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 your 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 - you, walking into a specific instrument session - so it preps you, not a generic reply.
Using my connected mail and calendar: pull the thread with the core facility for tomorrow's session and give me a one-page brief. Where we left off, what is owed, and what to confirm before the run. Facts from the thread only.
2 · Your turn. You write the prompt
You have an instrument session booked for tomorrow morning and a 40-message thread with the facility you have not reread. Mail and calendar are connected. Write the prompt that turns the live thread plus tomorrow's calendar into a one-page run brief.
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.