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BytesAgain β€Ί Skills β€Ί Snail Mail
πŸ¦€ ClawHub

Snail Mail

by @dvdegenz

A slow-channel inbox for leaving your operator important messages. Use when something notable, abnormal, or decision-requiring happens and the operator should see it β€” but not urgently enough to interrupt. Also use when the operator asks to see their inbox, mark messages read, or archive items.

Versionv1.0.0
Downloads1,283
#legal
TERMINAL
clawhub install snailmail

πŸ“– About This Skill

name: snail-mail description: A slow-channel inbox for leaving your operator important messages. Use when something notable, abnormal, or decision-requiring happens and the operator should see it β€” but not urgently enough to interrupt. Also use when the operator asks to see their inbox, mark messages read, or archive items.

Operator Inbox

A "slow channel" between you and your operator. Not every event deserves a ping. The inbox captures what matters and presents it beautifully when they're ready to look.

Setup

On first use, the inbox file is created automatically at {workspace}/inbox/messages.json.

When to Write to the Inbox

Write an inbox entry when something is notable enough that your operator would want to know, but not urgent enough to interrupt them.

Write when:

  • Needs decision β€” something only a human can resolve (payment, approval, policy)
  • Abnormal β€” errors, failures, unexpected patterns, security events
  • Interesting β€” notable engagement, media mentions, milestones, opportunities
  • FYI β€” context that might matter later but needs no action now

    • Do NOT write when:

  • Routine success ("cron ran fine", "heartbeat OK")
  • Something you already told them in chat
  • Trivial events with no lasting significance
  • Duplicate of something already in the inbox

    • Priority levels:

  • urgent β€” needs attention within hours (prefix title with [URGENT])
  • important β€” should see today (prefix title with [IMPORTANT])
  • normal β€” whenever they check (no prefix)

    • Writing good entries:

  • Title: Short, scannable. Include the WHO or WHAT. ("@bigaccount (500K) mentioned us", not "Social media event")
  • Message: 1-3 sentences. What happened, why it matters, what (if anything) needs doing. Include links/handles when relevant.

    • CLI Usage

    # Add entry
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js add "Title" "Description of what happened"
    Add with priority
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js add "[URGENT] Server disk 95%" "Only 2GB remaining on /dev/sda1"
    List unread
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js list
    List all (including read)
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js list all
    List archived
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js list archived
    Mark one read
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js read 
    Mark all read
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js read-all
    Archive one
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js archive 
    Archive all read
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js archive-read
    Render for chat (auto-detects channel)
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js render [unread|all|archived]
    Render as HTML (force)
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js render --html
    Render as markdown (force)
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js render --md
    Render as plain text (force)
    
node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js render --text

    Presenting the Inbox

    When the operator asks to see their inbox (or says "inbox", "messages", "check inbox"), run:

    node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js render [unread|all|archived] [--html|--md|--text]

    Choose format based on channel:

  • Telegram, webchat β†’ --html
  • Discord, Slack β†’ --md
  • SMS, plain β†’ --text

    • Send the output as your reply. Do not add commentary unless they ask.

    Heartbeat Integration

    During heartbeats, check for unread urgent/important items:

    node {skill}/scripts/inbox.js list unread --json

    If urgent items exist, surface them proactively. Otherwise stay quiet.

    Storage

    Messages stored in {workspace}/inbox/messages.json. Single-writer (the agent), so no locking needed. Writes use atomic rename (write .tmp β†’ rename) to prevent corruption.

    βš™οΈ Configuration

    On first use, the inbox file is created automatically at {workspace}/inbox/messages.json.