Outbox

Outbox Skill

Manages the lifecycle of outgoing material staged in <vault>/_outbox/. Each subfolder there represents one "send" event (mejl + attachment + preparation). Once sent and resolved, the material belongs in the relevant contact/project folder -- not as eternal residue in the central outbox.

Vault Location

vault/_outbox/
  YYMMDD-<contact-or-project>_<context>/   <- staging while in flight
    _manifest.md                            <- canonical state file
    [files...]

After archiving:

vault/_contacts/<contact>/
  YYMMDD-<context>/                         <- archived inside contact folder
    _manifest.md                            <- updated with Status: arkiverad + Utfall
    [files...]

For project-scoped outbox items the destination is the project folder (<vault>/<venture>/_projects/<project>/ or similar). The skill detects scope from the manifest or asks.

Manifest schema

_manifest.md is the canonical state file for an outbox item. The skill reads/writes these fields:

**Status:** [draft | klar-att-skicka | skickad YYYY-MM-DD | arkiverad YYYY-MM-DD]
**Kanal:** [mejl | slack | print | ...]
**Kontakt:** [email or name]
**Projekt:** [optional theme/context]
**Kanonisk källa:** [path to the source doc each attachment is rendered from — or `ingen (originalet bor här)`]

## Innehåll
[file table]

## Skicka
[instructions]

## Svar förväntas på
- [ ] item 1
- [ ] item 2

## Utfall
[populated when resolved]

When all Svar förväntas på items are checked AND Utfall is populated, the item is resolution-ready -- ready to archive.

Kanonisk källa is REQUIRED (CR-032)

Every manifest must state where its material actually lives. Two valid answers:

• A path -- the attachment is a rendering (PDF out of a .md, export out of a dataset). The source is the original; the outbox copy is disposable. Example: _contacts/<kontakt>/leverans/YYMMDD-onepager.md
• ingen (originalet bor här) -- the material exists nowhere else. Typically the mejl.txt and the manifest itself. This is not a defect, it is a statement that the folder must be archived rather than deleted.

Why it is required. An audit on 2026-08-28 found 86 outbox items, of which only 3 of 71 manifests named a source. That made a routine question -- "is this a copy or the original?" -- unanswerable without opening every folder and grepping the vault. PDFs turned out to be renderings, but the mejl-texts and manifests existed only in _outbox/, so a bulk clean-up would have destroyed material. The field moves that determination to creation time, where the author knows the answer, instead of to clean-up time, where nobody does.

Enforcement:

• list flags any manifest missing the field: (saknar Kanonisk källa).
• archive warns but does not abort -- refusing would strand legacy folders. It asks the user to fill it in, and offers ingen (originalet bor här) as the default.
• When /ops (or anything else) stages new outbox material it must write the field. Leaving it blank is the same defect as leaving Status: blank.

SUBCOMMANDS

list (default if no args)

Trigger: /outbox or /outbox list

Walk <vault>/_outbox/* (excluding .archive/), parse each _manifest.md, and print a status table:

## Outbox status

PENDING (awaiting reply)
  260427-carol-jones_reflektion       skickad 260427      0/2 svar
  260427-dan-smith_reflektion     skickad 260427      0/1 svar

RESOLUTION-READY (archive candidates)
  260427-bob-lindgren_acme      skickad 260427      2/2 svar  Utfall: ja

DRAFT
  260506-someone_topic                 draft               -

WITHOUT MANIFEST (manual review needed)
  260418-bob-lindgren_acmecorp    -                   -

MISSING KANONISK KÄLLA (fill in — copy or original?)
  260503-someone_topic            skickad 260503      saknar Kanonisk källa

For each resolution-ready item, suggest: /outbox archive <folder-name>.

If a folder has no _manifest.md, flag for manual review -- don't auto-classify.

status

Alias for list.

archive <folder-name>

Trigger: /outbox archive 260427-bob-lindgren_acme

Steps:

1. Validate:

   • Folder exists in <vault>/_outbox/<folder-name>/
   • _manifest.md exists and parses
   • Status: is skickad ... (warn if draft, abort if missing)
   • All Svar förväntas på items checked (warn if any unchecked, ask user to confirm)
   • Utfall section populated (warn if empty)

2. Determine destination:

   • From manifest Kontakt: or folder-name prefix, identify contact/project
   • For contact: <vault>/_contacts/<contact-slug>/
   • For project: read manifest Projekt: or ask user
   • Multiple contacts (e.g. ambassador-style fan-out): ask user -- duplicate to each, or pick primary, or keep in a shared _outbox/.archive/. Default suggestion: duplicate to each contact folder.

