📮 When email doesn’t behave

“The agent didn’t reply to an email.” Check, in order: the rules (a block rule means the agent never saw it - rules run upstream), the briefing (does its scope actually include this category?), and the daily cap (Email → gear → the cap meter; a capped inbox stops sending until midnight, on purpose).

“A draft I expected isn’t there.” Drafts live under the Drafts filter, not the inbox - and drafts belong to the agent that owns the inbox, so check the right inbox in the switcher.

“It sent something it shouldn’t have.” Tighten in this order: the briefing (scope), then draft-for-review mode (nothing sends unapproved), then a block rule for that sender/domain. All three stack.

Rules precedence, memorize once: allow beats block · exact beats domain · agent beats workspace. An empty allow-list means “no restriction”, not “allow nothing”.

⚠️ Heads up: Deliverability is a savings account. Connect your own domain (Settings → Email Domains, DNS records provided), keep volumes inside the caps, and never blast. A burned domain reputation takes months to rebuild - the guardrails exist so you never find out.

Bounces and spam-flags show on the message card with the reason. One bounce is life; a pattern means the list is stale - ask the agent to clean it before sending more.