PR Tracker

Appearance

Email Processing ​

PR Tracker can process your emails to automatically create and update contacts, opportunities, and notes. There are two approaches: forwarding emails to a system address for real-time processing, and asking your agent to scan your inbox.

Approach 1: Forward Emails to the System Address ​

Coming soon — requires Cloudflare Email Routing setup.

Once configured, your team will have a system email address (e.g., pr-log@yourdomain.com). When you CC or BCC this address on emails with media contacts, PR Tracker automatically:

  1. Receives the email in real time
  2. Identifies contacts, outlets, and opportunities mentioned
  3. Creates or updates records as needed
  4. Logs the interaction as a note with the correct date
  5. Sets next actions on related opportunities
  6. Asks the team in Slack if anything is unclear

This is the hands-off approach — just CC the system address and PR Tracker stays up to date.

Approach 2: Ask Your Agent to Scan Your Inbox ​

This approach works today. You give Claude Cowork (or any MCP-connected agent) permission to scan your email inbox and process the messages it finds.

How to use it ​

Tell your agent:

"Scan my inbox for PR-related emails from the last month and update PR Tracker."

Or for a more targeted scan:

"Process my emails with Sarah Chen from January through March."

What the agent does ​

When processing your emails, the agent follows these steps for each email or thread:

1. Identifies contacts. Extracts names, emails, titles, and outlets from signatures and headers. Searches PR Tracker for existing records before creating new ones.

2. Identifies outlets. If an email references a publication, podcast, or event that isn't in the system, creates it.

3. Identifies opportunities. Looks for patterns that indicate PR activity — pitches, story discussions, interview scheduling, award submissions, follow-ups. Maps email threads to existing opportunities when possible, only creating new ones for genuinely new initiatives.

4. Logs interactions. Creates notes for significant emails, always using the email's sent date (not today's date). Links notes to the relevant contacts, outlets, and opportunities.

5. Records coverage. If an email contains or references published coverage (article links, "your piece went live"), creates a coverage record.

6. Sets next actions. For opportunities where the email reveals what needs to happen next, updates the opportunity with the action, due date, and owner.

Important: Date handling ​

The agent always uses the email's sent date for notes, not today's date. If it processes a 6-month-old email about "scheduling a call next week," it understands that call was scheduled 6 months ago. Old completed threads are treated as history, not new tasks.

Deduplication ​

The agent searches before creating. It checks for existing contacts, outlets, and opportunities to avoid duplicates. An email chain with 20 messages about the same pitch maps to one opportunity, not twenty.

When the agent is unsure ​

If the agent encounters something ambiguous — whether an email thread represents a new opportunity or relates to an existing one, whether a contact has moved outlets, or what the correct next action should be — it asks your team in Slack using the ask_slack tool rather than guessing.

What the agent skips ​

  • Routine administrative emails (scheduling logistics, invoices)
  • Spam, newsletters, and automated notifications
  • Emails from unknown contacts not related to PR work

Example ​

Here's what happens when the agent processes a typical email:

Email from: sarah.chen@techcrunch.com
To: adam@yourcompany.com
Date: January 15, 2026
Subject: Re: Startup X - Product Launch Story

"Hi Adam, thanks for the pitch. I'd love to learn more.
Can we schedule a call next week? I'm free Tuesday or Thursday morning."

The agent:

  1. Finds Sarah Chen in PR Tracker (already exists)
  2. Finds TechCrunch (already exists)
  3. Finds the related opportunity (already exists)
  4. Creates a note: "Sarah responded to pitch — wants to schedule call" (dated January 15)
  5. Advances the opportunity to "responded" if not already past that stage
  6. Sets next action: "Schedule call with Sarah — free Tue/Thu mornings" due January 20

Getting started with a scan ​

When you ask your agent to scan:

  1. Specify which email account and date range
  2. The agent processes emails chronologically (oldest first)
  3. It gives periodic status updates as it works
  4. At the end, it summarizes what was created and highlights items needing immediate attention

"Scan my Gmail for all PR-related emails from the last 3 months and update PR Tracker. Give me a summary when you're done."

Tips ​

  • Start with a short date range. For your first scan, try the last 2-4 weeks rather than 6 months. Review the results before going further back.
  • Review what was created. After a scan, ask your agent to show you what it added: "Show me all contacts and opportunities created today."
  • Use Approach 1 going forward. Once email forwarding is set up, use it for all new emails so PR Tracker stays current automatically. Use inbox scanning for historical backfill.
  • CC the system address on outgoing emails too. Not just incoming — your pitches and follow-ups are equally important to track.