Manifesto
What Cedar is for, who it is for, and the principles we are unwilling to compromise on.
Email is the most important software most knowledge workers use, and the least loved. It is where deals close, hires get made, customers churn, and trust is built or burned. It is also where attention goes to die. We are building Cedar because the inbox deserves better, and because the next decade of work will be lived alongside agents that need a real seat at the table.
What we believe
1. The inbox is the operating system of work.
Most work that matters either starts or ends in an email thread. Treating mail as a secondary surface — something you check between "real" tools — is a category error. Cedar treats the inbox as the primary interface, and everything else (CRM, calendar, notes, agents) as adjacent helpers.
2. Agents are first-class users.
For the next decade, more decisions in your inbox will be made with an agent than without one. That changes the product. Pages must be crawlable, actions must be addressable, and context must be portable. If a human can do it, an agent should be able to do it too — with the user's consent and audit trail.
3. Speed is a feature; latency is a bug.
We will not ship anything that makes the inbox feel slower than the inbox you have today. Local-first, optimistic UI, and zero-jank interactions are non-negotiable. If a smart feature costs you a second of perceived latency on the keystroke that matters, it is not smart.
4. Your data is yours.
We build on open protocols and do not lock you in. You can leave with your data on any day, for any reason. We will earn renewal every month — never through friction.
5. Quiet over loud.
The default mode of most software is to demand attention. The default mode of Cedar is to protect it. Notifications, badges, banners, and dialogs are a tax we levy carefully.
What we will not do
- We will not train models on your email without explicit, revocable consent.
- We will not show ads in your inbox. Ever.
- We will not ship AI features that look impressive in demos but fail the daily-use test.
- We will not chase parity with the worst habits of incumbents — folder sprawl, label theater, modal hell.
Who this is for
Cedar is for people whose inbox is the room where the work actually happens — founders, operators, sellers, recruiters, investors, ICs who close deals or hire teams. If your job runs through your inbox, this is for you.
If that sounds like a product you want, come build it with us.
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