Thread summaries
A long thread, in a few lines.
Open a conversation and the Summary card sits above its first message, so a long thread reads in a few lines before you open any of it.
In short
What is an email thread summary?
A thread summary condenses a conversation into a few lines that say what it is about. It earns its place on long threads, where the point is buried under replies, and it stays useful by keeping up as new messages arrive.
How it works
Above the first message
The Summary card sits above the conversation's first message and says what it is about. Collapse it and it stays collapsed in that browser.
Kept up to date
A summary is written when it is first needed and then kept. After a newer message arrives, opening the conversation writes it again in the background and shows the old one until the new one is ready.
Sealed mail stays sealed
End-to-end encrypted messages stay sealed. A conversation holding one is not summarised, and a summary written before it arrived says it leaves the sealed message out.
What you get
In the product today
No AI actions spent
Summaries spend none of your AI actions, however often you open a thread.
Written where OpenEmail runs
The model runs where OpenEmail itself runs, so the conversation does not go to an outside AI company.
In code too
On the REST API, in the SDK as threads.summary, on the command line as openemail threads summary and over MCP as getThreadSummary.
Good practice
Getting the most out of it
- 01
Read it before the thread
On a long conversation, a few lines tell you whether the whole of it needs you now.
- 02
Come back to it freely
Opening the conversation again costs nothing, so return to the summary whenever you lose track.
- 03
Fold it away if you prefer
The card collapses and stays collapsed in that browser until you open it again.
Questions
Asked often
Keep going
Works well with
Start
Your domain,
your mail.
Point a domain at OpenEmail and read it in a mailbox built around it. The free plan covers one domain.