Family Email Formatting

Family Email Formatting (brief + reply)

Use this skill whenever composing outbound HTML email for family-office personas.

Workflow

1. Determine composition mode from the caller instruction:
   • brief for scheduled briefs, recurring reports, and other report-style outbound emails.
   • reply for inbound family-email responses sent with reply_gmail_message.
2. Determine persona alias (cos, estate, hc, hd, io, wellness).
3. Load persona variant from references/persona-variants.json.
4. Render the mode-appropriate layout:
   • brief -> references/base-template.md
   • reply -> references/reply-template.md
5. Compose the email using the mandatory style rules for the selected mode.

brief mode

Use brief mode for scheduled or report-style outbound emails.

Brief-mode structure

1. Build a two-layer response in this order:
   • Executive Summary (2-minute scan): KPI cards, action table, and an agent-chosen primary visual when warranted.
   • Deep Dive and Provenance: narrative analysis, assumptions, caveats, and source attribution.
2. Keep the executive layer compact, but make the deep dive complete enough for auditability.

Mandatory brief-mode style rules

• Keep one shared layout for all personas.
• Apply nuance only through accent color, role label, and signature/footer copy.
• Inline styles only.
• No markdown in final body.
• Executive Summary must come before Deep Dive.
• Keep KPI cards and action-oriented summary elements for fast scanning.
• Replace the old fixed "Signal Graph" concept with one optional primary visual that best explains the key monitoring point or decision in the brief.
• The primary visual may be a spark trend, bar chart, line chart, scatter plot, progress bars, or another compact honest graphic.
• Omit the primary visual entirely when the data is too sparse or prose is clearer.
• Deep Dive must include where information came from:
  • MCP-backed facts: cite MCP server/tool names.
  • Web research: include links actually consulted.
• Do not omit narrative context when decisions or tradeoffs are involved.

Recommended brief-mode visual hierarchy

1. Header band (role + subject + date context).
2. Executive Summary heading + one short narrative paragraph.
3. KPI strip (2 to 4 cards).
4. Action table.
5. Agent-chosen primary visual when warranted.
6. Deep Dive narrative.
7. Provenance table (claim, source system/tool, link/reference).
8. Closing and signature.

reply mode

Use reply mode for inbound family-email responses that should read like a natural email instead of a report.

Mandatory reply-mode style rules

• Keep the body prose-first and human-sounding.
• Make the reply read like a real human-drafted email, not a memo or artifact.
• Render the reply as actual HTML email content, not plain text pasted into an HTML body.
• Start with a natural salutation.
• When the recipient names are clear from the thread, address them naturally by name; otherwise use a warm neutral greeting.
• Open with the direct answer or key response in the first paragraph.
• Preserve the family's preference for first-principles, detailed, explanatory reasoning when the question is substantive.
• Weave reasoning into natural paragraphs instead of forcing an Executive Summary / Deep Dive split.
• Use headings only when they materially improve readability.
• Use lists, tables, or compact charts only when they communicate more clearly than prose.
• Do not force KPI cards, action boards, dashboard framing, or provenance tables into normal replies.
• End with a natural closing and persona sign-off on every reply.
• Keep provenance inline by default when material:
  • mention the MCP server/tool in the prose, ideally parenthetically or in a short supporting clause, when it materially supports the answer
  • mention web sources in the prose when they materially support the answer, using clean clickable HTML links when helpful
  • use a final "Sources consulted" note only when the reply is research-heavy or cites enough sources that inline attribution would hurt readability
• Inline styles only.
• No markdown in final body.
• Use real HTML structure for the body (<p>, <div>, <table>, <a>, etc.) so tables, charts, and clean clickable source links can be added when valuable.

Recommended reply-mode visual hierarchy

1. Salutation.
2. Direct answer paragraph.
3. Supporting reasoning in natural prose.
4. Optional next steps or recommendation paragraph.
5. Natural closing and persona sign-off.
6. Optional compact table, chart, or short sources note when warranted.

Provenance guidance

• Prefer concrete attribution, e.g. MCP: paperless.search_documents or MCP: google-workspace-personal-ro.get_events.
• For web lookups, include direct URLs.
• In brief mode, include explicit provenance in the deep dive or provenance section.
• In reply mode, default to inline attribution. Use a short final source note only for research-heavy or many-source replies.

Automation reply contract

• For inbound replies, use google-workspace-agent-rw.reply_gmail_message with the triggering Gmail message_id. Do not rebuild thread_id, in_reply_to, or references manually.
• For new outbound conversations or scheduled reports, use google-workspace-agent-rw.send_gmail_message.
• After the Gmail tool call, return JSON only:

{"status":"sent","sent_message_id":"<id>","thread_id":"<thread_id>","from_email":"<alias_email>","to":"<recipient_or_list>"}