OpenClaw Email Assistant: Summarize Newsletters and Get a Daily Digest

You subscribe to newsletters because they contain valuable information. Then they pile up unread, your inbox turns into a backlog, and you either ignore everything or waste a weekend catching up. The problem is not willpower. It is friction: newsletters arrive continuously, but attention does not.

OpenClaw can act as an email assistant that reads your newsletters, extracts the high-signal items, and sends you a clean daily digest with links to read more. Even better, it can learn your preferences over time so the digest improves instead of becoming another stream of noise.

This guide shows a practical setup based on the "inbox declutter" use case: problem, solution, required skills, step-by-step configuration, prompt templates, troubleshooting, and a small FAQ.

Related reading: OpenClaw use cases and the OpenClaw skills guide.

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The pain point: newsletter overload without a feedback loop

Newsletters are a classic high-value, low-urgency input. They rarely require immediate action, so they get postponed. But postponing creates a pile that feels impossible to clear.

Most people try:

• Unsubscribing from everything (and losing the few gems)
• Letting newsletters rot in the inbox
• Moving them to a "Read later" app (another inbox)

The missing piece is a system that:

1. Collects newsletters automatically
2. Summarizes them consistently
3. Delivers them when you actually have time
4. Learns what you consider valuable

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What the OpenClaw email assistant does

Once configured, the assistant runs a daily job:

1. Search for newsletter emails received in the last 24 hours
2. Summarize each newsletter into a short set of bullets
3. Rank the "must read" items across all newsletters
4. Send a digest to your preferred channel (Telegram/Discord/email)
5. Ask for feedback and store preferences to memory

Because the work is repetitive, it is a great fit for OpenClaw automation.

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Skills required

• Gmail OAuth (to read and send)
• Cron jobs (to schedule)
• Memory (to learn preferences)

The use case reference skill is gmail-oauth.

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Step-by-step setup

1) Connect Gmail

Install and authenticate:

clawhub install gmail-oauth

Or ask OpenClaw to install and guide you through OAuth.

Tip: if you want strong separation, create a dedicated Gmail account just for newsletters and connect that account to OpenClaw.

2) Create a newsletter label (optional but recommended)

In Gmail, create a label like Newsletters and add filters for your newsletter senders. If you do this, newsletter detection becomes almost perfect.

3) Configure the daily digest cron job

Copy/paste prompt:

Every day at 8 PM, read all newsletter emails from the last 24 hours.
Summarize each into 2-3 bullets and include links.
Start with a "Top 3 must read" section.
Then ask me if the picks were good and update your memory based on my feedback.
Deliver the digest in Telegram.

4) Add preference learning rules

Give explicit feedback, for example:

I care about AI engineering, product strategy, and open-source releases.
Skip crypto unless it is AI-related.
Skip job boards and event promotions.
Prefer concrete numbers, benchmarks, and launch details.

5) Add a weekly deep dive

Daily keeps you informed. Weekly helps you see trends:

Every Sunday at 10 AM, send a weekly summary:
- Top 5 stories of the week
- Repeated topics across newsletters
- One recommended long read

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Newsletter detection: separate newsletters from important email

Classification matters. You do not want an important client message included in the newsletter digest, and you do not want newsletter spam labeled as "important".

Use multiple signals:

• The List-Unsubscribe header
• A Gmail label like Newsletters
• A sender allowlist/denylist
• Excluding specific domains or internal company addresses

Prompt template:

Classify an email as a newsletter if it has a List-Unsubscribe header
OR it is in my Gmail label "Newsletters".
Never include emails from these senders: [list]
Always include emails from these senders even if they look like newsletters: [list]

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Digest delivery options (chat vs email)

Chat delivery (Telegram/Discord) is best for skimming. Email delivery is best when you want an archive or you want to forward the digest.

You can also ask for two outputs:

• Short digest in chat (top items only)
• Longer digest by email (HTML with sections)

Prompt:

Send me a short digest in Telegram, and also email me a longer HTML
version with clear sections and links.

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Troubleshooting and common pitfalls

OAuth expires or missing scopes. Re-run OAuth and confirm permissions include reading and sending.

Digest is too long. Add max length rules: "max 120 words per newsletter" and "no more than 12 total bullets".

Digest arrives at the wrong time. Confirm server timezone used by cron.

Repeated summaries. Maintain a seen list based on Message-ID or store the last processed timestamp per sender.

Summaries feel generic. Ask for one layer of extraction before summary: "extract notable numbers, named companies, and launches".

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How ClawRapid helps

ClawRapid makes it easier to deploy OpenClaw with a stable runtime and the right defaults for scheduled jobs. Once deployed, you connect Gmail and paste the prompts above. You get the digest workflow without wrestling with infrastructure.

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FAQ

Can it send the digest to multiple places? Yes. Send to Telegram and email, or to Discord plus email.

Does it work with paid newsletters? If the full content is in the email, yes. If it is only a teaser with a paywalled link, the summary will be limited.

Can I ask questions about a specific newsletter later? Yes. Ask the assistant to retrieve the original email and answer questions from it.

How many newsletters is too many? If you get more than 30-40 per day, start with filtering and strong summarization limits.

Is my email private? OpenClaw runs on your infrastructure. The Gmail integration uses OAuth, and the processing can be kept within your environment.

Can it unsubscribe me automatically? It can suggest unsubscribe candidates. Automatic unsubscribe is possible but should require explicit confirmation.