{
  "purpose": "Choose the single best next action for each inbox message. Delete and archive recommendations may be applied only after explicit user approval.",
  "decision_order": [
    "Choose reply only when the sender expects a written response by email, such as answering a direct question, making a decision, scheduling, or continuing a conversation.",
    "Otherwise choose review when a person should inspect the message before deciding what to do, perform an unresolved action outside email, or resolve an ambiguous individualized or transactional message.",
    "Otherwise choose archive when the message is a durable record worth retaining. Order confirmations, receipts, completed individualized support exchanges, and other transaction records should be archived even though they are automated.",
    "Otherwise choose delete. Prefer delete over archive when the message has no durable reference value. Newsletters, editorial mailings, recurring digests, new-article notifications, marketing, and temporary account-lifecycle messages should be deleted even when intentionally subscribed, substantive, trusted, or paid."
  ],
  "actions": {
    "reply": {
      "description": "A written response from the recipient is expected or clearly useful.",
      "indicators": [
        "A person asks a direct question or requests information.",
        "A person requests a decision, approval, scheduling response, or follow-up.",
        "An ongoing personal or professional conversation needs a response."
      ],
      "exclusions": [
        "Do not choose reply merely because an automated email contains a link, button, verification step, or other action.",
        "Do not choose reply for marketing calls to action."
      ]
    },
    "review": {
      "description": "The message needs human attention before its eventual disposition, but does not currently call for a written email reply.",
      "indicators": [
        "A notification says that a person left a message on an external platform; the recipient must inspect that platform and may or may not respond there.",
        "An automated operational, infrastructure, billing, security, crowdfunding, or fulfillment notice requires an unresolved action, including supplying shipping details, confirming an address, completing a survey, or fixing a payment.",
        "Individualized support or service correspondence has an unresolved next step, such as starting a return, using a return portal, supplying information, or deciding whether follow-up is needed.",
        "The message presents an important decision, ambiguous individualized matter, or unresolved issue that cannot safely be archived or deleted without inspection, even when its subject also uses promotional campaign language."
      ],
      "exclusions": [
        "Do not choose review for direct email correspondence that clearly expects a written email response; choose reply.",
        "Do not choose review for ordinary marketing, sales, lifestyle content, recipes, or generic recommendations merely because they could be read.",
        "Do not choose review merely because a confirmed newsletter, editorial mailing, or subscribed article is interesting, substantive, trusted, or paid; choose delete.",
        "Do not choose review for a completed order confirmation, receipt, or durable record with no unresolved action; choose archive."
      ]
    },
    "archive": {
      "description": "No written reply is needed, but the message is a durable record likely to be useful later.",
      "indicators": [
        "Purchase and subscription order confirmations, receipts, invoices, payment confirmations, refund records, and tax documents.",
        "Completed individualized support or service correspondence the recipient initiated or participated in, when no reply or unresolved action remains.",
        "Actual bank, credit-card, brokerage, insurance, or other regulated financial statements with durable financial or legal value.",
        "Travel, lodging, future or active event reservations, warranty, or contract records with lasting reference value.",
        "Important security or account-change notices that document a lasting change."
      ],
      "exclusions": [
        "Do not archive a message merely because it came from a known company or uses official-sounding language such as account notification or statement.",
        "Do not archive newsletters, editorial mailings, recurring digests, new-article notifications, promotions, content recommendations, creator updates, or product updates, even from trusted organizations or paid subscriptions.",
        "Do not archive routine package tracking, scheduled-delivery, out-for-delivery, or delivery-status updates.",
        "Do not archive loyalty-club, rewards-program, points-balance, or membership eStatements unless they contain a real financial or legal record.",
        "Do not archive expired restaurant reservation confirmations or reminders after the reservation date.",
        "Do not archive an unresolved action-required notice; choose review until the action is resolved."
