--- title: Medium | daily.dev description: A developer reverse-engineered LinkedIn's email notification system to automate networking data into Airtable using Python. Key discoveries include... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/medium-t4f250nyk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Medium | daily.dev og:description: A developer reverse-engineered LinkedIn's email notification system to automate networking data into Airtable using Python. Key discoveries include... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/medium-t4f250nyk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/t4f250NyK.png og:image:alt: Medium og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Medium **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A developer reverse-engineered LinkedIn's email notification system to automate networking data into Airtable using Python. Key discoveries include undocumented X-LinkedIn-Class and X-LinkedIn-Template email headers that reliably identify email types, multiple template variants for the same notification type, and the importance of checking both plain-text and HTML email parts. Practical lessons cover two-stage IMAP fetching (headers before bodies), using BODY.PEEK to avoid marking emails as read, treating read/unread state as part of the data model, and logging unrecognized inputs with a 'Needs Review' flag rather than silently dropping them. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can I reliably tell what kind of notification a LinkedIn email is without parsing subject lines? LinkedIn email headers include an X-LinkedIn-Class field (for example INVITE-ACCEPT) and an X-LinkedIn-Template field identifying the exact template variant (like email_accept_invite_digest_02). These hidden headers are far more reliable than pattern-matching subject lines, which change wording frequently, making them the best signal for classifying LinkedIn notification emails programmatically. _Developers automating inbox-based integrations can find similar header-parsing tricks curated on daily.dev._ ### How do I fetch email headers without accidentally marking messages as read via IMAP? Use BODY.PEEK instead of the standard RFC822 fetch command. RFC822 silently marks a message as read as a side effect of retrieving it, which breaks any workflow that relies on unread status as a signal for unprocessed or failed items. A two-stage approach also helps: fetch just headers for all candidates first, then fetch full bodies only for matches. _Anyone building IMAP-based automation can track practical gotchas like this via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I built a python script to automate job emails because copy pasting was destroying my soul](https://daily.dev/posts/i-built-a-python-script-to-automate-job-emails-because-copy-pasting-was-destroying-my-soul-s7m6sqsj7) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 1 comments - [I write about code: After 15 years, I have finally reached the point where I use Outlook as my build pipeline](https://daily.dev/posts/i-write-about-code-after-15-years-i-have-finally-reached-the-point-where-i-use-outlook-as-my-build-t8oel7tyq) · Programming Digest · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Gemini's Gmail integration sounds helpful until you realize what it can actually see](https://daily.dev/posts/gemini-s-gmail-integration-sounds-helpful-until-you-realize-what-it-can-actually-see-uo7uxjs7y) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#python](https://daily.dev/tags/python), [#automation](https://daily.dev/tags/automation) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/medium-t4f250nyk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Medium","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/medium-t4f250nyk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/medium-t4f250nyk"},"datePublished":"2026-07-26T05:56:37.083Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:14:30.829Z","description":"A developer reverse-engineered LinkedIn's email notification system to automate networking data into Airtable using Python. 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These hidden headers are far more reliable than pattern-matching subject lines, which change wording frequently, making them the best signal for classifying LinkedIn notification emails programmatically. Developers automating inbox-based integrations can find similar header-parsing tricks curated on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I fetch email headers without accidentally marking messages as read via IMAP?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Use BODY.PEEK instead of the standard RFC822 fetch command. RFC822 silently marks a message as read as a side effect of retrieving it, which breaks any workflow that relies on unread status as a signal for unprocessed or failed items. A two-stage approach also helps: fetch just headers for all candidates first, then fetch full bodies only for matches. Anyone building IMAP-based automation can track practical gotchas like this via daily.dev."}}]} ```