> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.useunderflow.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Intake and clearance

> See how inbound business becomes a file and passes its first checks.

The shared mailbox is the main intake door. An agency sends an application or supporting documents, and Underflow turns that correspondence into a structured file.

## Inbound mail

When a message arrives, Underflow records what the sender wants, whether it belongs to a file, and who is writing. Automated and marketing mail stops after that classification. Everything else gives Aurora a turn on the file the thread belongs to, or on the thread itself when no file has it yet; she reads the mail and its attachments on that turn. The classification is stored for processing but is not shown as a routing note in Mail.

| The message is | What happens |
| - | - |
| A submission from a producer | A file opens, with that producer as the counterparty |
| A reply on a known thread that is really a new account | A new file opens; the original keeps its own |
| A question, bind order, or servicing request on a file | Handled on that file |
| The same request with no file behind it | Aurora looks for the file by insured, policy, or quote number and links the thread; when she cannot place it, a question under **Decisions** |
| A submission from an insured, with no broker | Aurora is instructed to reply once with a broker referral and not open a file |
| Automated or marketing mail | Recorded and left alone |

On a new file, Aurora:

1. Reads the sender, recipients, body, and attachments, and keeps the originals on the file.
2. Records the insured and opens the file on the thread, so later mail on it wakes the file.
3. Records the producer who sent the business as its counterparty (the original sender, on forwarded mail).
4. Reads the desk's programs and their guidelines and routes the file to the one that writes it, saying why on the timeline. A close call goes to the closest program for the first turn to judge; a risk no program writes is a question for a person.
5. Transcribes onto the application what is worth transcribing: ACORD applications, supplemental forms, loss runs, spreadsheets, and the email itself when its body carries answers, each answer recorded with where it was found. A cover note with nothing in it, a flyer, or a signature block is left unread. Attachments are not extracted by a separate pipeline before her turn; what goes onto the application is her call.

Each of these is a ledgered edit to the record, so a person can see it on the file and change it.

## Clearance

Before underwriting, the file is checked for:

* **Duplicates**, so the same risk does not become competing records. When the desk already holds an open file for the same insured, line, and effective window, the new file waits in clearance with that file in view, and Aurora gives the verdict on her next turn, having read the mail and the people on both: the same placement sent again closes as a duplicate and its mail continues on the file the desk holds; a different producer on an account someone else already holds puts the new file on hold and asks that producer for a broker-of-record letter, and the incumbent is never displaced without one; a different placement that happens to share the insured clears and goes on. Each verdict lands on the file's timeline with the reason, where a person can see it and change it.
* **Appetite**, against the program's rules, on the file's first turn. A risk outside appetite is declined by Aurora with its reason, not by a rule at the door.
* **Completeness**, by comparing known answers with what the selected program requires.

A sanctions screen runs later, immediately before a quote letter or bind is proposed. A possible match holds that action for review; it does not automatically decline the risk. See [Screening and reporting](https://docs.useunderflow.com/controls/screening-and-reporting.md).

> [!NOTE]
>
> The direct-business rule is part of Aurora's operating instructions, not a hard product constraint. If a direct
> insured file appears, review its counterparty and close or route it according to desk procedure.

If required answers are missing, the file moves to Awaiting info and Aurora starts [collection](https://docs.useunderflow.com/underwriting/collection.md). If it is complete enough to underwrite, it moves to Ready for UW.

Throughout clearance, the source documents and every extracted answer stay on the file, so the material that arrived is always available to the underwriter.


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