3. Determine new folder name:

   • Default: strip contact-name prefix from outbox folder name
     • 260427-bob-lindgren_acme -> 260427-acme (or 260427-partnership if user prefers theme over context)
   • Ask user to confirm or override

4. Move folder:

   • mv <vault>/_outbox/<folder-name> <destination>/<new-folder-name>
   • Files inside keep their original names (rename only on user request)

5. Update _manifest.md at new location:

   • Status: -> arkiverad YYYY-MM-DD
   • Add tidslinje row if not present
   • Ensure all reference paths (Detaljer:, Source:) point to new locations

6. Update contact CHANGELOG.md:

   • Add entry: **YYMMDD: Ärendet arkiverat** - Outbox-material flyttat till <new-folder-name>/. [link]

7. Update _tasks.yaml in contact folder:

   • For any task referencing the old _outbox/... path, rewrite the source path to point to new location
   • Don't auto-complete tasks -- that's a separate decision

8. Update referencing documents:

   • Search vault for links to old path: grep -r "_outbox/<folder-name>" <vault> (excluding .archive/)
   • Update each reference to the new path
   • Show diff before applying

9. Report:

   Archived: 260427-bob-lindgren_acme
     -> _contacts/bob-lindgren/260427-partnership/
   Updated:
     - _contacts/bob-lindgren/CHANGELOG.md (+1 entry)
     - _contacts/bob-lindgren/_tasks.yaml (1 source path)
     - _contacts/bob-lindgren/<samtal>.md (1 reference)
   

archive --all-sent (CR-019)

Trigger: /outbox archive --all-sent

Batch mode over the single-folder archive flow, so a backlog of sent items can be closed in one sitting instead of item by item ( /ops sweep offers this command when it finds sent-but-unarchived items).

1. Run the list logic and collect every folder whose manifest Status: is skickad ....
2. Present the candidate list up front (folder, destination guess, proposed new name) and let the user confirm all / select / abort.
3. For each confirmed folder, run the standard archive <folder-name> steps 1-9. Per-folder judgement calls (destination for multi-contact items, folder rename) are still asked individually -- batch mode batches the selection, not the decisions.
4. Final report: one summary table (archived → destination), plus the items skipped and why (unchecked "Svar förväntas på", empty Utfall, missing manifest).

help

Print this skill's usage.

Behaviour rules

• Never delete files. Only move. Original outbox folder is removed only after successful move (it should be empty).
• Never auto-complete tasks. Archiving is a file operation, not a workflow decision.
• Always confirm folder rename -- destination folder name is a judgement call (theme vs context vs date-only).
• Preserve manifest history. Append to ## Tidslinje if it exists, never overwrite.
• Swedish text must use correct å, ä, ö (vault-wide rule). When generating manifest updates or CHANGELOG entries in Swedish, verify each common word: för, är, på, från, även, över, första.
• Email .txt files are plain text -- never reformat to markdown when touching them.

Manifest detection edge cases

• No manifest: flag in list, refuse to archive without one. User must create manifest manually first.
• Manifest with Projekt: set, no contact: treat as project-scoped; archive to <vault>/_projects/<projekt>/ or venture project folder.
• Multiple contacts (ambassador case): flag as fan-out; ask user for resolution strategy.
• Old outbox layout (260427-name_topic) vs new (260427-topic): support both for list; new naming is for archived destinations.

Naming convention for archived folders

When archiving into a contact's folder, the contact-name prefix is redundant. Strip it:

The skill suggests a default but always asks before renaming. For ambassadörs-style (multi-contact) the original name may be retained when archiving to a shared location.

Integration with other skills

• /ops -- when ops-skill creates outbox material (preparation, mejl), it stages to _outbox/. This skill handles the back end of that flow.
• /transcript -- transcripts of follow-up calls/replies that resolve an outbox item should reference the resolution doc, which /outbox archive then links to in the manifest's Utfall section.
• /inbox -- mirror skill for incoming material. Same lifecycle pattern.
• /tasks -- tasks generated from an outbox item live in the contact's _tasks.yaml and survive archiving (paths rewritten).

Not to be confused with /handoff (CR-033)

An outbox item is addressed to a person and has a send event, an expected reply, and a resolution. A handoff snapshot is addressed to a future work session, is never sent, and is resolved only when a human opens it and starts new work.

If material is going to someone, it is outbox. If it is bounded context for different work, it is /handoff. This skill never reads or writes .handoff/.

Out of scope

• Drafting outbox content -- that's /ops or manual.
• Sending email -- that's done outside the vault by the user.
• Categorisation/classification -- the manifest's Projekt: and folder-name prefix carry the signal.

Created: 2026-05-06