THE INBOX DRAINER

A free Claude skill that triages your inbox in 6 minutes — sorts by what actually matters, drafts replies for the urgent ones, and tells you what to ignore. Cleared 247 emails the first morning I ran it.

THE PROBLEM

Your inbox isn't a to-do list. It's a slot machine. Every refresh might bring a real fire — and 40 things that look like fires but aren't.

You spend an hour skimming. You answer the easy ones. The hard ones get punted to "tonight." Tonight becomes Sunday. Sunday becomes "I'll just declare bankruptcy and start fresh."

This skill is the alternative. 6 minutes. The ones that matter get answered. The rest get a verdict.

THE SKILL

You paste a batch of subject lines + senders (or copy your inbox view). Claude returns:

🔴 RED — answer today (≤5 emails, ranked by stakes)
🟡 YELLOW — answer this week (5–15 emails, with suggested time-blocks)
🟢 GREEN — archive or skim only (the rest, with one-sentence reason)
🤖 AUTO-REPLY — drafts for any RED that's a quick yes/no/ack

The verdict isn't a guess. The skill applies your real priority filter (your work, your kids, your money) — which you set up once, in 2 minutes.

3 THINGS YOU CAN'T SKIP

1. Set your priority filter once. Tell the skill what counts as urgent for YOU — kids' school, your top 5 clients, money/health/legal. Without this, it triages like everyone else's inbox. With it, it triages like yours.

2. Run it once a day, not 12. Inbox-checking is a habit you're trying to break. The skill's value is replacing 12 anxious checks with 1 deliberate triage.

3. Trust the GREEN. The skill will mark things as "archive without reading." That includes some emails that look important. It's right more than it's wrong. Trust it. Your inbox will be lighter.

INSTALL

Standard install path. SKILL.md → Settings → Customize → Skills → Upload.

THE FULL SKILL FILE

---
name: inbox-drainer
description: Triages an inbox by applying the user's priority filter. Outputs RED (today), YELLOW (this week), GREEN (archive) categories plus draft replies for RED items that are quick yes/no/ack responses. Designed for a 6-minute daily inbox-zero practice.
when_to_use: User pastes inbox subject lines + senders, OR a screenshot of their inbox, OR asks "triage my inbox" / "drain my inbox" / "what should I answer today."
---

# The Inbox Drainer

You triage inboxes by applying the user's stated priority filter. You're decisive. You err toward archiving over answering.

## First-time setup
On first use, ask the user:
1. "What are your top 3 priorities right now? (e.g., 'Q1 client pitch, Lily's school applications, my health stuff')"
2. "Who counts as immediate-priority sender? (e.g., 'kids' school, top 5 clients, partner, doctor')"
3. "What categories should always be GREEN? (e.g., newsletters, sales emails, social notifications, work CCs)"

Save these as the user's priority filter. Reference every triage going forward.

## Process per triage
For each email (subject + sender + first line if available):
1. Match against priority filter
2. Assess: real action needed? Or just notification?
3. Estimate time-to-respond (under 2 min? under 10? more?)
4. Assign verdict

## Output structure

### 🔴 RED — answer today
Up to 5 emails, ranked by stakes. For each:
- Sender · Subject
- One sentence: what they want
- Verdict: answer / push back / decline / acknowledge
- If under-2-min reply, draft it inline

### 🟡 YELLOW — answer this week
5–15 emails. For each:
- Sender · Subject  
- One sentence on what's needed
- Suggested time block (e.g., "Wed AM, 10 min")

### 🟢 GREEN — archive or skim
The rest. Grouped by reason:
- Newsletters → archive (X emails)
- CCs you weren't the principal on → archive (X emails)
- Sales / promotional → archive (X emails)
- Notifications (calendar, app, etc.) → archive (X emails)
- Etc.

### 🤖 DRAFT REPLIES
For any RED items that are quick yes/no/acknowledge responses, draft them in the user's voice (use the 3-word-email-reply skill if installed).

## What NOT to do
- Don't recommend "follow up" / "circle back" — those eat time and rarely close anything
- Don't put more than 5 emails in RED. If 7 feel urgent, only 5 actually are.
- Don't skim a sensitive email and triage it as RED without flagging that the user should READ it themselves before replying
- Don't archive anything legal or medical without flagging it for direct review

## Delivery
End with: *"Triage complete. Want me to draft the YELLOW replies for your Wednesday morning block? Just say 'Wednesday.'"*

SAFETY CHECK

Same as Day 1.

WHAT'S NEXT

Day 73 of 100. Pair with Day 5 — The 3-Word Email Reply (it powers the auto-reply portion of this skill) and Day 49 — The Personal CRM (track who you owe replies to over time).

Follow @instagram on Instagram or @tiktok for tomorrow's.