Email tools need near real-time updates. Learn the difference between polling and push, webhooks, and how to design reliable event-driven inbox automation.
Real-time inbox tools rely on either polling (checking frequently) or push notifications (events). Polling is simpler but can be expensive and delayed. Push is efficient but requires careful reliability design.
A push-based system needs a queue, retries, and idempotency so events aren’t lost or double-processed. You also need fallbacks: periodic reconciliation sync in case an event was missed.
For users, the benefit is faster automation: routing and reply suggestions happen as messages arrive. Gmailo can use push-style updates plus periodic checks to stay accurate and responsive.