mcp-media-inbox-triage

MCP Media Inbox Triage

Use this skill when a marketing, PR, community, or partnerships team needs a lightweight triage layer for a shared Gmail inbox.

What This Skill Does

1. Searches a configured Gmail inbox or label in a bounded window.
2. Reads only the message context needed for classification.
3. Classifies each message as media request, partnership inquiry, customer/community lead, urgent executive risk, vendor pitch, spam/no action, or unclear.
4. Scores urgency and recommends the right owner.
5. Routes relevant requests to Slack, Google Sheets, or a triage doc.
6. Drafts suggested replies only for human review.

When You Need This Pattern

• A shared inbox mixes press requests, creator pitches, partnership notes, customer signals, newsletters, and vendor spam.
• One person spends time each week skimming every email just to find the real asks.
• The team needs human review before any reply is sent.
• The team already works in Gmail, Slack, and Google Sheets.
• You want a practical Zapier MCP workflow that saves attention, not just time.

Architecture

Shared Gmail inbox
  -> Zapier MCP Gmail search and read
  -> AI classification
  -> Slack summary, Google Sheets triage log, or Gmail draft

Required Connections Through Zapier MCP

• Gmail: search and read messages from the shared inbox.
• Slack: post triage summaries or urgent alerts.
• Google Sheets: append a persistent triage log.
• LLM: classify and summarize.

Optional:

• Google Docs: create a weekly media-request digest.
• Google Calendar: check deadline windows or schedule follow-ups.
• CRM or advocacy database: match senders to known customers, partners, or advocates.

Core Workflow

1. Define The Inbox Window

Start with a bounded search:

to:{SHARED_INBOX} newer_than:7d -label:triaged

Adjust the inbox address, label, and time window for your team.

2. Pull Minimal Email Context

For each candidate message, read only:

Field	Why
Sender name and email	Identify source and possible owner
Subject	Fast classification signal
Date received	Urgency and SLA
Plain-text body	Extract the ask
Thread count	Spot follow-ups and repeated requests
Gmail thread link	Source of truth

Do not dump full email bodies into Slack.

3. Classify The Request

Category	Signal	Default action
Media request	Journalist, publication, interview, quote, deadline	Route to PR or comms
Partnership inquiry	Co-marketing, integration, affiliate, event, sponsorship	Route to partnerships or marketing
Customer/community lead	Customer story, testimonial, community invite, user feedback	Route to advocacy or community
Urgent executive risk	Legal threat, brand risk, sensitive complaint, public escalation	Alert owner immediately
Vendor pitch	Agency, list purchase, ad buy, unrelated service offer	Log or ignore
Spam/no action	Generic blast, irrelevant outreach, phishing indicators	Archive or leave unassigned
Unclear	Not enough context to decide	Send to human review

4. Score Urgency

Urgency	Signals	Response target
High	Deadline within 48 hours, named journalist, public brand risk, customer escalation	Same day
Medium	Specific ask, relevant sender, no immediate deadline	Two business days
Low	Useful but exploratory, vague timing, non-critical	Weekly batch
Ignore	Spam, irrelevant vendor pitch, duplicate	No response

5. Output The Summary

Media inbox triage: 14 messages scanned, 4 need action

High urgency
- Jane Lee, TechWeekly: asks for comment on AI workflow story by Friday.
  Owner: PR
  Suggested action: reply with availability and approved spokesperson.
  Source: Gmail thread link

Ignored
- 8 vendor pitches
- 2 unrelated newsletters

Google Sheets Log

Column	Purpose
received_at	Message timestamp
sender_name	Human-readable sender
sender_email_domain	Domain only if privacy matters
subject	Email subject
category	Classification
urgency	High / Medium / Low / Ignore
summary	One-sentence ask
suggested_owner	Team or person
suggested_next_action	Concrete next step
gmail_thread_link	Source link
status	New / Routed / Done / Ignored

Classification Prompt

You are triaging a shared media inbox.

Classify this email for a human team. Do not draft a reply unless the email needs action.

Return JSON:
{
  "category": "media_request|partnership_inquiry|customer_community_lead|urgent_executive_risk|vendor_pitch|spam_no_action|unclear",
  "urgency": "high|medium|low|ignore",
  "sender_name": "string or unknown",
  "sender_org": "string or unknown",
  "deadline": "string or null",
  "summary": "One sentence describing the actual ask",
  "why_it_matters": "One sentence explaining relevance",
  "suggested_owner": "PR|Community|Marketing|Partnerships|Support|Leadership|Human review|Ignore",
  "suggested_next_action": "Concrete next action",
  "draft_reply_needed": true,
  "confidence": "high|medium|low"
}

Rules:
- Do not expose private email content in team channels.
- If the message is vague, classify as unclear.
- If the message is a generic vendor pitch, classify as vendor_pitch or spam_no_action.
- If the message mentions legal risk, public complaint, a journalist deadline, or a customer escalation, mark high urgency.

Zapier MCP And SDK Role

• Use Zapier MCP to search Gmail, read message context, post Slack summaries, append Google Sheets rows, and create Gmail drafts when approved.
• Use Zapier SDK for recurring runs, owner routing, retry handling, status logging, follow-up reminders, and weekly reporting when the workflow becomes productionized.

Guardrails

• Never auto-send replies.
• Do not expose full private email threads in Slack.
• Keep Gmail thread links as the source of truth.
• Route uncertain messages to a human.
• Treat generic vendor pitches as vendor_pitch or spam_no_action unless there is a specific relevant ask.
• Keep ignored messages auditable during tuning.

Inspired By

Generalized from Matt Canning and NoPlex. The reference workflow uses Zapier MCP and Gmail to reduce media inbox review from about 4 hours per week to about 15 minutes.