/gmail-sync

/gmail-sync - Sync Application Status from Gmail

You are scanning the user's Gmail for status signals on tracked job applications (interview invites, assessment links, offers, rejections) and, once approved, writing the detected changes into `job_search_tracker.csv` and `documents/applications/<company>_<role>/outcome.md` - the same two places `/outcome` writes to, in the same schema.

Unlike `/outcome` (which asks the user what happened), `/gmail-sync` classifies real emails on its own - but it never writes on its own. Every classified change is presented as a batch **before** anything touches the tracker or `outcome.md`, and only proceeds once the user approves it (approving the whole batch at once is fine; writing first and flagging it after is not). Because a wrong write silently corrupts application history that `/setup` later calibrates from, every proposed change must cite its source email and every uncertain case must be surfaced instead of guessed. Never treat this command's job as "notice something in an inbox" - it is "propose a correct, sourced line for a permanent record, and write it only once the user says yes."

Follow these steps **in order**.

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Step 0: Prerequisites

Confirm the Gmail MCP tools (`mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__*`) are available. If not, tell the user to connect the Gmail integration (claude.ai Settings → Connectors → Gmail) and stop - do not attempt this via Bash, IMAP, or any other channel.

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Step 1: Parse Input

`$ARGUMENTS` may contain:

• Nothing → default lookback (see Step 3)
• A company name, e.g. `/gmail-sync acme` → scope the search to that one tracked application
• `since <YYYY-MM-DD>` → override the lookback start date for this run only (does not change the persisted state file)

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Step 2: Load State

1. Read `job_search_tracker.csv`. If it does not exist, tell the user there is nothing to sync against yet (suggest `/outcome` or `/apply` first) and stop. Do not create it here - `/gmail-sync` never originates new applications, only updates existing ones. 2. Read `gmail_sync/state.json` (create if missing: `{"last_sync": null, "processed_message_ids": []}`). 3. Build the set of **open applications**: tracker rows whose `status` is not **Final** (per the **Tracker status vocabulary** in `/outcome`). For each, derive its archive folder `documents/applications/<company>_<role>/` (lowercase, underscores - same convention as `/outcome`) and check whether `outcome.md` exists there.

**`drafted` rows stay in this set, and are the reason it is worth searching.** `/apply` writes them but never submits; the user submits by hand and may not think to run `/outcome`. A reply arriving against a row still marked `drafted` is exactly that case, and the row holds the company name the search needs. 4. If `$ARGUMENTS` named a company, filter this set to the matching row(s) (case-insensitive). No match → tell the user and stop, do not guess.

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Step 3: Build the Search Query

Lookback window: `since <date>` argument if given, else `state.last_sync` if set, else `newer_than:30d`.

1. Call `list_labels` and look for a user label whose name suggests job-search email (e.g. contains "job", "application", "career" case-insensitively). Note its `id` if found. 2. Normalize each open application's company name for matching later (lowercase; strip `inc`, `inc.`, `llc`, `ltd`, `a/s`, `corp`, `corporation`, `group`; strip punctuation; collapse whitespace). 3. Build a Gmail query combining (with `OR` groups via `{}`):

• `label:<id>` if a job-search label was found
• A quoted-name OR-group of the open applications' company names, e.g. `{"Acme Corp" "BigCo"}`
• A sender-domain OR-group of common ATS platforms: `{from:greenhouse.io from:lever.co from:myworkday.com from:ashbyhq.com from:smartrecruiters.com from:icims.com from:bamboohr.com}`
• The lookback bound, e.g. `newer_than:30d` or `after:2026/06/15`
• `in:inbox` (skip sent/drafts - status signals come from what employers send you, not what you sent them)

Example: `newer_than:30d in:inbox ({"Acme Corp" "BigCo"} OR {from:greenhouse.io from:lever.co from:myworkday.com from:ashbyhq.com})`

4. Call `search_threads` with `view: THREAD_VIEW_MINIMAL`, `pageSize: 50`, paginating via `pageToken` until exhausted or results are clearly outside the relevant window.

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Step 4: Filter to New Messages

For each returned thread, inspect its messages' IDs against `state.processed_message_ids`. Skip a thread entirely if every message in it is already processed. For threads with unprocessed messages, call `get_thread` with `messageFormat: FULL_CONTENT` to get full bodies - **classification in Step 5 must never be based on the snippet/subject alone**, since snippets truncate the exact phrase that distinguishes "we'd like to schedule a call" from "thanks for applying."

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Step 5: Classify Each Unprocessed Message

For each new message, first try to match it to one open application: compare the normalized sender domain / display name / subject / body against the normalized company names from Step 3. No confident match (company genuinely absent, or ambiguous between two tracked companies) → do not propose a write; record it in the Step 6 summary as "unmatched" and move to the next message.

For a matched message, classify by content (require the signal phrase in the subject or the first few lines - a company name appearing only deep in a forwarded thread or newsletter footer is not a signal):

| Signal | Example phrasing | Tracker `status` | `outcome.md` action | |---|---|---|---| | Application ack | "we've received your application" | `drafted` -> `applied`, otherwise *(no change)* | On a `drafted` row this is the one email that proves the user submitted by hand, and it arrives within a day of them doing so - propose the move with `date` set to the email's date. On any other status it is noise. | | OA / assessment | "online assessment", "coding challenge", "complete your assessment", HackerRank/Co