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Edishan Lee TenorioAI Automation Specialist & CRM DeveloperSoftware Engineer · Full-Stack Developer · Mobile Developer

W03 · AI agents · n8n + OpenAI

AI Inbox Triage & Auto-Draft Replies with n8n and OpenAI

AI inbox triage uses a language model to read each incoming email, label it by category and urgency, and route it to the right person with a reply already drafted. This build runs on n8n with OpenAI, Gmail, Slack and Google Sheets.

Get this built for youHow it works
For
Support and operations teams
Built in
n8n + OpenAI
Stages
3 stages, 10 nodes
n8n canvas: Gmail trigger, email cleanup, OpenAI classifier, routing by category to Slack notifications and Gmail drafts, spam marked read, and a triage log sheet.Open full size ↗ (opens the workflow screenshot in a new tab)
The production n8n canvas · open full size to read every node

01The problem

Owners and support teams lose hours sorting email, and urgent messages get buried under everything else.

02How it works

  1. 01

    A new email arrives

    Gmail is checked every minute, and each email is cleaned up and trimmed to keep model costs low.

    • Gmail Trigger
    • Clean Email
  2. 02

    AI reads it

    One OpenAI call returns the category, priority, sentiment, a one-line summary and a ready-to-send draft reply.

    • AI Classifier
    • OpenAI Chat Model
    • Parse AI Output
  3. 03

    Route, alert and draft

    Sales, Support and Billing emails post a summary to the right Slack channel and leave a draft reply in Gmail. High-priority emails are flagged. Spam is marked as read. Every email is logged to Google Sheets.

    • Route by Category
    • Notify #sales / #support / #billing
    • Draft Reply
    • Mark Spam as Read
    • Log to Triage Sheet

03Built to fail safely

  • Drafts only: a human reviews and sends every reply
  • One model call per email on gpt-4o-mini, with bodies trimmed, to keep costs predictable
  • Every email is logged, so volume and response can be reported on

Outcome. Nobody sorts the inbox by hand, and every message has an owner and a draft ready to send.

04Stack

  • n8n
  • OpenAI
  • Gmail
  • Slack
  • Google Sheets

FAQ

Questions about this workflow.

01Does the AI send replies on its own?

No. Drafts wait in Gmail and a person reviews and sends them.

02What does it cost to run?

It makes one OpenAI call per email using gpt-4o-mini, and trims each email first to keep model costs low.

03Can the categories match my business?

Yes. The Slack channels and the AI's instructions, including your tone and FAQs, are configured per business.

Next step

Want this workflow in your business?

Tell me how leads, bookings and follow-ups work today. I'll map where this workflow fits, what it connects to, and what it should be measured by.

Book a strategy calledishanleetenorio03@gmail.com