diff --git a/skills/beadboard-driver/scripts/bb-mail-shim.mjs b/skills/beadboard-driver/scripts/bb-mail-shim.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4238070
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skills/beadboard-driver/scripts/bb-mail-shim.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
+
+function getAgentName() {
+  const agent = (process.env.BB_AGENT || process.env.BD_ACTOR || '').trim();
+  if (!agent) {
+    console.error(
+      'bb-mail-shim: agent identity required.\n' +
+      'Set BB_AGENT before running bd mail, e.g. export BB_AGENT=silver-scribe',
+    );
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+  return agent;
+}
+
+function runBbAgent(args) {
+  const result = spawnSync('bb', ['agent', ...args], { stdio: 'inherit', shell: false });
+  if (result.error) {
+    if (result.error.code === 'ENOENT') {
+      console.error('bb-mail-shim: bb command not found in PATH.');
+    } else {
+      console.error(`bb-mail-shim: failed to execute bb: ${result.error.message}`);
+    }
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+  process.exit(result.status ?? 0);
+}
+
+const args = process.argv.slice(2);
+const subcommand = args[0];
+const agent = getAgentName();
+
+if (!subcommand || subcommand === '--help' || subcommand === '-h') {
+  console.log('Usage: bd mail inbox|send|read|ack ... (delegated via bb-mail-shim)');
+  process.exit(0);
+}
+
+switch (subcommand) {
+  case 'inbox':
+    runBbAgent(['inbox', '--agent', agent, ...args.slice(1)]);
+    break;
+  case 'send': {
+    const rest = args.slice(1);
+    const hasFrom = rest.includes('--from');
+    runBbAgent(['send', ...(hasFrom ? [] : ['--from', agent]), ...rest]);
+    break;
+  }
+  case 'read': {
+    const messageId = args[1];
+    if (!messageId) {
+      console.error('bb-mail-shim: read requires <message-id>');
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+    runBbAgent(['read', '--agent', agent, '--message', messageId, ...args.slice(2)]);
+    break;
+  }
+  case 'ack': {
+    const messageId = args[1];
+    if (!messageId) {
+      console.error('bb-mail-shim: ack requires <message-id>');
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+    runBbAgent(['ack', '--agent', agent, '--message', messageId, ...args.slice(2)]);
+    break;
+  }
+  default:
+    runBbAgent([subcommand, ...args.slice(1)]);
+}
diff --git a/skills/beadboard-driver/scripts/session-preflight.mjs b/skills/beadboard-driver/scripts/session-preflight.mjs
index bb916a4..23ed4a9 100644
--- a/skills/beadboard-driver/scripts/session-preflight.mjs
+++ b/skills/beadboard-driver/scripts/session-preflight.mjs
@@ -1,8 +1,48 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
+import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import { existsSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
+
 import { findCommandInPath, resolveBbPath } from './lib/driver-lib.mjs';
 
+const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+
+function configureMailDelegate(bdPath, shimPath) {
+  if (!existsSync(shimPath)) {
+    return {
+      configured: false,
+      reason: `shim not found at ${shimPath}`,
+    };
+  }
+
+  const delegateCmd = `node ${shimPath}`;
+  const result = spawnSync(bdPath, ['config', 'set', 'mail.delegate', delegateCmd], {
+    stdio: 'pipe',
+    shell: false,
+  });
+
+  if (result.status !== 0) {
+    const stderr = result.stderr?.toString().trim() || '';
+    return {
+      configured: false,
+      reason: `bd config set failed: ${stderr || 'non-zero exit'}`,
+      delegate: delegateCmd,
+    };
+  }
+
+  return {
+    configured: true,
+    delegate: delegateCmd,
+    shim_path: shimPath,
+    note: 'Set BB_AGENT to your agent name before using bd mail.',
+  };
+}
+
 async function main() {
+  const shimPath = join(__dirname, 'bb-mail-shim.mjs');
+
   try {
     const bdPath = await findCommandInPath('bd');
     if (!bdPath) {
@@ -20,6 +60,7 @@ async function main() {
               bd: { available: false, path: null },
             },
             bb: null,
+            mail: null,
           },
           null,
           2,
@@ -41,6 +82,10 @@ async function main() {
               bd: { available: true, path: bdPath },
             },
             bb,
+            mail: {
+              configured: false,
+              reason: 'bb not available — mail delegate requires bb agent commands',
+            },
           },
           null,
           2,
@@ -49,6 +94,8 @@ async function main() {
       return;
     }
 
+    const mail = configureMailDelegate(bdPath, shimPath);
+
     process.stdout.write(
       `${JSON.stringify(
         {
@@ -58,6 +105,7 @@ async function main() {
             bd: { available: true, path: bdPath },
           },
           bb,
+          mail,
         },
         null,
         2,
@@ -75,6 +123,7 @@ async function main() {
             bd: { available: false, path: null },
           },
           bb: null,
+          mail: null,
         },
         null,
         2,
diff --git a/tests/skills/beadboard-driver/bb-mail-shim.test.ts b/tests/skills/beadboard-driver/bb-mail-shim.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9c5c4dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/skills/beadboard-driver/bb-mail-shim.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import test from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { execFile } from 'node:child_process';
+import { promisify } from 'node:util';
+
+const execFileAsync = promisify(execFile);
+const shimPath = path.resolve('skills/beadboard-driver/scripts/bb-mail-shim.mjs');
+
+test('bb-mail-shim fails with helpful error when bb is unavailable', async () => {
+  await assert.rejects(
+    async () => {
+      await execFileAsync(process.execPath, [shimPath, 'inbox'], {
+        env: {
+          ...process.env,
+          PATH: '',
+          BB_AGENT: 'silver-scribe',
+        },
+      });
+    },
+    (error: any) => {
+      const stderr = String(error.stderr || '');
+      assert.match(stderr, /bb command not found/i);
+      return true;
+    },
+  );
+});
diff --git a/tests/skills/beadboard-driver/session-preflight.test.ts b/tests/skills/beadboard-driver/session-preflight.test.ts
index e41ecd6..6355843 100644
--- a/tests/skills/beadboard-driver/session-preflight.test.ts
+++ b/tests/skills/beadboard-driver/session-preflight.test.ts
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ test('session-preflight succeeds with fake bd and BB_REPO', async () => {
     }
 
     const result = await runPreflight({
-      PATH: toolsDir,
+      PATH: `${toolsDir}${path.delimiter}${process.env.PATH || ''}`,
       BB_REPO: repo,
       BB_SKILL_HOME: path.join(root, 'home'),
       BB_SKIP_PROBE: '1',
@@ -68,5 +68,7 @@ test('session-preflight succeeds with fake bd and BB_REPO', async () => {
     assert.equal(result.bb.ok, true);
     assert.equal(result.bb.source, 'env');
     assert.equal(result.tools.bd.available, true);
+    assert.equal(result.mail.configured, true, JSON.stringify(result));
+    assert.match(String(result.mail.delegate), /node .*bb-mail-shim\.mjs/);
   });
 });