jev-mailbox

1# Mailbox sorting with Jev
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3A personal mailbox asks one question before any other: **which of these is even addressed to me as a person?** `jev mail` answers that for a batch of messages and hands you rows. It is not a filter and it deletes nothing: everything it is unsure about, and everything that looks like it needs a person, comes back marked.
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5## Do this
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71. Export the messages as JSON. Each one is an object; every field is optional:
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9   ```json
10   {"id": "m1", "subject": "Re: invoice 2041", "content": "can you check line 3?",
11    "sender": "dana@example.com", "received": "2026-09-19T14:00:00Z",
12    "headers": "List-Unsubscribe: <https://list.example.com/u>", "labels": ["INBOX", "SENT"]}
13   ```
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15   `body` or `snippet` work in place of `content`, and `from` in place of `sender`. A list of these, `{"messages": [...]}` and `{"items": [...]}` all read the same.
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172. Sort them:
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19   ```bash
20   jev mail --file inbox.json              # rows plus a summary
21   jev mail --file inbox.json --summary    # the summary alone
22   ```
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24   The same JSON on stdin works too. `--workers` (default 8) is how many go side by side; `--timeout` (default 6) is seconds per message.
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263. **Read `needs_attention` before you read `lane`.** It is true whenever a person should look, whatever the lane says, and it is the field this command exists for. Never act on a lane while it is true.
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284. Work the rows in this order, and stop at the first that applies:
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30   | Field | Meaning | What to do |
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