Unified candidate-status lookup across the ATS, Gmail, Calendar, and the internal candidate platform

An open-sourced internal recruiting skill (from a US accelerator's software team) that resolves a candidate name into a single unified status table by querying four systems in parallel: Ashby (ATS) for profile, application, pipeline stage, and history; Gmail (inbox, sent, drafts) for last communications in both directions and any drafted reply; Google Calendar for upcoming interviews with responseStatus precision; and the internal candidate platform for additional notes. The output is one per-candidate table — email, LinkedIn, Ashby URL, background, stage, source, calendar event + responseStatus, last email each direction, draft status, days waiting, and an explicit "Action needed" verdict. The load-bearing rule: it never reports a meeting as "scheduled" unless responseStatus is accepted — invite-sent is not scheduled. It will not present results until every source has been queried; a failed query is reported as a failure, never silently skipped.

The hiring-manager status check is the classic multi-tool tax: the ATS shows a stage but not whether the candidate replied to yesterday's email; Gmail shows the email but not whether there's a draft you forgot to send; Calendar shows an event but not whether the candidate actually accepted. The ambiguity that costs real time is "scheduled vs just invited" — this skill kills it by surfacing responseStatus precisely (accepted = confirmed, declined = rejected invite, tentative = tentatively accepted, needsAction = invite sent, no response). The "Action needed" field is the differentiator: it is a verdict ("draft exists, send it" / "ball is in candidate's court"), not a data dump that still leaves the manager to decide. Demoable in two minutes; applicable wherever Ashby/Greenhouse/Lever coexist with Gmail and Calendar.

1. Install the MCPs and read config first. git clone https://github.com/yc-software/recruiting.git, uv tool install git+https://github.com/yc-software/waas-mcp, uv tool install git+https://github.com/ryankicks/mcp-ashby; Google Workspace via Claude Code's built-in integrations. Then read the bundled config: hiring-manager identity (email, Zoom, office, Slack IDs), ATS config (source IDs, archive reasons, email style, draft rules), internal-platform config (pipeline stages, job IDs, MCP tools), job-spec files (job + stage IDs, candidate bar, outreach template, tone), and the shared 4-source merge procedure.
2. Ashby — resolve the candidate. candidate_search(name) → extract name, primary email, position, company, school, LinkedIn from socialLinks, first applicationId, bio summary / stage / source from customFields, profile URL.
3. Ashby — application detail. If applicationIds exist, application_info(applicationId) → currentInterviewStage.title, status (Active/Archived/Hired), archiveReason, applicationHistory with dates + actors, source.title.
4. Gmail — inbound and sent. gmail_query_emails(user_id, query: "from:<email> newer_than:14d", max_results: 3) for their most recent message; gmail_query_emails(user_id, query: "in:sent to:<email> newer_than:14d", max_results: 3) for the hiring manager's last reply. Scan the thread for any email-address-change request before reporting the email.
5. Gmail — drafts. gmail_list_drafts(maxResults: 10); cross-reference draft threadIds against the candidate's thread IDs from step 4 to surface a forgotten unsent reply.
6. Calendar — upcoming interviews. calendar_get_events(user_id, calendar_id: "primary", time_min: today, time_max: today+4 weeks, timezone: "America/Los_Angeles"). Filter events by the candidate's first/last/full name. The key field is attendees[].responseStatus — accepted = confirmed, declined = rejected, tentative = tentative, needsAction = invite sent, no response. Cross-reference with Ashby interview_schedule_list.
7. Internal platform — notes. If a short_id exists, candidate_notes_list(short_id) for additional notes the ATS doesn't carry.
8. Gate, then present. Do not present until every source has been queried (Ashby, Gmail inbox 14d, Gmail sent 14d, drafts, Calendar 4 weeks, internal platform if applicable). Any failed query is reported as a failure. Emit a "Checked / Skipped" header and the per-candidate table ending in the "Action needed" verdict.

Per-step MCP calls (verbatim):

candidate_search(name: "<candidate name>")
application_info(applicationId: "<first application ID>")
gmail_query_emails(user_id: "<hiring manager email>", query: "from:<candidate email> newer_than:14d", max_results: 3)
gmail_query_emails(user_id: "<hiring manager email>", query: "in:sent to:<candidate email> newer_than:14d", max_results: 3)
gmail_list_drafts(maxResults: 10)
calendar_get_events(user_id: "<hiring manager email>", calendar_id: "primary", time_min: <today>, time_max: <4 weeks from today>, timezone: "America/Los_Angeles")
candidate_notes_list(short_id)

Output table (verbatim):

| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| **Email** | <email> (note if they requested a different one) |
| **LinkedIn** | <url> |
| **Ashby** | <profile url> |
| **Background** | <position @ company, school — from Ashby or email> |
| **Ashby Stage** | <stage> (<Active/Archived>) |
| **Source** | <how they entered: internal platform, intro, Applied, Sourced, etc.> |
| **Calendar** | <event details + responseStatus, or "No upcoming events"> |
| **Last email (them)** | <date — snippet> |
| **Last email (hiring manager)** | <date — snippet> |
| **Draft exists** | <Yes (threadId) / No> |
| **Days waiting** | <days since candidate's last email, if they're waiting on the hiring manager> |
| **Action needed** | <what the hiring manager should do next, or "None — ball is in candidate's court"> |

Install (verbatim — keep runnable):

git clone https://github.com/yc-software/recruiting.git
uv tool install git+https://github.com/yc-software/waas-mcp
uv tool install git+https://github.com/ryankicks/mcp-ashby
# Google Workspace via Claude Code built-in integrations

• Never say "scheduled" unless responseStatus is accepted. Invite-sent (needsAction) is not scheduled. This is the single most important rule in the skill — reporting "scheduled" off a sent-but-unaccepted invite is the exact failure it exists to prevent.
• Query everything before presenting; never silently skip a source. A failed query is reported as a failure with the "Checked / Skipped" header — a partial answer presented as complete is worse than an explicit gap.
• Check for an email-address-change request inside the thread before reporting the email. Reporting a stale address routes the next outreach into a dead inbox.
• Compute days-of-week correctly — verify, don't guess. The skill explicitly calls out date-arithmetic errors; "days waiting" and weekday claims must be checked, not assumed.
• No per-candidate state without the config. The skill is driven by the bundled config (job IDs, stage IDs, draft rules); running it without reading config first produces a generic, wrong-stage answer — the recruiting-intake anti-pattern of skipping per-candidate context.