albert-ying/agentic-cortex/email-sync

Email Sync Adapter

Pulls recent emails from Gmail, diffs against snapshot, produces a manifest of vault note updates.

When to Use

Called by the /sync router. Not invoked directly.

Process

1. Pull Emails

Two queries:

1. gmail_search_messages(query="in:inbox -category:promotions -category:social", maxResults=25) — active inbox
2. gmail_search_messages(query="in:sent newer_than:7d", maxResults=25) — recent sent

For high-signal threads (starred, from known collaborators, with action items), call gmail_read_message to get full thread content.

2. Load Snapshot

Read .cache/sync-state/email-snapshot.json. If missing, treat all emails as new.

Snapshot format:

{
  "synced_at": "2026-03-12T10:00:00Z",
  "threads": {
    "<thread_id>": {
      "subject": "...",
      "last_message_id": "...",
      "participants": ["..."],
      "summary": "...",
      "starred": false
    }
  }
}

3. Diff

• New threads: thread ID not in snapshot
• Updated threads: thread ID exists but last_message_id differs (new replies)
• Newly starred: starred status changed

4. Match Against Vault Index

Load .cache/sync-state/vault-index.json.

For each new/updated thread:

1. Extract keywords from: subject line, sender name, recipient names, email body
2. Match against vault index using keyword overlap
3. For person names (From/To/CC), check type: "person" matches
4. Read full content of top candidate notes
5. Determine which notes need updating

5. Generate Manifest

Person notes (user.*.md):

• Action: rewrite_section, section: ## Current Status
• Content: Latest interaction context from email thread
• Evidence: subject, date, direction (sent/received)
• Confidence: 0.9+ for known contacts, 0.75 for ambiguous name matches

Project notes (proj.*.md, personal.grant.*.md, etc.):

• Action: rewrite_section on status/progress sections
• Content: Status updates derived from email content
• Confidence: 0.85+ if subject/body clearly references the project

Working memory (_working-memory.md):

• Action: rewrite_section, section: ## Email Inbox — Active Items (synced YYYY-MM-DD)
• Content: Triaged inbox — "### Needs Action", "### Scheduled", "### Tracking"
• Each item: checkbox, subject summary, sender, priority, vault link if person exists
• Confidence: 1.0

Context model follow-ups:

• For emails with detected action items or deadlines, emit changes targeting

the relevant notes rather than context model directly (the vault-updater handles cross-note synthesis)

6. Save Manifest and Update Snapshot

Write manifest to .cache/sync-state/email-manifest-<timestamp>.json. Update snapshot with current thread state.

Triage Logic

Priority assignment for inbox items:

• HIGH: Starred emails, deadlines within 7 days, emails from important contacts awaiting response
• MEDIUM: Project-related emails, invitations, requests from known contacts
• LOW: FYI, newsletters that made it to inbox, tracking items

If the vault index includes a tier field on person notes, use it to boost priority for high-tier contacts. This is optional — the adapter works without tier data.

Output

The manifest JSON file path, printed to stdout.