Recipes · Productivity

Newsletters

Reading list that compounds

Forward the newsletters you finish so Instinct can summarize and cross-link themes later.

Recommended: Forward or auto-forward ~2 min setup

Outcome

Instinct can summarize what you've been reading, cross-link themes across issues, and answer "what did that industry brief say last week?" without you maintaining a second library. Over time the bot becomes a personal clipping file for the publications you actually finish.

What gets sent

  • Newsletter subject, sender, and body (HTML or plain text)
  • Links and any inline images the publisher included
  • Optionally: your short forward note ("worth saving: AI regs section")

How to send

Goal: one email lands in your bot today.

Copy your bot address from Instinct → Settings.

On Instinct: Copy your bot address from Settings

Manual: Open a newsletter → Forward → To your bot address. Add a one-line why-it-matters note at the top if useful.

On Inbox: Forward a newsletter to your bot

Auto-forward (Gmail example): Settings → Filters → From (newsletter domain or From: address) → Forward to your bot address. Confirm the forwarding verification if your provider requires it.

On Gmail: Filter From, then forward to bot

Auto-forward (Outlook / other): Create a rule for the newsletter sender/list-id and forward to the bot address.

On Outlook: Rule by sender or List-Id, forward

Start with 2–5 high-signal lists, not every subscription you ever joined.

On Inbox: Limit auto-forward to 2-5 lists

Send one test issue and ask Instinct: "Summarize the newsletter I just forwarded."

On Instinct: Ask it to summarize a test issue
Subject: "FW: {original newsletter subject}" Instinct note: Save for later: focus on {section}. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- {original body}

Tips & gotchas

  • Marketing blasts and "open for 10% off" mail pollute context: filter by From/List-Id, not by folder alone.
  • Prefer forwarding the full issue over clipping screenshots; text is citeable.
  • If a list is huge daily, digest weekly manually instead of auto-forwarding everything.

Paste the address from Instinct → Settings. Don't email the placeholder.