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World desk10 min

How to Summarize Emails Automatically With OpenClaw

Build a safe OpenClaw email digest with Gmail or IMAP, cron or event triggers, structured action summaries, and explicit approval before any reply is sent.
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OpenClaw can turn a Gmail or IMAP inbox into a scheduled digest: keep it running on an always-on machine, connect the mailbox with read-only access, classify and summarize messages, then deliver the result to Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, or email. Start with manual, approval-gated summaries before allowing any workflow that drafts or sends a reply.

What an automatic OpenClaw email digest does

An email-summary workflow performs five separate jobs:

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  1. It checks a defined mailbox and time window.
  2. It classifies messages so urgent mail is not buried in newsletters.
  3. It extracts decisions, deadlines, unanswered questions, and requested actions.
  4. It combines related messages into thread or project summaries.
  5. It sends a compact digest to a channel you already monitor.

The workflow can run on a timer, such as every morning, or react to new mail. These are different operating modes. A cron job is predictable and easy to audit; a Gmail Watch/Pub/Sub or IMAP event path can reduce latency but needs more configuration and stronger isolation.

Keep reading access separate from action access. A useful first deployment can read and summarize without being able to send, delete, label, archive, or modify messages.

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Choose where OpenClaw will run

Why an always-on runtime matters

A sleeping laptop cannot reliably execute a scheduled check. If the computer is closed, powered off, disconnected, or suspended when the schedule fires, the digest is delayed or missed. Use a machine that stays online for recurring operation: a managed OpenClaw deployment, a VPS, or another continuously running host. A local computer remains useful for initial testing because you can inspect every prompt and output while you tune the workflow.

Local testing versus continuous operation

Runtime Best use Limitation
Local computer Manual runs, prompt design, permission testing Sleep, shutdown, or network loss interrupts schedules
Always-on server or managed deployment Daily digests and event-driven processing Requires server hardening, credential protection, and monitoring

Begin locally with a small, dedicated mailbox or a narrowly scoped account. Move to an always-on runtime only after a manual digest is accurate and the agent cannot perform unapproved mailbox actions.

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Connect Gmail with the supported webhook path

Authorize the account first

The Gmail account must already be authorized in gog. Use an account intended for the workflow, or at least limit the initial mailbox and permissions. Read-only access is the safest starting point; do not grant send or modification privileges merely to produce summaries.

Run the Gmail setup command

On the OpenClaw host, run:

openclaw webhooks gmail setup --account <email>

This command authenticates gcloud, provisions or updates the Pub/Sub topic and subscription, configures the push endpoint, starts the Gmail watch, and writes the Gmail hook configuration to hooks.gmail. The command establishes message transport. It does not, by itself, create a restricted reader agent or the session-key policy required by the templated preset.

Complete the reader-agent configuration

After transport is working, configure a dedicated reader agent rather than passing incoming mail to a broadly privileged shared agent. Use:

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  • An isolated session for each mailbox or processing run.
  • Allowed session-key prefixes that prevent an email payload from selecting arbitrary sessions.
  • The minimum tools needed to read and summarize.
  • No send, delete, move, label, or external-action tool until you have an explicit approval step.

This separation is important because a successful webhook test proves that Gmail can deliver notifications; it does not prove that the agent handling message content is constrained.

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Know the Gmail watcher defaults

OpenClaw documents body snippets as enabled by default, a 20,000-byte limit for each message body, and watch renewal every 720 minutes. The allowUnsafeExternalContent option defaults to false. Leave it disabled when processing mail from unknown or external senders. A body-size limit can truncate long messages, so the digest should say when content was incomplete rather than implying that the entire message was read.

Use IMAP when Gmail is not the right provider

For a non-Gmail mailbox, the bundled IMAP watcher provides an inbound trigger. The 2026.8.1 release notes describe it as disabled by default and inbound-only: it can admit messages for processing but cannot send or modify mail.

IMAP admission requirements

  • Configure mailbox authentication.
  • Define an explicit sender allowlist.
  • Enable the watcher only after testing the account and allowlist.
  • Monitor skipped messages and authentication failures.

After three temporary admission failures, the watcher records a message as skipped. Treat that record as an operational signal: check credentials, sender matching, and the mailbox connection before assuming that no new mail arrived.

