FREE GUIDE · GMAIL & OUTLOOK · CLAUDE OR CHATGPT
Set up an AI assistant that labels your email by the parts of your life it comes from, clears out the noise, and shows you only what actually needs you. About 20 minutes. No tech skills needed.
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Setting it up yourself? Everything you need is below, free. Want help setting it up, or with the rest of your workflows? Book a free assessment
WHY I BUILT THIS
My email covers a day job, my own business, family and church. So I set up Claude to sort it every morning before I'm up: every email gets labeled by which part of my life it's for and what I need to do with it, the noise gets marked read, and a short summary is waiting for me. This guide is the beginner version of that same setup.
— Braiden
1 · YOUR LABELS
Every email gets tagged by area (Work, Family, Kids' school…) and by action (To Respond, Bills…).
2 · A DAILY SORT
Say "triage my inbox," or let it run on its own every morning. You get a short summary of what needs you.
3 · YOUR BOARD
One page with every open loop, how many days old it is, and a reminder for anything going stale. (Claude only.)
BEFORE YOU START
Both get you the same inbox system. The skill is a little smoother and can run on its own.
Recommended
For Claude Pro or higher
Install once, then say "Set up my inbox assistant." Remembers your rules, builds your Inbox Board, and can run every morning on its own.
Download the skill (.zip)Leave it zipped. Upload it in Claude: Settings › Capabilities › Skills › Upload skill.
Works anywhere
For Claude Free or ChatGPT
Paste it into a new chat with your email connected. It walks you through the same setup, and your open loops show up as a table.
You are my inbox assistant. Help me set up a simple system for my email (Gmail or Outlook), then sort my inbox for me whenever I ask. Talk to me like a friendly, sharp human assistant: short, informal, no jargon. I'm new to this. GROUND RULES - Never send, reply, forward, delete, trash or archive anything unless I ask for that specific email in this chat. Drafting a reply for me to review is fine when I ask. - Labeling is always fine. Only mark email as read if I say yes to that during setup. - My VIP senders always stay unread. - Use only the email tools you actually have. Before promising anything, check what your connection can do. If you can't create labels, apply labels or mark email read, tell me in one line and give me a short checklist to do it myself. Never pretend you did something you didn't. - Read previews first. Only open a full email when the preview isn't enough to decide. SETUP (do this first, as a short interview: one or two questions at a time) 1. Check that you can search my email. If you can't, tell me exactly how to connect Gmail or Outlook in this app, then wait. 2. Ask what the main parts of my life my email comes from (2 to 5). Give examples: Work, My business, Family, Kids' school, Church or volunteering, Side hustle, House and bills. For each one, ask what tells you an email belongs there (a work domain, a business address, school senders, certain people). 3. Ask who my VIP senders are: people whose emails I never want to miss and want to read myself (a kid away at school, my spouse, my boss, a big client). Get an email address or domain for each. These get a "VIP" label and always stay unread. 4. Explain these action labels in one short list and ask if I want to rename or drop any: Urgent (deadline, failed payment, security problem) · To Respond (someone needs a reply or decision) · To Read (worth reading, nothing to do) · Bills (something to pay) · Receipts (proof of payment) · FYI (good to know). Promos, newsletters, social notifications and shipping updates get an area label only. 5. Ask: "Can I mark the noise as read so your unread count only shows what matters?" and "Is there anything I should never touch?" 6. Create my labels (Gmail: nested labels like Area/Work. Outlook: categories like "Area: Work"). If you can't, give me the exact names to create. 7. Write me Gmail filters or Outlook rules for each area and VIP, using the senders I gave you, so new mail gets labeled the moment it arrives. Tell me exactly where to paste them. 8. Ask if I want you to sort the last 30 days now. If yes, run the daily triage on the last 30 days. 9. Give me a short "INBOX SETUP" note (my areas and their senders, VIPs, action labels, mark-read yes/no, never-touch list) in a code block, and tell me to save it in this app's memory, custom instructions or project instructions so you follow the same rules next time. DAILY TRIAGE (when I say "triage my inbox") 1. Use my INBOX SETUP note. If I don't have one, run Setup. 2. VIPs first: find mail from my VIP senders without the VIP label. Add VIP plus the right area label. Leave it unread. 3. Find every inbox email from the last 3 days that doesn't have an area label yet, read or unread. Keep going until there are none left. 4. Give each one an area label and at most one action label. 5. If I said yes to marking read (and only for email that was unread): keep Urgent, To Respond and VIP unread. Mark read To Read, Bills, Receipts, FYI, promos, newsletters, social notifications, shipping updates and old verification codes. 6. Only flag obvious phishing. If you're not sure, tell me instead of acting. 7. Give me a short summary: Urgent: one line each To respond: who, what, what they're asking Bills due: who, how much, when VIP: how many new (left unread) Counts: sorted, marked read Then a table of my open loops (Urgent, To Respond, Bills), grouped by area, oldest first, with how many days old each one is. End by offering one useful next step, like drafting a reply. Start with Setup now.
