diff --git a/backend/src/main/kotlin/com/condado/newsletter/model/EmailContext.kt b/backend/src/main/kotlin/com/condado/newsletter/model/EmailContext.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..21a0dfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/main/kotlin/com/condado/newsletter/model/EmailContext.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+package com.condado.newsletter.model
+
+import java.time.LocalDateTime
+
+/**
+ * A snapshot of a single email read from the shared company IMAP inbox.
+ * Used as context when building the AI prompt.
+ */
+data class EmailContext(
+    val from: String,
+    val subject: String,
+    val body: String,
+    val receivedAt: LocalDateTime
+)
diff --git a/backend/src/main/kotlin/com/condado/newsletter/service/EmailReaderService.kt b/backend/src/main/kotlin/com/condado/newsletter/service/EmailReaderService.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8ff6f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/main/kotlin/com/condado/newsletter/service/EmailReaderService.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+package com.condado.newsletter.service
+
+import com.condado.newsletter.model.EmailContext
+import jakarta.mail.Folder
+import jakarta.mail.Message
+import jakarta.mail.Session
+import jakarta.mail.Store
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Service
+import java.time.LocalDateTime
+import java.time.ZoneId
+import java.util.Date
+import java.util.Properties
+
+/**
+ * Reads recent emails from the shared IMAP inbox to use as AI context.
+ * Returns emails sorted chronologically (oldest first).
+ * On any error, logs the exception and returns an empty list.
+ */
+@Service
+class EmailReaderService(
+    @Value("\${imap.host:localhost}") private val imapHost: String = "localhost",
+    @Value("\${imap.port:993}") private val imapPort: Int = 993,
+    @Value("\${spring.mail.username:}") private val username: String = "",
+    @Value("\${spring.mail.password:}") private val password: String = "",
+    /** Factory function — can be replaced in tests to inject a mock Store */
+    val storeFactory: ((Properties, String, String) -> Store)? = null
+) {
+    private val log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(javaClass)
+
+    constructor(storeFactory: (Properties, String, String) -> Store) : this(
+        imapHost = "localhost",
+        imapPort = 993,
+        username = "",
+        password = "",
+        storeFactory = storeFactory
+    )
+
+    /** Test-only constructor accepting a pre-built mock Store */
+    internal constructor(storeFactory: () -> Store) : this(
+        imapHost = "localhost",
+        imapPort = 993,
+        username = "",
+        password = "",
+        storeFactory = { _, _, _ -> storeFactory() }
+    )
+
+    /**
+     * Reads emails from [folderName] received within the last [contextWindowDays] days.
+     *
+     * @return list of [EmailContext] objects sorted oldest-first, or empty list on error.
+     */
+    fun readEmails(folderName: String, contextWindowDays: Int): List<EmailContext> {
+        return try {
+            val store = openStore()
+            val folder = store.getFolder(folderName)
+            folder.open(Folder.READ_ONLY)
+            val cutoff = Date(System.currentTimeMillis() - contextWindowDays.toLong() * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)
+
+            folder.getMessages()
+                .filter { msg ->
+                    val date = msg.receivedDate ?: msg.sentDate
+                    date != null && date.after(cutoff)
+                }
+                .sortedBy { it.receivedDate ?: it.sentDate }
+                .map { msg -> msg.toEmailContext() }
+        } catch (e: Exception) {
+            log.error("Failed to read emails from IMAP folder '$folderName': ${e.message}", e)
+            emptyList()
+        }
+    }
+
+    private fun openStore(): Store {
+        val props = Properties().apply {
+            put("mail.store.protocol", "imaps")
+            put("mail.imaps.host", imapHost)
+            put("mail.imaps.port", imapPort.toString())
+        }
+        return if (storeFactory != null) {
+            storeFactory!!.invoke(props, username, password)
+        } else {
+            val session = Session.getInstance(props)
+            session.getStore("imaps").also { it.connect(imapHost, imapPort, username, password) }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private fun Message.toEmailContext(): EmailContext {
+        val from = from?.firstOrNull()?.toString() ?: "unknown"
+        val date = (receivedDate ?: sentDate ?: Date())
+            .toInstant()
+            .atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault())
+            .toLocalDateTime()
+        val bodyText = extractText(content, contentType)
+        return EmailContext(
+            from = from,
+            subject = subject ?: "(no subject)",
+            body = bodyText,
+            receivedAt = date
+        )
+    }
+
+    private fun extractText(content: Any?, contentType: String?): String {
+        val raw = when (content) {
+            is String -> content
+            else -> content?.toString() ?: ""
+        }
+        val isHtml = contentType?.contains("html", ignoreCase = true) == true ||
+            raw.contains(Regex("<[a-zA-Z][^>]*>"))
+        return if (isHtml) stripHtml(raw) else raw
+    }
+
+    private fun stripHtml(html: String): String =
+        html.replace(Regex("<[^>]+>"), " ")
+            .replace(Regex("\\s{2,}"), " ")
+            .trim()
+}