Cleanup

Cleanup is Herald’s high-leverage inbox reduction screen. It groups mail by sender or domain, shows detail rows, previews individual messages, and exposes destructive actions, archive, unsubscribe, hide-future-mail, automation rules, custom prompts, and cleanup rule management.

Overview

Press 3 to open Cleanup. Use it when you want to answer questions like “which senders have the most mail?”, “what can I archive?”, “what can I delete?”, and “which future mail should be hidden or automated?”

Screen Anatomy

Area	What it shows
Folder sidebar	Folder tree and counts when the terminal is wide enough and no cleanup preview is hiding it.
Summary table	Group rows by sender or domain with columns for selection, Sender/Domain, Count, and Dates.
Detail table	Emails for the focused summary row with columns for selection, Date, Subject, Size, and Att.
Preview panel	Current cleanup email body, header metadata, action hints, unsubscribe visibility, scroll state, delete/archive progress.
Full-screen preview	Cleanup preview expanded across the terminal.
Rule editor overlay	Full-screen Automation Rule form opened by W.
Custom prompt overlay	Full-screen prompt editor opened by P.
Cleanup manager overlay	Full-screen saved cleanup rules manager opened by C.
Status bar	Sender/domain mode, selection counts, deletion/archive progress, dry-run mode, folder counts, and confirmations.

Controls

Key	Context	Preconditions	Result
d	Cleanup	Not loading.	Toggles sender grouping and domain grouping.
space	Summary or details	Visible data can be interacted with.	Selects or unselects the focused sender/domain row or message row.
enter	Summary	Summary focused.	Loads detail table for the focused sender/domain.
enter	Details	Details focused and preview closed.	Opens preview for the focused message.
enter	Preview	Cleanup preview open and details focused.	Scrolls preview down one line.
j / down	Summary/details	Preview not intercepting scroll.	Moves selection down.
k / up	Summary/details	Preview not intercepting scroll.	Moves selection up.
j / down	Preview	Cleanup preview open and details focused.	Scrolls body down.
k / up	Preview	Cleanup preview open and details focused.	Scrolls body up.
D	Cleanup	Not loading, not already deleting, target exists.	Opens delete confirmation or directly queues current preview email.
e	Cleanup	Not loading, not already deleting, target exists.	Opens archive confirmation or directly queues current preview email.
A	Cleanup preview	AI configured and preview email exists.	Re-classifies the preview email.
u	Cleanup preview	Body includes List-Unsubscribe.	Opens unsubscribe confirmation.
h / H	Cleanup	Focused sender or preview email exists.	Creates hide-future-mail behavior for that sender.
W	Cleanup	Rule editor closed.	Opens automation rule editor, prefilled with focused sender or domain.
P	Main UI	Rule/prompt/settings overlays are closed.	Opens custom AI prompt editor.
C	Cleanup	Cleanup manager closed.	Opens saved cleanup rules manager.
z	Cleanup preview	Preview open.	Toggles full-screen cleanup reader.
esc	Cleanup preview/overlays	Preview, full-screen, or overlay active.	Closes the active state.
tab / shift+tab	Cleanup	Visible panels available.	Cycles between sidebar, summary, details, and chat when present.

Workflows

Review a Sender

1. Press 3.
2. Keep sender mode or press d for domain mode.
3. Move through the summary table with j/k.
4. Press enter to load details.
5. Press tab to focus details, then move through messages.
6. Press enter to preview a message.

Delete or Archive a Group

1. Focus the summary table.
2. Press space on one or more senders or domains.
3. Press D to delete or e to archive.
4. Read the confirmation description in the status bar.
5. Press y to confirm or n/Esc to cancel.

Delete or Archive Individual Messages

1. Load details for a sender or domain.
2. Press tab to focus details.
3. Press space on individual messages.
4. Press D or e.
5. Confirm only when the status description matches your selection.

Create a Hide-Future-Mail Rule

1. Focus a sender in the summary table or open a message preview.
2. Press h.
3. Herald creates the backend rule/action used to hide matching future mail.

Create Automation

1. Focus a sender or domain that should trigger automation.
2. Press W.
3. Choose trigger type: sender, domain, or AI category.
4. Enter trigger value.
5. Select actions: desktop notification, move, archive, delete, webhook, or shell command.
6. Fill action details such as destination folder, webhook URL/body, shell command, or notification text.
7. Complete the form to save.

Manage Cleanup Rules

1. Press C.
2. Press n to create a cleanup rule, enter to edit selected, d to delete, or r to run all.
3. In the edit form, set rule name, match type, match value, action, older-than days, and enabled state.
4. Press esc to leave edit mode or close the manager.

States

State	What happens
Sender mode	Summary groups exact sender addresses.
Domain mode	Summary groups extracted sender domains.
Empty summary	No cleanup groups are available for the folder/cache state.
Selected summary rows	Status reports selected sender/domain count.
Selected detail rows	Status reports selected message count and sender/domain spread.
Delete/archive confirmation	Status bar asks for y confirm or n/Esc cancel.
Deleting/archive in progress	Requests are queued serially; status shows progress and reconnect messages when needed.
Cleanup preview	Sidebar hides to make room; details panel can scroll the body.
Full-screen preview	Cleanup preview expands and rewraps body lines.
AI unavailable	A and category-trigger workflows cannot classify new content.
Dry-run mode	Status shows [DRY RUN]; destructive rules can be exercised without live mutation when that runtime mode is active.
Narrow terminal	Cleanup collapses columns and can hide the sidebar or summary panel while preview is open.

Data And Privacy

Cleanup reads cached sender statistics, message metadata, message bodies for previews, unsubscribe headers, classifications, and rules. Delete and archive write to the IMAP mailbox and update SQLite cache. Hide-future-mail, automation rules, custom prompts, and cleanup rules are stored through Herald’s backend. Webhook and shell-command automation can send or expose email-derived values outside Herald when you configure those actions.

Troubleshooting

If delete/archive is not available, check whether a deletion is already running or the selected folder is read-only.

If a confirmation describes the wrong target, press n or Esc, clear selections with space, and select again.

If u does nothing, the previewed message does not include a usable List-Unsubscribe header.

If automation actions do not run, reopen W or C to verify the rule is enabled and that the match value is precise.

Screenshot Placeholders

Related Pages

• Destructive Actions
• Rules and Automation
• AI Features
• Sync and Status
• Config Reference