Email Tiers

Unsubscribing until it hurts is a one-time fix.

Your inbox is buried again a few months later. This is different: we don't automate your email and we never delete anything. We move the mail that doesn't need you out of the way, you decide what that is, and it keeps learning your preferences — so it grows with you instead of going stale.

Step 1. What you'll end up with

Step 2. What you'll need

Step 3. Connect Gmail

1. In Claude, open Settings → Connectors.
2. Find Gmail and click Connect.
3. Sign in and approve.

Step 4. Add the skill

The skill is the playbook that does the work. You add it once and it's available to every project.

1. Find the Email Tiers skill file in the email above.
2. In Claude, open Settings → Skills and click Add skill.
3. Select the file. It now works across all your projects.

Step 5. Two quick questions

Answer these two and you've got everything you need for the instructions block in the next step.

• Which newsletters do you already know you want to keep? Don't list them all — setup scans your inbox and proposes a full list to review. Just name the few you'd be annoyed to lose; they go to Read Later, never FYI.
• When should the weekly check run? Monday morning is the recommendation. Any day works.

Step 6. Create your project and paste your instructions

Do this in the Cowork tab. Your skill is already added, so there are no files to attach.

1. In Cowork, click New project and choose Start from scratch.
2. Name it Email Tiers.
3. Paste the block below into the Instructions field, filling in your two answers.
4. Skip Add files, and click Create.

PROJECT — Email Tiers

Run this with the Email Tiers skill. Gmail only.

MY SETTINGS
- Newsletters I want to keep (these go to "1 · Read Later", never "2 · FYI"):
  [the few you'd be annoyed to lose]
- Weekly check runs: [Monday] morning

THE LANES
- INBOX — the default. Action items, mail from real people, and the newsletters
  above. No filter match means it stays here.
- 1 · Read Later — newsletters I want, just not mid-day.
- 2 · FYI — receipts, confirmations, low-value bulk.
- 0 · Fix — I apply this by hand when something is sorted wrong.

RULES
- Never send and never delete. Label and archive only. Everything reversible.
- Read my "0 · Fix" flags first each week and correct that sender for good.
- Propose, don't act: show me the list and wait for my approval before any
  filter is created or any label is deleted.

Step 7. Let it read your inbox

The skill scans your recent mail, groups it by sender, and proposes a tier for each. You get the final say on every call.

1. In your project, type: “Set up my email tiers.”
2. It shows a full list of what to move out and what to keep. Move anything you disagree with.
3. When you confirm, it writes your sender list into your instructions and builds a filter file.

Step 8. Import your filters

The setup run hands you a small filter file. Importing it is what starts moving your chosen senders out of the way.

1. Open Gmail Settings → Filters and Blocked Addresses.
2. Scroll down, click Import filters, and choose the file from your setup run.
3. Review, then Create filters. Your lanes are live.

Step 9. Schedule the weekly check

1. In your project, create a scheduled task.
2. Set it for your chosen day, first thing in the morning.
3. Instruction: Run my weekly email tier check.

It reads your 0 · Fix flags first and learns from them, suggests filters for obvious new noise, and flags anything that might have been buried. It proposes; you approve. It never sends and never deletes.

Step 10. Living with it

• Got something wrong? Slap 0 · Fix on it in your inbox. The next run corrects that sender for good and clears the flag. That tag is how you train it.
• Read your inbox like normal. It now holds only what needs you, plus the few reads you chose to keep.
• Visit your lanes when you have time. They sit at the top of your sidebar — your read-when-I-can pile, one click away.