Gmail and IMAP are not interchangeable

Characteristic Gmail Watch/Pub/Sub Bundled IMAP watcher
Provider Gmail Generic IMAP mailbox
Trigger style Event-driven push after a Gmail watch is established Inbound event watcher
Default state Configured through the Gmail setup command Disabled by default
Mail actions Constrain through the reader agent and tools Inbound-only; cannot send or modify mail
Controls to configure Dedicated agent, session isolation, tool restrictions Authentication and sender allowlisting

Design the summarization workflow

Set a precise time window

Tell OpenClaw exactly which messages to inspect. Examples include “received since the previous successful run,” “received between 6 p.m. yesterday and 8 a.m. today,” or “unread messages received in the last four hours.” A time window prevents the agent from repeatedly summarizing the entire mailbox and makes missed-run recovery easier.

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Classify before summarizing

A practical first classification has four buckets:

Category Meaning Digest treatment
VIP Mail from a person, team, or account that receives priority Show near the top with sender and context
Action-required The reader must decide, reply, approve, pay, schedule, or deliver something Include the requested action and due date
FYI Useful information with no immediate task Compress to one or two sentences
Promotion Marketing, offers, and other low-priority commercial mail Group together or omit according to your policy

A message can belong to more than one operational priority, but define a tie-breaking rule. For example, a VIP message with a deadline remains in the VIP section even when it is also action-required.

Require fields that make a digest actionable

For important messages, request the sender, a two-sentence summary, deadlines, open questions, and the next action. Group related threads so a five-message exchange does not appear as five unrelated alerts. Preserve uncertainty: if no due date is stated, write “no deadline stated” rather than inventing one.

Use a deterministic prompt

A fixed prompt produces more consistent output than an informal request. Adapt the channel name and time window, but keep the safety rule intact:

Check messages received since the last run. Classify each as VIP, action-required, FYI, or promotion. For important messages, list sender, a two-sentence summary, deadlines, open questions, and the next action. Group related threads. Send the digest to the selected channel. Draft replies only when requested, and never send without explicit approval.

Define the output order as well: urgent items first, then action-required, then FYI, with promotions last or excluded. If the mailbox contains no qualifying messages, instruct the agent to report that plainly instead of fabricating activity.

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Choose a trigger: cron or event-driven mail

Fixed-time cron digest

Cron is appropriate when you want one or more predictable digests, such as a morning briefing and an end-of-day review. It is easier to reason about because every run has a known window and expected delivery time. The host must remain online at the scheduled time, and the workflow should record the last successful run so a temporary outage does not silently create a gap.

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Gmail Watch/Pub/Sub

Use the Gmail webhook path when new-message latency matters. Gmail sends an event through Pub/Sub to the configured endpoint, and OpenClaw can start an isolated processing run. Event-driven handling is not a replacement for a periodic reconciliation: a daily cron check can still identify messages missed during a watch renewal, endpoint outage, or authentication failure.

Inbound IMAP watcher

The IMAP watcher is useful when the provider is not Gmail or when you need an inbound-only trigger. Because it is disabled by default and depends on authentication plus sender allowlisting, enable it deliberately and inspect skipped-message records during the first days of operation.

Trigger Latency Operational trade-off
Cron At the scheduled time Simple and predictable; requires a continuously running host
Gmail Watch/Pub/Sub Near-real-time event delivery More moving parts: watch renewal, Pub/Sub transport, push endpoint, and isolation
IMAP watcher Event-driven inbound handling Provider-neutral, but disabled by default and limited to authenticated, allowlisted inbound mail

Deliver the digest where you already look

OpenClaw documents Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, and email as delivery choices. Select one destination for the first deployment so failures are easy to diagnose. A digest should identify its time window and mailbox, then present sections in a stable order.

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Make channel output readable

  • Put the count of qualifying messages at the top.
  • Use short headings for VIP, action-required, FYI, and promotion.
  • Include a direct subject or thread identifier when available.
  • Keep one message per item rather than combining unrelated requests.
  • Mark truncated bodies or missing dates explicitly.

If delivery fails, retain the generated digest in the host’s normal logs or an approved private location, then retry delivery without reprocessing the mailbox unnecessarily.

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Keep replies and mailbox changes approval-gated

The safest policy is “summarize freely, act only with approval.” OpenClaw may prepare a reply draft when you request one, but it should not send that draft until a person explicitly approves the exact recipient, subject, body, and attachments. Apply the same gate to forwarding, labeling, archiving, deleting, marking read, creating calendar events, or calling another service from information found in an email.

