All use cases

Get a DM when a new email hits, so you never miss a lead again

Zero polls your Gmail on the cadence you set, and DMs you when anything new arrives that matches your filter. Persistent background monitoring without leaving Slack.

Zero connects:GmailSlack

Why inbox zero is always one hour away

You're heads-down on real work. You're also expecting an email: a lead, a signed contract, a customer's response to your proposal. You don't want to keep tabbing over to Gmail, but you also don't want to miss it for six hours. Gmail Polling DM solves exactly that. Zero checks your inbox every few minutes, and the moment something new matching your filter lands, it DMs you a one-line summary. You stay focused; important mail still reaches you in near real time.

How to ask Zero to poll your Gmail

@Zero every 5 minutes, check my Gmail for any new mail from outside our domain that isn't marketing. DM me a one-line summary with the sender, subject, and first line of the body.

How Zero monitors your inbox

Zero sets up a scheduled inbox poll
You set the cadence (every 5 min, 10 min, hourly) and a filter (sender domain, subject contains, label). Zero schedules a recurring check and runs it persistently in the background.
Zero checks Gmail for new mail matching your filter
On each tick, Zero queries Gmail for mail received since the last check that matches your filter. Anything already seen gets skipped, so you don't get duplicate DMs.
Zero DMs you the new matches
Each new mail arrives as a one-line DM with sender, subject, and a preview. Clickable link goes straight to the Gmail thread, so you can reply without breaking flow.

Tune the filter, auto-reply, or forward key mail

Tune the filter
Narrow or broaden what counts as important.
@Zero from now on, only DM me mail from addresses I've emailed in the last 30 days.
Auto-reply to known senders
Have Zero send a quick acknowledgment without your intervention.
@Zero when mail arrives from @customer-domain.com, auto-reply with my `out of office, back Monday` template and DM me the thread.
Forward to the right channel
Route critical mail to a team channel.
@Zero when a new contract arrives, post a summary to #sales-ops and DM me.

Required integrations: Gmail and Slack

Gmail
Gmail
Gmail. Zero reads new mail matching your filter. Read-only access to your inbox is required. No mail is stored; Zero only sees each message long enough to generate the preview.
Required
Slack
Slack
Slack. Zero delivers new-mail alerts as DMs. DM write access required.
Required

Best practices for background inbox monitoring

Don't set the cadence below 5 minutes. Any faster and you're just recreating inbox anxiety in Slack.
Start broad, then narrow. Watch a day of alerts, then tighten the filter based on what turned out to be noise.
Pause it during focus time. `@Zero pause the inbox watcher until 3pm` stops the DMs so you can deep-work.