An agent sorts 200 emails at 7am and drafts easy replies
A writer built 'Hermes' on Claude and Gmail to open the inbox at 7am, flag the three or four urgent messages, file the rest and draft replies for easy ones. After four months he reports 91% filed correctly, about 4 hours saved a week and roughly 8 euros a month, plus a day it replied to his mum like a sales prospect.
- Agent or tool
- Claude (Hermes)
- Topic
- Email & Inbox
- Reported on
- Blog
- Added
- 2026-10-29
Why it matters
Email is where a lot of admin quietly piles up. An agent that can read, sort, draft and follow up turns an inbox from a to-do list into something closer to a summary. It is one of 108 sightings filed under Email & Inbox on Agent Sightings (number 6 by interest), and one of 1 involving Claude (Hermes).
How you could try it
Here is a reusable prompt, written by us in our own words, that captures the task. Paste it into Claude (Hermes) or any similar agent and adjust the details to your situation.
Every morning at 7, read my new emails, list the 3-4 that are truly urgent, file the rest into a few folders by my rules, and draft replies for the easy ones. Never send anything. Treat family and friends as personal, not sales leads.
The prompt breaks down into 3 steps you can check as the agent works:
- Every morning at 7, read my new emails, list the 3-4 that are truly urgent, file the rest into a few folders by my rules, and draft replies for the easy ones.
- Never send anything.
- Treat family and friends as personal, not sales leads.
Tip: Start with read-only access or 'draft, don't send', and check a few drafts before trusting it to send anything.
Source
Read the original first-hand account on Blog: https://jerwis.fr/en/articles/hermes-agent. Our summary is a paraphrase; details are in the source.
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