Not sure which plan you're on? In Claude, click your name in the bottom left, then Settings. Your plan shows at the top. On the free plan, start with the prompt; you can switch to the skill any time.
SETUP
This lets your assistant read and label your mail. You sign in with Google or Microsoft directly, so it never sees your password.
Quick test: ask "What are my 5 most recent emails?" If it lists them, you're connected.
Skill or prompt. Do one, not both.
Set up my inbox assistant
Tip: in Claude, make a Project called "Inbox" and do all of this inside it. Your setup and board link live there, and every inbox chat starts with them.
Your assistant interviews you, one or two questions at a time. Here's what it'll ask, so you can think about it now.
Where your email comes from, and what gives each one away: a work domain, certain people, a school app.
WorkMy businessFamilyKids' schoolChurchCoachingHouse & bills
People whose emails you never want to miss, like a kid away at school, your spouse, your boss or your biggest client. They get a VIP label and always stay unread. Have their email addresses handy.
Promos, newsletters and shipping updates just get an area label and get out of your way.
Then it will ask if it can mark the noise as read and what it should never touch, create your labels (Outlook calls them categories), write you filters that label new mail the second it arrives (they keep working even without AI), offer to sort your last 30 days, and save your setup so it follows the same rules next time.
The setup is the hard part. From here it's one sentence a day, or zero.
Open your Inbox chat and say:
Triage my inbox
It sorts the last few days, including emails you already opened on your phone, and gives you a short summary.
Run my inbox triage every weekday at 6am
Claude shows you the schedule. Click Schedule and it runs while you sleep, even with your computer off.
Show my inbox board
Every open loop on one page, how old each one is, and checkboxes to tick things off.
Urgent
Card payment failed on your phone bill. Update it by Friday.
To respond
Coach Lee: can you drive Saturday's carpool?
Dana (client): approve the revised quote?
Bills due
Water bill, $48.20, due the 15th
VIP
2 new letters (left unread for you)
Sorted 37 · Marked 29 read · Board: 6 open, 1 over a week old
Want me to draft a reply to Coach Lee?
Example only. Yours will show your real emails.
GOOD TO KNOW
It only labels and sorts. It never sends, deletes or archives anything unless you ask.
AI will sometimes put an email in the wrong spot. A quick correction in plain words fixes it for next time, and it updates your setup so the change sticks:
Reconnect it: click + › Connectors and turn your email on. In Claude, Settings › Connectors also lets you disconnect and sign in again.
Skills need a paid Claude plan and Code execution turned on in Settings › Capabilities. Or use the copy-paste prompt instead; it does the same setup.
Some connections can read your email but not change it. It'll give you the label names to create once: in Gmail, the + next to Labels in the left sidebar; in Outlook, Categories.
Ask it for your INBOX SETUP note, then save it in your Project instructions, memory or custom instructions so it's there every time.
The first 30-day sort is the big one. After that, daily runs only look at the last 3 days.
ONCE IT'S RUNNING
If this saves you time, send dayandnight-ops.com/email to a friend who's drowning in email.
Day & Night Ops sets up AI inside small businesses: follow-ups, quotes, scheduling, bookkeeping, customer questions. We do it inside your real workflows, so you can get back to the work you're best at.
Questions? braiden@dayandnight-ops.com