Outlook plugin: add true reply (thread-preserving) — send_mail-only is too limited
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- TypeScript
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Description
Summary
The Outlook connector/plugin can list and read messages and send new mail via send_mail, but it has no real reply capability (no reply-to-message / thread-preserving send). That makes support and any threaded conversation workflows much less useful than they should be.
Problem
When an agent needs to continue an existing email thread (e.g. OpenAI Support, Trust & Safety, partner tickets), the only available path is to compose a new message with a Re: subject line and hope the remote system matches on subject/case ID.
That does not:
- Set proper
In-Reply-To/Referencesheaders - Keep the Microsoft Graph / Outlook conversation thread
- Reliably stay in the vendor’s existing case thread
In practice this leads to:
- Support systems opening new case numbers for each “reply”
- Broken conversation history on both sides
- Agents manually stuffing case IDs into subjects as a brittle workaround
- The connector feeling incomplete for the most common email agent task: reply
Expected behavior
Please add a first-class reply API, for example:
reply_mail/reply_alltaking amessageId(and optional body)- Optionally
forward_mail - Preserve Graph conversation / internet message headers so replies stay in-thread
Ideal shape:
- Read message by id
- Reply (or reply-all) to that message with body
- Sent item lands in the same conversation thread as a normal Outlook Reply would
Why it matters
Without true reply, Outlook is mostly useful for one-shot outbound and inbox search. For agent workflows that triage and respond inside ongoing threads, missing reply makes the plugin feel half-finished / awkward to use.
Context
- Plugin: Outlook (Microsoft Graph)
- Observed tools:
list_mail_messages,get_mail_message,send_mail,get_me - Missing: reply / reply-all tied to an existing message id
Thanks for considering this — reply support would make Outlook dramatically more useful for agent email ops.
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by locating the Outlook plugin implementation and the existing list_mail_messages, get_mail_message, send_mail, and get_me tools. Trace how Microsoft Graph messages are read and sent, then define reply or reply-all behavior for a messageId; done means replies preserve the existing Outlook conversation and are covered by tests.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- typescript
- Domain
- api
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 48/100