Lesson 2 of 4

Triage your inbox with an agent

An agent is good at the part of triage you dread: turning "everything from the bank this month that I haven't read" into a search. With no switch on it can do that part, and you do the rest with your own eyes.

Step 1 of 3 Get the latest mail

Have the agent start with a check, so the window shows what arrived a minute ago:

briskmail check

$ briskmail check
ok

Step 2 of 3 Let it write the search

Describe the pile in plain words and ask for briskmail open --search. The agent turns it into Gmail's search syntax and Briskmail runs it in the window:

briskmail open

$ briskmail open --search "from:dana@example.com is:unread"
ok

The search runs in the window. Nothing about the results comes back.

The agent gets back ok and nothing else. It never learns what matched. If the search is wrong, say so and it tries another.

Step 3 of 3 Work through it

Archive, star and reply from the window as usual. When you're done, ask for the next pile, or jump to a folder or label:

briskmail open

$ briskmail open --folder Starred
ok

When the agent can see the list

Coming soon

Turn on Let apps read and organize my mail and this loop changes. The agent can list your unread mail with senders, subjects, dates and labels, and propose what to do with each message. Then it can carry out the part you can undo, archiving or labelling, through the same code as the app's buttons, so Undo works.

briskmail unread

$ briskmail unread --json

briskmail archive

$ briskmail archive 18f2a9c4be01d7a3
ok

The same switch lets the agent read message bodies. Read the prompt injection lesson before you turn it on.

Read and organize

Coming soon

Switch: Let apps read and organize my mail, in Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Command-line access. Off until you turn it on.

Lists, searches and reads your mail, and does the things you can undo: label, mark read or unread, star, archive, snooze, and save a draft without opening a window.

triage list search unread labels accounts read thread attachments label unlabel mark-read mark-unread star unstar archive snooze save-draft

Commands in this lesson

briskmail open Bring Briskmail's window forward on a conversation, a search or a folder.
briskmail check Check every signed-in account for new mail now, like Mailbox ▸ Check for New Mail.
briskmail list List the messages in a folder or label: ids, senders, subjects, dates, labels and unread state.
briskmail search Search mail and get back metadata rows, never bodies.
briskmail unread Count unread Inbox messages.
briskmail labels The account's folders and labels.
briskmail accounts The accounts signed in to Briskmail, by the names you see, with the ids --account takes.
briskmail label Add a label to a message, as the app's Label menu does.
briskmail mark-read Mark a message read.
briskmail star Star a message.
briskmail archive Archive a message the same way the app's Archive button does, so Undo works.
briskmail snooze Snooze a message so it comes back later, as the app's Snooze does.