Daily Email Digest

Transforms your overflowing inbox into a prioritized, actionable summary. This skill connects to Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, ProtonMail, or any IMAP-compatible provider to fetch unread messages, categorize them by urgency and type, and deliver a clean digest you can review in under 2 minutes.

Supported Platforms & Integrations

Platform	Setup Method	Auth Type	Notes
Gmail	Google API OAuth 2.0	OAuth token	Supports labels, categories, and priority inbox
Outlook / Microsoft 365	Microsoft Graph API	OAuth 2.0	Focused inbox and shared mailboxes supported
Apple Mail	AppleScript bridge	System permission	macOS only, all configured accounts
ProtonMail	ProtonMail Bridge + IMAP	App password	Requires ProtonMail Bridge running locally

When to Use This Skill

• Use this when you receive 30+ emails daily and need a fast triage view
• Use this when you want to batch-process email responses at specific times
• Use this when you manage multiple email accounts and want one unified summary
• Consider alternatives when you need to send or reply to emails (this is read-only)

Quick Start

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# Minimal configuration - email-digest.yml
skill: daily-email-digest
provider: gmail
account: [email protected]
max_emails: 50
categories:
  urgent: true
  action_required: true
  fyi: true
  newsletters: collapsed
priority_senders:
  - [email protected]
  - [email protected]
  - [email protected]

Copy
claude /daily-email-digest

Expected Output

EMAIL DIGEST - March 15, 2026 (37 unread)

URGENT (2 emails):
  From: [email protected] (10:47 PM)
  Subject: Budget approval needed before 9am board meeting
  Summary: Q1 budget spreadsheet attached, needs your sign-off.
  Action: Reply with approval or schedule 15-min call.

  From: [email protected] (11:15 PM)
  Subject: Benefits enrollment closes tomorrow
  Summary: Open enrollment deadline March 16. dental plan change pending.
  Action: Complete enrollment at benefits.company.com

ACTION REQUIRED (5 emails):
...

Advanced Configuration

Platform-Specific Setup

Gmail

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provider: gmail
oauth_scopes: ["gmail.readonly"]
labels_include: ["INBOX", "STARRED", "IMPORTANT"]
labels_exclude: ["SPAM", "TRASH", "PROMOTIONS"]
use_priority_inbox: true
thread_grouping: true
attachment_summary: true

Full Options Reference

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
provider	string	gmail	Provider: gmail, outlook, apple-mail, imap, protonmail
max_emails	number	50	Maximum emails to process per digest
max_age_hours	number	24	Only include emails from last N hours
priority_senders	array	[]	Always highlight these senders
muted_senders	array	[]	Always collapse these senders
categories.urgent	boolean	true	Show urgent/time-sensitive section

Core Concepts

Concept	Purpose	How It Works
Urgency Detection	Identifies time-sensitive emails	Scans subject lines and body for deadlines, keywords like "ASAP", "EOD", "urgent"
Action Classification	Separates actionable from informational	Uses NLP to detect requests, questions, and required responses
Sender Scoring	Prioritizes important contacts	Combines your priority list with reply frequency and organizational hierarchy
Thread Collapsing	Reduces noise from long threads	Shows only the latest message in threads with 3+ messages

Architecture

Email Provider API ──> Fetcher ──> Deduplicator ──> Categorizer ──> Urgency Scorer
                                                                          |
  Priority Senders List ──────────────────────────────────────────> Priority Engine

Workflow Examples

Scenario 1: Monday morning after a weekend

Input: 87 unread emails accumulated over Saturday and Sunday Processing: Skill filters out 34 automated notifications, groups 18 newsletter threads, identifies 4 urgent items with Monday deadlines, and clusters remaining 31 into action-required and FYI. Output: Digest highlights the 4 urgent items at top with time estimates. Total estimated response time: 1 hour 20 minutes.

Scenario 2: Multi-account consolidation

Input: Work Gmail (23 unread), personal Gmail (15 unread), client Outlook (8 unread) Processing: Merges all accounts into unified timeline, de-duplicates cross-account forwards, and applies per-account priority rules. Output: Single digest with account badges showing which inbox each email came from.

Best Practices

1. Maintain your priority senders list -- Review quarterly. Add new stakeholders, remove people you no longer work with directly. A stale list degrades urgency.

2. Use muted_senders for noisy automated senders -- Rather than unsubscribing from useful but noisy senders (JIRA, GitHub, CI systems), mute them in the digest. They still appear.

3. Run the digest at fixed times -- Consistency matters. Running at 8am and 2pm creates a rhythm where you batch email processing instead of checking constantly..

Common Issues

1. Gmail "insufficient permissions" error -- Ensure your OAuth scope includes gmail.readonly. Revoke and re-authorize if you initially granted limited permissions. Check.

2. Emails appearing in wrong category -- The categorizer learns from your behavior. Use --recategorize [email protected] urgent to manually reclassify a sender..

Privacy & Data Handling

Email content is processed entirely on your local machine. No email text, subject lines, or sender information is transmitted to any external service beyond the email provider's own API. Processed digests are cached in ~/.claude/cache/email-digest/ with automatic 12-hour expiration. OAuth tokens are stored in your system keychain.