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Recipe: Email Assistant

Build a skill that turns OpenClaw into a powerful email triage and response assistant.

The Skill​

~/.openclaw/skills/email-assistant.md
---
name: email-assistant
version: 1.0.0
description: Intelligent email triage, summarization, and draft responses
trigger: "email|inbox|mail|gmail"
tools: [gmail, chat, memory]
config:
  vip_contacts: []
  auto_archive_promotions: true
  digest_channel: "whatsapp"
---

# Email Assistant

## Triage Rules
1. **VIP emails** (from configured contacts) → Immediate notification
2. **Action required** (contains deadlines, requests, questions) → High priority
3. **FYI/informational** → Batch into daily digest
4. **Promotions/newsletters** → Auto-archive if configured
5. **Spam/suspicious** → Flag and ignore

## Response Drafting
When asked to respond to an email:
1. Read the full thread for context
2. Check memory for past interactions with this sender
3. Draft a response matching the user's communication style
4. Present the draft for approval before sending

## Daily Digest
At the configured time, compile a digest of:
- Unread email count by category
- VIP emails that need attention
- Pending action items
- Calendar conflicts from email invites

Setup​

  1. Connect Gmail:
openclaw channel add gmail
  1. Install the skill:
openclaw skill install ./email-assistant.md
  1. Configure VIP contacts:
openclaw skill config email-assistant --set vip_contacts='["boss@company.com","partner@example.com"]'
  1. Add heartbeat integration:
~/.openclaw/HEARTBEAT.md
## Email (every heartbeat)
- Run email-assistant skill to check for new emails
- Send VIP alerts to WhatsApp immediately
- Compile digest at 8am and 5pm

Usage​

openclaw chat "Check my email"
openclaw chat "Summarize emails from this week"
openclaw chat "Draft a reply to the latest email from Sarah"
openclaw chat "Archive all promotional emails from the last month"

Results​

Users report this recipe handles 50-200+ emails per day with minimal manual intervention. One notable user processed a 15,000 email backlog using a variation of this skill.

See Also​