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Automating mail

Skill SpillwaveSolutions/automating-mac-apps-plugin/plugins/automating-mac-apps-plugin/skills/automating-mail

Automates Apple Mail via JXA with AppleScript dictionary discovery. Use when asked to "automate email", "send mail via script", "JXA Mail automation", or "filter email messages". Covers accounts, mailboxes, batch message filtering, composition, attachments, and UI fallback.From its SKILL.md

Install
npx -y skills add SpillwaveSolutions/automating-mac-apps-plugin --skill automating-mail

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

SKILL.md

3.4 KB, 724 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it

Automating Apple Mail (JXA-first, AppleScript discovery)

Contents

Relationship to the macOS automation skill

  • Use automating-mac-apps for permissions, shell, and UI scripting guidance.
  • PyXA Installation: See automating-mac-apps skill (PyXA Installation section).

Core Framing

  • Mail dictionary is AppleScript-first; discover in Script Editor.
  • Objects are specifiers: read via method calls (message.subject()), modify via assignments (message.readStatus = true).
  • ObjC bridge available for advanced filesystem operations.

Workflow (default)

  1. Ensure Mail configured and automation permissions enabled.
  2. Discover terms in Script Editor (Mail dictionary).
  3. Prototype minimal AppleScript command.
  4. Port to JXA with defensive checks.
  5. Use batch reads for performance.
  6. Use UI scripting for signature and UI-only actions.

Quick Start Examples

Read inbox (JXA):

const Mail = Application('Mail');
const message = Mail.inbox.messages[0];
console.log(message.subject());

Compose message (JXA):

const msg = Mail.OutgoingMessage({
  subject: "Status Update",
  content: "All systems go."
});
Mail.outgoingMessages.push(msg);
msg.visible = true;

PyXA alternative:

import PyXA
mail = PyXA.Mail()
inbox = mail.inboxes()[0]
message = inbox.messages()[0]
print(f"Subject: {message.subject()}")

Validation Checklist

  • Automation permissions granted (System Settings > Privacy > Automation)
  • Inbox access works: Mail.inbox.messages.length
  • Message property reads return expected values
  • Composition creates visible draft
  • Batch operations complete without errors

When Not to Use

  • For cross-platform email automation (use IMAP/SMTP libraries)
  • For bulk email sending (use transactional email services like SendGrid)
  • When processing untrusted email content (security risk)
  • For non-macOS platforms

What to load

  • Mail JXA basics: automating-mail/references/mail-basics.md
  • Recipes (filter, move, compose): automating-mail/references/mail-recipes.md
  • Advanced patterns (batch ops, HTML, signatures): automating-mail/references/mail-advanced.md
  • Dictionary translation table: automating-mail/references/mail-dictionary.md
  • Rule scripts: automating-mail/references/mail-rules.md
  • HTML + signature workflow: automating-mail/references/html-signature-workflow.md
  • Attachment extraction pipeline: automating-mail/references/attachment-extraction.md
  • Mailbox archiver: automating-mail/references/mailbox-archiver.md
  • HTML data merge: automating-mail/references/html-data-merge.md
  • PyXA API Reference (complete class/method docs): automating-mail/references/mail-pyxa-api-reference.md

What ships with it: 16 files

42.8 KB alongside SKILL.md, 6 of them executable

references/

scripts/

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