      ]
    },
    "delete": {
      "description": "No written reply, human review, or durable retention is needed; deletion is the preferred default for disposable mail.",
      "indicators": [
        "Confirmed newsletters, editorial mailings, recurring publications, news briefings, article roundups, blog or new-article notifications, and journalism or analysis newsletters, including intentionally subscribed, substantive, trusted, and paid publications.",
        "Marketing, promotions, sales, product campaigns, event promotions, promotional newsletters, generic digests, product announcements, or content recommendations, including last-chance, limited-time, and save-now urgency.",
        "Recurring product-update, creator-update, community, membership, organization, lifestyle, or recipe newsletters sent one-to-many.",
        "Newsletter signals such as unsubscribe or preference links, list-management headers, issue formatting, repeated sections, and multiple article links.",
        "Past or expired restaurant reservation confirmations and reminders after the reservation date.",
        "Routine package tracking, scheduled-delivery, out-for-delivery, shipment-progress, and delivery-status updates.",
        "Loyalty-club or rewards-program eStatements, points summaries, and official-sounding membership account notifications with no durable financial or legal value.",
        "One-time sign-in links, verification codes, password-reset links, and other temporary security messages.",
        "New-account confirmations, welcome messages, account-ready notices, waitlist updates, and routine onboarding messages.",
        "Any other automated message with no unresolved action and no lasting reference value."
      ],
      "exclusions": [
        "Do not delete order confirmations, receipts, or other durable transaction and financial records; archive them.",
        "Do not delete direct or individualized correspondence that requires a written response.",
        "Do not delete completed individualized support correspondence merely because no reply remains; archive it.",
        "Do not delete unresolved action-required notices, external-platform message notifications, ambiguous individualized messages, or fulfillment messages requesting shipping details, address confirmation, surveys, return steps, or payment fixes."
      ]
    }
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "message_type": "A last-chance sale, save-now offer, or other promotion using urgency to appear important",
      "action": "delete",
      "reason": "Promotional urgency does not create durable value or a real required action."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A loyalty-club or rewards-program eStatement or official account notification with no financial or legal record",
      "action": "delete",
      "reason": "Official wording does not make a disposable membership summary worth archiving."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A routine package scheduled-for-delivery, out-for-delivery, tracking, or delivery-status update",
      "action": "delete",
      "reason": "Package status is temporary and does not need to be retained after delivery."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A campaign or pledge-manager announcement that explicitly requests shipping details, an address confirmation, a survey, or a payment fix",
      "action": "review",
      "reason": "The required fulfillment step matters more than the promotional framing."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A substantive journalism, analysis, or new-article newsletter the recipient intentionally subscribes to",
      "action": "delete",
      "reason": "Newsletter and one-to-many editorial content is disposable after delivery even when it is interesting, substantive, trusted, or paid."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "An individualized support reply that provides a return portal or another unresolved step the recipient must complete",
      "action": "review",
      "reason": "The recipient must inspect and complete the support workflow before disposition."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "The final reply in an individualized support exchange the recipient initiated, with the request completed and no response or action remaining",
      "action": "archive",
      "reason": "It is completed correspondence tied to the recipient's transaction or support history."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A past restaurant reservation confirmation or reminder after the reservation date",
      "action": "delete",
      "reason": "The reservation details were temporarily useful but have no durable value after the event."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A notification that a person left a new message on an external service",
      "action": "review",
      "reason": "The recipient must inspect the external conversation and may or may not respond there; this is not yet an email reply."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "An automated action-required warning about infrastructure, billing, account health, or security",
      "action": "review",
      "reason": "A person must inspect and resolve the requested action before the message can be archived or deleted."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A one-time sign-in link or temporary verification message",
      "action": "delete",
      "reason": "Its value expires after the immediate account action."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A welcome, account-ready, waitlist, or new-account confirmation email",
      "action": "delete",
      "reason": "Routine account lifecycle mail is temporary and does not need a reply."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A purchase receipt or completed payment record with no unresolved action",
      "action": "archive",
      "reason": "It is a durable financial record."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "An order confirmation showing that a purchase or subscription order was successfully placed",
      "action": "archive",
      "reason": "It is a durable transaction record even when a separate receipt has not been issued."
    },
    {
      "message_type": "A direct question or request sent by email from a person",
      "action": "reply",
      "reason": "The sender expects a written email response."
    }
  ]
}