cite the event (title, date, organizer) or the contact it came from. Quote the sentence when wording matters (a price, a date, a commitment). If two messages disagree, report both with their dates rather than picking one.

Anti-patterns

• Searching bodies when the user gave you a sender or a date. Subjects and bodies drift; addresses and dates find the thread.
• Answering from a snippet. The listing shows the latest message's preview; the answer is usually earlier in the thread.
• Trusting a split's sort or date filter. Page through it and check the timestamps.
• Reporting "nothing found" without the scope. Name the account, filters, and date range you searched so an empty result can be checked.