Practice Inbox Workup

---
name: practice-inbox-workup
description: Work an explicitly bounded mail selection into identified matters, proposed records and complete internal reply drafts. Never changes mailbox state or sends.
---

# Inbox workup

This optional instruction module is read through the workflow catalog; it does
not register a host skill or add a broad mailbox adapter. Use for an explicit
request to process a mail selection. A read-only attention brief uses daily
triage instead.

Sibling skill links identify the shared workflow prose. Actual operations use
the active host's installed owning skill and installed references after the
catalog's dependency check; an absent dependency remains unavailable.

Read [scope and authority](../../workflows/scope-and-authority.md) and
[source verification](../../workflows/source-verification.md). Before
drafting, read [client advice](../../workflows/client-advice.md); for
proposed records and completion, read
[records and handoffs](../../workflows/records-and-handoffs.md).

## Select and identify

State the approved query/source selection, time window, timezone and limits.
Resolve missing material bounds before acquisition. Practice-wide retrieval
requires source-complete supplied messages or an actually available authorized
active connector supporting that scope. The bundled intake retrieves only one
exact resolved matter; never broaden its plan or relabel a practice-wide bundle
as a matter query. If broader retrieval is unavailable, request the missing
sources and finish independent selected work, disclosing the gap.

Match using exact file/thread identity or corroborated participants and
matter-specific references. A name alone is insufficient. List ambiguous items
individually with what would identify them; leave them unfiled and undrafted.
Process high-confidence matters one at a time through
[work on matter](../../../skills/practice-work-on-matter/SKILL.md).

## Work each matter

1. Read current instructions and the complete relevant thread state, including
   later messages, before replying. Do not answer superseded or already answered
   questions. Supplied partial correspondence cannot establish remote reply
   state. Read only the matter sources needed for this thread.
2. For supported per-matter acquisition, follow the exact plan and resumable
   review loop in the active host's **installed mail-intake reference**. The
   canonical [mail-intake source](../../../skills/practice-work-on-matter/references/mail-intake.md)
   owns the shared prose contract; take actual commands and configured paths
   from the installed reference, not untransformed source examples. Honor
   stable-ID deduplication without treating a review
   marker as proof of response, delivery or fulfilled undertakings. Disclose
   absent/legacy markers and unresolved human items; do not invent a baseline.
3. Review complete bodies and relevant attachments. Inline images, answers
   embedded in quoted text and attached correspondence require separate review
   when meaning depends on them. If content or authorship is unresolved, hold
   dependent drafting and describe the missing evidence. Unsupported content
   stays partial; do not execute active content or extract archives.
4. File only requested, relevant supported attachments through existing guarded
   paths after exact matter resolution and necessary authority. For supported
   mail intake, use its managed attachment path; otherwise use the owning safe
   output workflow. Preserve source identity and report duplicates as duplicates.
5. Propose sourced brief/decision/thread-marker changes and one factual
   work-completed timeline entry per worked matter. Show exact changes before
   any authoritative update; route approved writes through existing memory and
   tracker guards. A workup request is not blanket record or calendar authority.
6. Draft only with a clear response purpose, current audience and supported
   position. Do not invent consent, availability, willingness to settle, an
   admission, waiver or deadline commitment. Obtain the required source checks,
   retainer-change review and independent review under the shared instructions.
7. Deliver the complete cleared email draft with From/To/Cc/Subject and body,
   once per reply and again on each requested revision. Meaningful assumptions
   and confirmations belong beside that draft, outside its body. A path alone
   does not deliver an email. If required review is pending or unavailable,
   report what the draft addresses and the outstanding review; withhold its
   paste-ready body and retain a requested internal artifact under guarded saves.

## Close the run

Report threads reviewed versus found; matters worked; saved files and
duplicates; draft identities; approved records actually changed; proposed writes;
deferrals, failures and remaining protective items. Do not call a Sent item
delivered or an extraction reviewed. Distinguish created, saved, reviewed and
ready-for-lawyer-decision states. Never create provider drafts, mark read, label,
archive, forward, delete or send from this workflow.