See it happen
What it looks like with this running.
Tuesday · 6:10 AM
Mailroom6:10 AM
Overnight review done — 41 messages since yesterday. 3 need you, 12 cleared as read, 26 were newsletters or duplicates.
Needs you · 3
Two people waiting on a reply, and one decision on the Northwind kickoff.
Every cleared thread is listed below with a one-line reason.
Mailroom6:11 AM
Draft ready for the most time-sensitive one.
Reply to Acme — renewal pricing
They asked for the Q4 rate by Thursday. This draft uses the pricing rule you saved last month. Nothing goes out until you send it.
Mailroom6:12 AM
And one decision, not a reply:
Northwind wants to move kickoff to the 22nd
Your calendar shows a conflict with the board-prep block. Approve the move, or I’ll draft a counter-proposal.
End to end
The whole loop, start to finish.
Every step below runs today. Nothing here is a mock-up of what is coming.
- 1ReviewOvernight, every message since the last pass — read or unread — latest message per thread, repeats de-duplicated.
- 2TriageEach one sorted honestly: needs you, reply needed, decision, already resolved, duplicate, worth knowing, promotional, routine.
- 3DraftA safe reply for anything that needs one, following the standing rules you’ve saved.
- 4You sendReview, edit, send. It re-reads the thread right before sending so nothing crosses a message that just arrived.
- 5LearnSay “remember…” and the rule sticks for next time. Save any fact from a result with its source.
Capabilities
Everything it does, named.
One line each. No adjectives — every one is a specific thing you can go and watch it do.
- Reviews your inbox overnight or on the cadence you set, covering every message since the last pass — up to 200, or a full 500 on request — reading the latest message in each thread and de-duplicating repeats.
- Sorts every message into one of nine honest buckets — needs you, reply needed, decision or action, already resolved, already answered, duplicate, worth knowing, promotional, routine — each with a one-line reason.
- Ranks by commitment rather than volume, so concrete promises and people waiting on you beat promotional urgency and two newsletters never outrank one customer.
- Drafts a reply in your voice for every thread that needs one, following the standing rules you have saved for pricing, tone and priority, and holds it in the room rather than sending it.
- Re-reads the thread immediately before sending and reports a delivery receipt or a proven no-send, never “probably sent”.
- Turns a decision buried in a thread — move the kickoff, approve the rate — into a card with options, in the room and on Home.
- Marks instructions found inside an email as untrusted, never follows them, and surfaces them to you instead.
- Keeps standing rules scoped to #mailroom and puts one-tap handling on every card: mark read, defer, or save a fact with its source.
Inputs and outputs
What it reads, and what you get back.
What it connects to
What lands in your hands
- A morning digest — what needs you, what was cleared, and why
- Drafted replies, held for your review
- Decisions surfaced as cards, not buried in threads
- The same cards on Home, alongside your other Programs
A week with it running
Day one to steady state.
What the first day looks like, what the quiet days look like, and when it comes to find you.
- Day 1Connect Gmail with one click. Pencel verifies read access, then reviews your 20 most recent unread while you watch.
- Every morningOvernight review of everything since last time — up to 200 messages; a full pass of up to 500 when you ask for one.
- When it needs youA few cards: the replies it drafted and the decisions it found, held in the room.
- When you sendYou review, edit, and send. It re-reads the thread right before sending so nothing crosses a message that just arrived.
Guardrails
Where it stops for you.
The line between what it does on its own and what it will never do without you, stated plainly.
Waits for you
Sending any reply, and every decision. A draft never leaves the room until you send it.
Never does
Send, archive, or change anything in your mailbox on its own.