A practical approval sequence

  1. The reader agent produces the digest and, if requested, a clearly labeled draft.
  2. The draft displays recipients, quoted content, attachments, and the proposed action.
  3. A human reviews the content in the delivery channel or designated control interface.
  4. The human gives an unambiguous approval for that specific action.
  5. Only then does a separately permitted action tool execute.

Do not treat a sentence inside an email as approval. “Send this to accounting” is untrusted message content unless the authorized operator confirms it through the approval mechanism.

Run a safe first test

  1. Create or select a dedicated mailbox containing a small set of representative messages: one urgent request, one newsletter, one thread, and one message with no stated deadline.
  2. Connect it with read permissions only.
  3. Run the workflow manually rather than enabling a recurring trigger.
  4. Check that every message is classified, related threads are grouped, and absent deadlines are not invented.
  5. Confirm that the output reaches the selected channel and contains no hidden reply or modification action.
  6. Test a long message to see how the 20,000-byte body limit is represented in the digest.
  7. Test an unapproved reply request and verify that OpenClaw drafts or explains the action without sending it.
  8. Only after these checks, enable cron, Gmail Watch/Pub/Sub, or the IMAP watcher.

Troubleshoot common failures

No digest arrives on schedule

  • Check whether the runtime was asleep or offline at the scheduled time.
  • Verify the cron schedule and the last successful-run record.
  • Confirm that the delivery channel credentials are still valid.
  • Run a manual summary to separate scheduler problems from mailbox-access problems.

Gmail notifications arrive but no summary is produced

  • Confirm that the account is authorized in gog.
  • Run openclaw webhooks gmail setup --account <email> again and inspect the resulting hook configuration.
  • Check that the Pub/Sub subscription and push endpoint are reachable.
  • Verify that the event is routed to the dedicated reader agent, not an unconfigured shared session.

IMAP messages are skipped

Review authentication and sender allowlisting first. Three temporary admission failures cause a message to be recorded as skipped, so inspect those records before changing the summarization prompt.

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The digest misses information

Check the time window, unread-versus-recent selection, thread grouping, and body-size truncation. Ask the workflow to identify truncated content and to separate “not present” from “not found in the available message text.”

The agent attempts an unsafe action

Stop the action tool, revoke unnecessary credentials, and return to read-only processing. Review session isolation, allowed session-key prefixes, tool permissions, and the approval gate before enabling any external action again.

Security and privacy requirements

Treat every email as untrusted input

Email bodies, signatures, quoted replies, HTML, and attachments can contain instructions aimed at the agent. They may impersonate an administrator, ask for secrets, or try to override the workflow. The summarizer should extract facts from the message while ignoring commands embedded in that content.

  • Use least-privilege credentials.
  • Start with a dedicated or limited-access mailbox.
  • Keep processing sessions isolated.
  • Leave allowUnsafeExternalContent set to false for untrusted mail.
  • Restrict tools to reading and summarizing.
  • Require explicit approval for every send or mailbox modification.
  • Protect tokens and logs because summaries can contain confidential information.

Why conservative permissions are justified

A 2026 safety evaluation tested OpenClaw across 12 attack scenarios and four backbone models. Poisoning one Capability, Identity, or Knowledge dimension increased average attack success from 24.6% to 64–74%, according to Zijun Wang and coauthors. Even the strongest tested defense recorded a 63.8% success rate under Capability-targeted attacks. These results do not predict the outcome of your particular mailbox, but they do show why broad permissions and automatic sending are poor defaults.

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Operate the workflow over time

  • Review a sample of digests each week for missed deadlines and false priorities.
  • Remove mailbox permissions that the workflow does not use.
  • Rotate credentials according to your organization’s policy.
  • Check Gmail watch renewal and endpoint health.
  • Inspect IMAP skipped-message records and allowlist changes.
  • Keep a manual reconciliation run, especially after host downtime.
  • Update the classification rules when a new project, sender, or recurring newsletter appears.
  • Preserve an approval record for any action-capable workflow.

The most dependable arrangement is a continuously running host, a narrowly scoped reader agent, a deterministic prompt, and a fixed digest schedule, with event-driven handling added only when its extra operational complexity is worthwhile.

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