diff --git a/src/features/team-mode/team-mailbox/inbox.test.ts b/src/features/team-mode/team-mailbox/inbox.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..26b483ce7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/features/team-mode/team-mailbox/inbox.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/// <reference types="bun-types" />
+
+import { describe, expect, mock, test } from "bun:test"
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises"
+import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto"
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os"
+import path from "node:path"
+
+const logCalls: Array<[string, unknown?]> = []
+
+mock.module("../../../shared/logger", () => ({
+  log: (message: string, data?: unknown) => {
+    logCalls.push([message, data])
+  },
+}))
+
+const { listUnreadMessages } = await import("./inbox")
+const { TeamModeConfigSchema } = await import("../../../config/schema/team-mode")
+const { getInboxDir, resolveBaseDir } = await import("../team-registry/paths")
+
+async function createBaseDirectory(): Promise<string> {
+  return await mkdtemp(path.join(tmpdir(), "team-mailbox-inbox-"))
+}
+
+describe("listUnreadMessages", () => {
+  test("returns FIFO messages while skipping malformed, processed, and dot files", async () => {
+    // given
+    const config = TeamModeConfigSchema.parse({ base_dir: await createBaseDirectory() })
+    const teamRunId = randomUUID()
+    const inboxDir = getInboxDir(resolveBaseDir(config), teamRunId, "m1")
+    await mkdir(path.join(inboxDir, "processed"), { recursive: true })
+
+    await writeFile(path.join(inboxDir, "later.json"), JSON.stringify({
+      version: 1,
+      messageId: randomUUID(),
+      from: "m2",
+      to: "m1",
+      kind: "message",
+      body: "later",
+      timestamp: 200,
+    }))
+    await writeFile(path.join(inboxDir, "earlier.json"), JSON.stringify({
+      version: 1,
+      messageId: randomUUID(),
+      from: "m3",
+      to: "m1",
+      kind: "message",
+      body: "earlier",
+      timestamp: 100,
+    }))
+    await writeFile(path.join(inboxDir, "bad.json"), "{not-json")
+    await writeFile(path.join(inboxDir, ".hidden.json"), "{}")
+    await writeFile(path.join(inboxDir, "processed", "done.json"), "{}")
+
+    // when
+    const unreadMessages = await listUnreadMessages(teamRunId, "m1", config)
+
+    // then
+    expect(unreadMessages.map((message) => message.body)).toEqual(["earlier", "later"])
+    expect(logCalls).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(logCalls[0]?.[0]).toContain("skipped unreadable message")
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/features/team-mode/team-mailbox/inbox.ts b/src/features/team-mode/team-mailbox/inbox.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5dacb48ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/features/team-mode/team-mailbox/inbox.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import type { Dirent } from "node:fs"
+import { readdir, readFile } from "node:fs/promises"
+import path from "node:path"
+
+import type { TeamModeConfig } from "../../../config/schema/team-mode"
+import { log } from "../../../shared/logger"
+import { getInboxDir, resolveBaseDir } from "../team-registry/paths"
+import { MessageSchema } from "../types"
+import type { Message } from "../types"
+
+function isInboxMessageFile(entry: Dirent): boolean {
+  return entry.isFile() && entry.name.endsWith(".json") && !entry.name.startsWith(".")
+}
+
+function isMissingDirectoryError(error: unknown): error is NodeJS.ErrnoException {
+  return error instanceof Error && "code" in error && error.code === "ENOENT"
+}
+
+async function readInboxMessage(
+  inboxDir: string,
+  fileName: string,
+  memberName: string,
+  teamRunId: string,
+): Promise<Message | null> {
+  const filePath = path.join(inboxDir, fileName)
+  const messageContext = { memberName, teamRunId, fileName }
+
+  try {
+    const fileContent = await readFile(filePath, "utf8")
+    const parsedMessage = MessageSchema.safeParse(JSON.parse(fileContent))
+    if (!parsedMessage.success) {
+      log("team mailbox skipped malformed message", {
+        event: "team-mailbox-malformed-message",
+        ...messageContext,
+        issues: parsedMessage.error.issues,
+      })
+      return null
+    }
+
+    return parsedMessage.data
+  } catch (error) {
+    log("team mailbox skipped unreadable message", {
+      event: "team-mailbox-unreadable-message",
+      ...messageContext,
+      error: error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error),
+    })
+    return null
+  }
+}
+
+export async function listUnreadMessages(
+  teamRunId: string,
+  memberName: string,
+  config: TeamModeConfig,
+): Promise<Message[]> {
+  const inboxDir = getInboxDir(resolveBaseDir(config), teamRunId, memberName)
+
+  try {
+    const directoryEntries = await readdir(inboxDir, { withFileTypes: true })
+    const unreadMessages = await Promise.all(
+      directoryEntries
+        .filter(isInboxMessageFile)
+        .map((entry) => readInboxMessage(inboxDir, entry.name, memberName, teamRunId)),
+    )
+
+    return unreadMessages
+      .filter((message): message is Message => message !== null)
+      .sort((leftMessage, rightMessage) => leftMessage.timestamp - rightMessage.timestamp)
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (isMissingDirectoryError(error)) {
+      return []
+    }
+
+    throw error
+  }
+}