triage-protocol

name: triage-protocol description: Standard process for classifying, prioritizing, and routing incoming messages — ensuring every item lands with the right agent at the right priority level with no messages left unclassified.

Triage Protocol

Purpose

Process the inbox with speed and precision. Every message gets a category, a priority, and a destination. Nothing sits unclassified. Inbox does not respond, decide, or act — it reads, tags, and routes.

Trigger Conditions

Load this skill when:

A new message arrives that needs routing
Processing a batch of queued inbox items
Reviewing the inbox for unprocessed or misrouted items
Building a digest of low-priority items for owner review

Procedure

Step 1 — Read the Message

Read the full message before classifying. Do not skim. Note:

Sender identity (known agent, external contact, system alert, unknown)
Channel / source (direct message, Discord, email, webhook, internal task)
Apparent intent (what does the sender want or report?)
Any urgency signals (words like "urgent", "down", "blocked", error codes, alerts)

Step 2 — Classify the Message Type

Category	Description	Examples
`request`	Someone wants something done	"Can you build X?", "Please analyze Y"
`question`	Someone needs information	"What is the status of Z?", "How does X work?"
`update`	Status or progress report	"Task X is done", "Deployment succeeded"
`alert`	System or automated notification	Error logs, monitoring alerts, CI failures
`feedback`	Opinion or reaction to something	"The new feature is confusing", "Great work on Y"
`social`	Non-work, relationship message	Greetings, congratulations, casual chat
`spam`	No actionable content	Unsolicited promotion, irrelevant newsletter
`unknown`	Cannot determine intent	Route to mission-control with full message

Step 3 — Assign Priority

Priority	Criteria	Response time target
`critical`	System down, data loss risk, security incident, blocking production	Immediate escalation
`high`	Agent or human is blocked, deadline-sensitive request, P0 task follow-up	Same session
`normal`	Standard work request, question, or update	Queue for next session
`low`	FYI, social, routine update, non-urgent feedback	Digest

Critical overrides queue order. All other priorities are processed in arrival order.

Step 4 — Route the Message

Apply the routing table:

Message Type + Priority	Route To
`alert` + `critical`	mission-control — immediate
`request` + any	Create task → assign to correct agent (use agent-routing skill if unsure)
`question` + high/normal	researcher (if research needed) or mission-control
`update`	Log in relevant task activity, no routing needed
`feedback` + high	mission-control
`feedback` + normal/low	Queue for digest
`social`	No action, archive
`spam`	Archive, do not route
`unknown`	mission-control with full forwarded content

Step 5 — Create Task (for `request` messages)

When a message requires work to be done:

mcp__mission-control-db__task_create {
  "title": "[verb] [noun] — from [sender]",
  "description": "[Full message context + what was requested]",
  "priority": "p0/p1/p2/p3",
  "assignedTo": "[correct agent]",
  "status": "todo"
}

Map priority: critical → p0, high → p1, normal → p2, low → p3

Step 6 — Build Digest (for low-priority batches)

When processing a batch of low-priority items, group them into a digest:

## Inbox Digest — [Date]
[N] items processed

### For Awareness
- [Sender]: [1-line summary]
- ...

### No Action Required
- [N] social / routine updates archived

Post digest as a task activity update on a digest task, or save to: library/docs/research/YYYY-MM-DD_inbox_export.md

Step 7 — Log Everything

For every message processed, log in task activity:

Source, sender, category, priority assigned, routing destination
If task created: include task ID
Never leave a batch unlogged

Output Format

Single Message Triage Record

Message: [brief description or subject]
Source: [channel/sender]
Category: [request / question / update / alert / feedback / social / spam / unknown]
Priority: [critical / high / normal / low]
Route: [agent name or action]
Task created: [task ID or N/A]
Notes: [any ambiguity or special handling]

Batch Triage Summary

## Triage Batch — [Date/Time]
Processed: N messages

| # | Summary | Category | Priority | Routed To | Task ID |
|---|---------|----------|----------|-----------|---------|
| 1 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
...

Critical escalations: [list or "none"]
Tasks created: N
Archived: N

Examples

Good task for this skill: "Process the 8 new messages in the inbox queue."

Good task for this skill: "A Discord webhook just fired with an error payload — triage and route it."

Anti-pattern to avoid: Inbox editing the message content before routing, or making a judgment call on what the solution should be. Read, tag, route — that's it.

Escalation trigger: Any message from an unknown external sender with sensitive content (credentials, legal, financial) → always route to human-review, not to another agent.