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Case study: Professional services

Automated Inbox Cleanup, Monitoring, and Email Drafts

For a solo-operator agency, the inbox was the whole front office. Now three agents run it together: client mail arrives with a reply already drafted, the clutter clears itself on a schedule, and sent messages that never got an answer are surfaced instead of forgotten.

How the three inbox agents work togetherFor a solo-operator agency the inbox was the whole front office: client support, new leads, vendor mail, and noise landing in one Gmail account with no triage, and a backlog of 1,103 messages from 221 senders. Three agents now work that one mailbox, and they differ in what triggers them. The triage agent fires as mail arrives, and it is a pipeline of its own: deterministic rules pre-filter before any model runs, then a small fast model classifies the message as client, lead, vendor, or noise, then a stronger model drafts a reply grounded in that client's own record. The draft is saved in the thread and never auto-sent, so it goes back into the mailbox and waits for the owner to edit and send it like any other email. The cleanup agent runs on a schedule over everything that is not client mail, reaching a verdict per sender rather than per message, against a protect list the AI cannot overrule, and automating an unsubscribe only where the link is genuinely one click. The follow-up agent also runs on a schedule, watching sent mail for threads that never came back, and it caps itself: a thread goes quiet after four mentions, and a week with nothing waiting posts nothing at all. Both scheduled agents report to one Telegram channel with one-tap actions, where every run is reversible, and between them they cost about a dime a month and nothing at all. What turned the Monday-morning job into a scheduled sweep is the last band: the safety rules were exercised by a test suite outside the mailbox before anything ran against it. It never deletes anything, it never overrules the protect list, and it never follows a link that would confirm the owner's address to a spammer.ONE GMAIL INBOXGMAILThe whole front office1,103-message backlog221 sendersno triage at allThree agents, three triggersone classifies as mail arrivesand two run on a scheduleON ARRIVALTriage agentclient, lead, vendor, or noisePRE-FILTERdeterministic rulesSMALL MODELclassifies the mailSTRONG MODELdrafts from the recordON A SCHEDULECleanup agenteverything that is not client mailPER SENDERa verdict, not per mailPROTECT LISTthe AI cannot overruleUNSUBSCRIBEonly if truly one clickON A SCHEDULEFollow-up agentsent mail that never came backWATCHES SENTthreads with no replyCAPS ITSELFquiet after fourQUIET WEEKposts nothing at allDRAFT REPLYSaved in the threadNEVER AUTO-SENTthe owner edits and sends itTELEGRAMCleanup: a dime a monthFollow-up: nothing at allReports and one-tap actionsEVERY RUN REVERSIBLEone channel for both scheduled agentsinstead of a Monday-morning jobBEFORE THE FIRST LIVE RUNTEST SUITEThe safety rules are tested, not assertedexercised outside the mailboxbefore anything ran against itWHAT IT WILL NEVER DODelete anythingOverrule the protect listConfirm your address to a spammer

The challenge

  • Client support, new leads, vendor mail, and noise landed in one inbox with no triage
  • Over a thousand messages from more than two hundred senders had accumulated, and Monday mornings went to clearing them
  • The expensive failure was invisible: a proposal that got no reply and no second nudge

What we built

Three cooperating agents over one Gmail inbox. A triage agent classifies incoming mail and drafts replies for client messages, grounded in that client's context and saved in-thread. A cleanup agent works the other kind of mail on a schedule. A follow-up agent watches sent mail for threads that never came back.

  • Draft replies are never auto-sent; the owner edits and sends from the inbox like any other email
  • Cleanup verdicts are per sender, with a protect list the AI cannot overrule; nothing is ever permanently deleted, and every run is reversible
  • Only true one-click unsubscribes are ever automated; links that would confirm the address to a spammer are refused by design
  • Follow-up nudges cap themselves: after four mentions a thread goes quiet, and a week with nothing waiting posts nothing at all

How it's built

Scheduled workflows over the Gmail API with deterministic pre-filters, small fast models for classification, a stronger model for drafting grounded in per-client records, and a test suite that exercises the safety rules, including the no-delete guarantee, outside the mailbox before anything runs against it. Reports and one-tap actions arrive in Telegram.

Results

  • A 1,103-message, 221-sender backlog became a scheduled sweep instead of a Monday-morning job
  • Client emails wait with a context-aware draft attached instead of waiting to be started
  • The cleanup agent runs for about a dime a month; the follow-up watcher costs nothing at all

What's sitting in your inbox right now?

Triage, cleanup, and follow-up are one system. Your reply time becomes your competitive advantage.