I added routines to my email MCP and deliberately didn't build a scheduler

Bit of background first. Mailbox MCP connects Claude or ChatGPT to the mailbox you already have, whether that's Gmail, Microsoft 365 or any IMAP account. At the weekend we shipped routines, which are basically a useful question asked for you every day, so you don't have to remember to ask it.

4 ready-made ones to start from

• ☀️ Morning brief: what came in overnight and what actually needs you

• ✍️ Replies you owe: people waiting on an answer from you, with drafts ready

• ⏳ Waiting on: people who haven't got back to you yet

• 🧾 Bills and invoices: what's come in and what's due

Or you can write your own.

Why there's no scheduler

The bit I went back and forth on was where they run. The obvious thing was a scheduler on our servers, and I didn't build it. Claude and ChatGPT both have scheduled tasks already, so a routine is just a task in your own AI, under your own account. Our server only does something when your AI asks it to. For something touching people's email that felt like the right call, even if it's a bit less magic.

Nothing hidden

You see the exact instructions your AI will get before you add it, word for word, with the bits you changed highlighted.

The honest downside

The last step happens inside Claude or ChatGPT, where you have to confirm the task yourself, and that's the step people miss. ChatGPT also caps how many tasks you can have switched on at once.

Would you rather it worked this way, or would you trust a service running jobs on your inbox by itself?

👉 https://mailbox-mcp.com/routines/