How to handle inbound emails — decide whether to reply, compose the response, and send it back via the comms agent.
When an inbound email arrives, you receive it as a scheduler-triggered cycle
with <scheduler_context> containing tags email, inbound. The email body
includes Subject:, From:, and the message text.
This is someone writing to you. They expect a reply.
Reply to all inbound emails unless:
When in doubt, reply. Silence is worse than a brief acknowledgement.
Read the email carefully. Understand what is being asked or said.
Do any work needed first. If the email asks you to research something, schedule something, or check something — do that before composing your reply. Use your tools. Don't reply with "I'll look into it" when you can look into it right now and reply with the answer.
Compose your reply. Write as yourself — clear, direct, helpful. Match the tone and formality of the sender. Keep it concise. Sign off naturally.
Send via agent_comms. Delegate to the comms agent:
agent_comms: Send a reply to <sender_email>.
Subject: Re: <original_subject>
Body: <your composed reply>
If you cannot reply (sender not on allowlist, comms disabled), note this in your response to the cognitive loop so the operator sees it in the chat UI.
If the email is a reply in an existing thread (subject starts with "Re:"),
check your comms history for context. Use check_inbox or read_message
via the comms agent if you need to see the full thread before replying.
Inbound:
Subject: Re: Weekly research update
From: [email protected]
Can you add inflation data to next week's report?
Your response:
agent_comms: Reply to [email protected]
Subject: Re: Weekly research update
Body: Done — I've added inflation data (CSO CPI + Eurostat HICP) to
the research template for next week's report. It'll appear in the
macro indicators section.