Categorization

How Strind decides what is urgent, important, or later.

Today, Strind uses a privacy-first categorization system built from clear rules and small heuristic signals. It does not send your message content to third-party AI providers for triage.

What happens first

Step 1

Strind checks whether the sender is allowed to reach you at all.

Step 2

It reads the explicit signal in the message like !!, !, or no prefix.

Step 3

It applies a lightweight smart pass for obvious urgency, timing, and repeated attempts.

What the smart pass looks for

  • Clear urgency wording such as urgent, asap, emergency, or similar direct language.
  • Time-sensitive wording such as today, tonight, in 10 minutes, or a near-term time.
  • Repeat activity from the same sender over a short window, which can be a signal that something genuinely needs attention.
  • Common automated patterns such as receipts, newsletters, verification codes, or order confirmations so those messages do not get accidental priority boosts.

What it does not do

  • It does not send message bodies to OpenAI or any other third-party model API for categorization.
  • It does not silently invent priorities out of nowhere. The sender signal and your trust settings still matter most.
  • It does not override your deny rules. If you blocked a sender, that message stays out.

Why Strind works this way today

This version is intentionally conservative. It gives you something meaningfully smarter than a plain inbox while keeping the system explainable, private, and easy to audit. Every decision is recorded with reasons so Strind can tell you why a message landed where it did.

Short version: sender trust comes first, message signal comes second, lightweight smart rules come third.

Where this can go later

The long-term goal is stronger categorization without weakening user trust. That could mean richer self-hosted intelligence on Strind servers, or more private on-device categorization as hardware improves. For now, the system favors privacy, predictability, and clear behavior over heavier AI.