Let Claude read your inbox and calendar
Lesson 3 of 3 · Claude & Cowork mastery
1 · Learn the move · Context + audience
The best context is not pasted, it is connected. With mail and calendar linked through MCP connectors, the model reads the actual thread and the actual schedule instead of a summary you typed. The move is still context + audience: point it at the real source and name who the brief is for - your principal, walking into a specific meeting - so it preps them, not a generic reply.
Using my connected mail and calendar: pull the thread behind tomorrow's first meeting and give me a one-page brief for my principal. Where it stands, what is outstanding, and what they need to decide in the room. Facts from the thread only.
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
Your principal's first meeting tomorrow sits on top of a 40-message thread nobody has summarised. Mail and calendar are connected. Write the prompt that turns the live thread plus tomorrow's calendar into a one-page brief they can read in the car.
Write the prompt for this scenario as given, or swap in a real one from your own work. The score works the same either way.
Remember: the AI sees only your prompt, not this page. If the situation isn't in your prompt, it doesn't exist.
Optional. These shape the output when you run your prompt below, not your score.