diff --git a/src/main/java/dev/escalated/controllers/InboundEmailController.java b/src/main/java/dev/escalated/controllers/InboundEmailController.java
index 0ad3386..52c1c92 100644
--- a/src/main/java/dev/escalated/controllers/InboundEmailController.java
+++ b/src/main/java/dev/escalated/controllers/InboundEmailController.java
@@ -1,16 +1,14 @@
 package dev.escalated.controllers;
 
 import dev.escalated.config.EscalatedProperties;
-import dev.escalated.models.Ticket;
 import dev.escalated.services.email.inbound.InboundEmailParser;
-import dev.escalated.services.email.inbound.InboundEmailRouter;
+import dev.escalated.services.email.inbound.InboundEmailService;
 import dev.escalated.services.email.inbound.InboundMessage;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.security.MessageDigest;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.Optional;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
@@ -44,15 +42,15 @@ public class InboundEmailController {
     private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(InboundEmailController.class);
 
     private final EscalatedProperties properties;
-    private final InboundEmailRouter router;
+    private final InboundEmailService inboundService;
     private final Map<String, InboundEmailParser> parsersByName;
 
     public InboundEmailController(
             EscalatedProperties properties,
-            InboundEmailRouter router,
+            InboundEmailService inboundService,
             List<InboundEmailParser> parsers) {
         this.properties = properties;
-        this.router = router;
+        this.inboundService = inboundService;
         Map<String, InboundEmailParser> byName = new HashMap<>();
         for (InboundEmailParser p : parsers) {
             byName.put(p.name().toLowerCase(), p);
@@ -88,11 +86,19 @@ public ResponseEntity<Map<String, Object>> inbound(
             return ResponseEntity.badRequest().body(Map.of("error", "invalid payload"));
         }
 
-        Optional<Ticket> resolved = router.resolveTicket(message);
-        String status = resolved.isPresent() ? "matched" : "unmatched";
+        InboundEmailService.ProcessResult result;
+        try {
+            result = inboundService.process(message);
+        } catch (RuntimeException ex) {
+            log.error("[InboundEmailController] process failed: {}", ex.getMessage());
+            return ResponseEntity.status(500).body(Map.of("error", "processing failed"));
+        }
+
         Map<String, Object> response = new HashMap<>();
-        response.put("status", status);
-        response.put("ticketId", resolved.map(Ticket::getId).orElse(null));
+        response.put("outcome", result.outcome().name().toLowerCase());
+        response.put("ticketId", result.ticketId());
+        response.put("replyId", result.replyId());
+        response.put("pendingAttachmentDownloads", result.pendingAttachmentDownloads());
         return ResponseEntity.accepted().body(response);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/dev/escalated/services/email/inbound/InboundEmailService.java b/src/main/java/dev/escalated/services/email/inbound/InboundEmailService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c38df9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/dev/escalated/services/email/inbound/InboundEmailService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+package dev.escalated.services.email.inbound;
+
+import dev.escalated.models.Reply;
+import dev.escalated.models.Ticket;
+import dev.escalated.models.TicketPriority;
+import dev.escalated.services.TicketService;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Optional;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
+
+/**
+ * Orchestrates the full inbound email pipeline:
+ * <pre>parser output → router resolution → reply-on-existing or
+ * create-new-ticket</pre>
+ *
+ * <p>Called from {@link dev.escalated.controllers.InboundEmailController}
+ * after the parser normalizes the provider payload. Mirrors the
+ * NestJS reference {@code InboundRouterService} and the .NET
+ * {@code InboundEmailService}.
+ *
+ * <p>Attachment persistence is out of scope here: provider-hosted
+ * attachments (Mailgun) carry their {@code downloadUrl} through to
+ * {@link ProcessResult#pendingAttachmentDownloads()} so a follow-up
+ * worker can fetch + persist out-of-band.
+ */
+@Service
+public class InboundEmailService {
+
+    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(InboundEmailService.class);
+
+    private final InboundEmailRouter router;
+    private final TicketService ticketService;
+
+    public InboundEmailService(InboundEmailRouter router, TicketService ticketService) {
+        this.router = router;
+        this.ticketService = ticketService;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Process a parsed inbound message. Returns a {@link ProcessResult}
+     * carrying the outcome (matched + reply id, created new ticket
+     * id, or skipped).
+     */
+    public ProcessResult process(InboundMessage message) {
+        Optional<Ticket> ticketMatch = router.resolveTicket(message);
+
+        if (ticketMatch.isPresent()) {
+            Ticket ticket = ticketMatch.get();
+            Reply reply = ticketService.addReply(
+                    ticket.getId(),
+                    message.body(),
+                    message.fromName(),
+                    message.fromEmail(),
+                    "inbound_email",
+                    false
+            );
+            return new ProcessResult(
+                    Outcome.REPLIED_TO_EXISTING,
+                    ticket.getId(),
+                    reply.getId(),
+                    pendingDownloads(message)
+            );
+        }
+
+        if (isNoiseEmail(message)) {
+            return new ProcessResult(Outcome.SKIPPED, null, null, List.of());
+        }
+
+        Ticket newTicket = ticketService.create(
+                nonBlankOr(message.subject(), "(no subject)"),
+                message.body(),
+                message.fromName(),
+                message.fromEmail(),
+                TicketPriority.MEDIUM,
+                null
+        );
+        log.info("[InboundEmailService] Created ticket #{} from inbound email", newTicket.getId());
+
+        return new ProcessResult(
+                Outcome.CREATED_NEW,
+                newTicket.getId(),
+                null,
+                pendingDownloads(message)
+        );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Noise emails: empty body + empty subject, or from common
+     * bounce/no-reply senders.
+     */
+    static boolean isNoiseEmail(InboundMessage message) {
+        if ("no-reply@sns.amazonaws.com".equalsIgnoreCase(message.fromEmail())) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        boolean bodyEmpty = message.body() == null || message.body().isBlank();
+        boolean subjectEmpty = message.subject() == null || message.subject().isBlank();
+        return bodyEmpty && subjectEmpty;
+    }
+
+    private static String nonBlankOr(String value, String fallback) {
+        return (value == null || value.isBlank()) ? fallback : value;
+    }
+
+    private static List<PendingAttachment> pendingDownloads(InboundMessage message) {
+        List<PendingAttachment> list = new ArrayList<>();
+        if (message.attachments() == null) {
+            return list;
+        }
+        for (InboundAttachment a : message.attachments()) {
+            if (a.downloadUrl() != null && a.content() == null) {
+                list.add(new PendingAttachment(
+                        a.name(),
+                        a.contentType(),
+                        a.sizeBytes(),
+                        a.downloadUrl()
+                ));
+            }
+        }
+        return list;
+    }
+
+    public enum Outcome {
+        REPLIED_TO_EXISTING,
+        CREATED_NEW,
+        SKIPPED
+    }
+
+    public record ProcessResult(
+            Outcome outcome,
+            Long ticketId,
+            Long replyId,
+            List<PendingAttachment> pendingAttachmentDownloads
+    ) {
+    }
+
+    public record PendingAttachment(
+            String name,
+            String contentType,
+            Long sizeBytes,
+            String downloadUrl
+    ) {
+    }
+}