# Wrangling my email with Claude Code

DevFeed: [Wrangling my email with Claude Code](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/wrangling-my-email-with-claude-code-28099.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://jlongster.com/wrangling-email-claude-code>)

Author: James Long

Published: 2025-11-14T12:00:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [James Long](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/james-long.md>)

Topics: [Claude Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/claude-code.md>), [email](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/email.md>), [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [MCP](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mcp.md>), [n8n](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/n8n.md>)

Tags: [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [api](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/api.md>), [claude-code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/claude-code.md>), [email](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/email.md>), [mcp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mcp.md>), [n8n](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/n8n.md>)

## AI overview

The author describes exploring AI-assisted workflows for managing an email backlog. After trying self-hosted n8n automation, they turn to Claude Code and investigate using MCP to give it access to Gmail for identifying follow-ups and organizing information about companies.

## Source excerpt

I'm terrible at managing emails/DMs/etc. A lot of times it feels like trying to keep up is a full-time job in and of itself. Now that I don't have a job I finally have time to figure out a better workflow to manage life. I have a good workflow for writing notes and managing tasks in Bear, but my biggest weakness is staying on top of communication. What happens frequently is I'll have a backlog so big that I end up ignoring it, which is really bad as I miss out on opportunities or important emails. We now have AI as an incredible tool. I was always too busy to sit down and learn how to leverage AI to transform my life; it's so early and this space is super chaotic. However, I finally have time to figure out new workflows that use AI. My first attempt was to run my own instance of n8n on fly and setup some workflows for processing email. I got it working (and accidentally spammed my wife with multiple emails every hour, which she is still annoyed by), but I realized right now I don't need automations. I just need new tools to help manage my life. Next, I turned to Claude Code. I use it all the time while writing code, and I knew there was a way to extend it. So I thought of a specific use case: after announcing I left my job, I received a lot of emails from interested companies. Since I'm still dealing with some burnout, it's been difficult to stay on top of. How can AI help us here? I thought of a few questions: Which email threads should I follow-up on? Are there any important ones that I forgot to reply to? How can I more clearly see all these companies to help decide what my next step should be? I want to be able to clearly see a list of companies and info about them The first step is to give Claude Code access to my gmail. Writing a Gmail Skill to access email I've used tool calling before only when interacting with an LLM via an API. How do I give Claude Code, a product, the ability to read my email? It looked like MCP was the way to do it. Claude Code has an /m