Show HN: Playground for AI email triage with a dynamic interface and chatbot

2 balibou 5 8/11/2025, 12:06:01 PM catchupinbox.com ↗
After a week off, I came back to hundreds of unread emails. I wanted a way to figure out what actually mattered without spending hours.

So I built a small AI prototype that: - Finds urgent and important messages - Summarizes long threads - Lets you interact with your inbox in a more visual way

Right now, it’s just a playground using a realistic sample inbox (hardcoded data). You can try it here: https://catchupinbox.com/playground

It has: - A dynamic email/thread interface - An AI chatbot that works directly within that interface

Stack: Next.js, hexagonal architecture, OpenAI (LLM-agnostic). Privacy-first — no real emails are used in this demo.

I’m curious: - Does this approach make sense to you? - What would make this genuinely useful? - Any edge cases or workflows I should consider before adding Gmail/Outlook support?

Comments (5)

balibou · 3h ago
Here’s a quick overview of the playground in action:

https://imgur.com/a/hernlw1

The is what the AI produces: a small set of urgent items + short summaries.

This demo runs entirely on hardcoded data — nothing from your real inbox.

jeco123 · 3h ago
Love the concept, especially for coming back from vacation — being able to spot the truly important emails in minutes instead of spending hours sorting is a real stress-saver. The dynamic interface + summaries + built-in chatbot feels like a combo that could genuinely change how we catch up on our inbox. Can’t wait to see a real Gmail/Outlook integration!
balibou · 3h ago
Thanks! That exact “back from vacation” stress was my main trigger for building this.

Gmail and Outlook support are definitely the next big step — the main challenge is figuring out the best way to process everything while keeping privacy intact.

If you use Gmail/Outlook heavily, I’d love to hear: - What kind of “important” criteria you’d want it to detect automatically - Any edge cases where a tool like this might get it wrong

That input will help me shape the integration roadmap.

jeco123 · 3h ago
Totally !!!! that “back from vacation” panic is real and i waste a lot of time ;-). For “important” detection, I’d look at VIP senders, direct mentions/assignments, and anything with deadlines or invites.
balibou · 3h ago
Yes — VIP senders, direct mentions, and deadlines/invites are great signals. The current playground already does a bit of deadline/invite detection (based on text patterns), but VIPs and explicit @mentions are definitely on my short list for the real integrations.

Do you think you’d want to configure those “important” rules yourself, or would you prefer the AI to just learn your habits over time?