AI Gmail Reply Drafter using OpenAI Assistants & n8n

Unlock Faster Email Responses with this AI Agent

This n8n AI Agent acts as your personal email assistant for Gmail. It monitors your inbox for emails you've tagged with a specific label, signaling they need an AI-assisted reply.

How this AI Agent Works for You:

1. Scheduled Monitoring: The agent periodically checks your Gmail (default: every minute) for new threads marked with your designated 'trigger' label.
2. Content Extraction: For each identified thread, it retrieves the content of the relevant incoming message to provide context for the reply.
3. Intelligent Draft Generation: The email content is passed to your pre-configured OpenAI Assistant. This Assistant, armed with your custom instructions and knowledge, generates a contextual and relevant draft reply in Markdown.
4. Formatting & Staging: The AI's Markdown response is converted to clean HTML for professional email appearance.
5. Draft Delivery: The polished HTML reply is then saved as a draft directly within the original Gmail thread, addressed to the original sender and using the original subject line.
6. Cleanup: Finally, the agent removes the 'trigger' label from the thread to prevent re-processing and keep your inbox organized.

This AI-driven automation streamlines the process of responding to routine emails, freeing you up to focus on more complex tasks. You maintain full control, as the replies are saved as drafts for your review and sending.

Key Features & Benefits

• AI-Powered Drafting: Leverages your OpenAI Assistant for high-quality, contextual email replies.
• Seamless Gmail Integration: Works directly with your Gmail account, watching for specific labels you define.
• Automated Workflow: From identifying emails to drafting replies and organizing, the entire process is automated.
• Significant Time Savings: Drastically reduces the time spent on drafting repetitive or common email responses.
• Customizable AI Behavior: Utilizes your own OpenAI Assistant, allowing you to tailor its tone, knowledge, and response style perfectly to your needs.
• Full Control with Drafts: All generated replies are saved as drafts, ensuring you have the final review and approval before sending.
• Efficient Email Triage: Processes multiple tagged emails in sequence and removes trigger labels to maintain an organized workflow.

• An n8n instance (Cloud or self-hosted).
• OpenAI API Key and a pre-configured OpenAI Assistant. You will need the Assistant ID.
• Gmail credentials (OAuth2 already set up in your n8n instance).
• A specific Gmail label created in your Gmail account to trigger the workflow (e.g., 'AI-Draft-Reply'). You'll need its internal Label ID.

1. Download the n8n workflow JSON file.
2. Import the workflow into your n8n instance.
3. Trigger Configuration: Adjust the 'Schedule trigger (1 min)' node if you prefer a different checking interval.
4. Gmail - Fetch Labeled Threads: In the 'Get threads with specific labels' Gmail node:
   • Select your Gmail OAuth2 credential.
   • Under 'Filters', click 'Add Label ID' and enter the Gmail Label ID that will trigger this workflow. (Note: Gmail Label IDs are not the same as label names; they look like Label_xxxxxxxxxxxx).
5. OpenAI Assistant Configuration: In the 'Ask OpenAI Assistant' node:
   • Select your OpenAI API credential.
   • In the 'Assistant ID' parameter, enter the ID of your pre-configured OpenAI Assistant. Ensure this assistant is set up in your OpenAI account to generate email replies based on provided text.
6. Gmail Credentials for Other Nodes: Ensure the following Gmail nodes are also configured with your Gmail OAuth2 credential:
   • 'Get single message content'
   • 'Add email draft to thread'
   • 'Remove AI label from email'
7. Gmail - Remove Label: In the 'Remove AI label from email' node, ensure the 'Thread ID' is correctly mapped (default should be fine). Under 'Options', click 'Add Label ID' and enter the same Gmail Label ID you used in step 4 to ensure the trigger label is removed after processing.
8. (Optional) Review Mappings: The 'Map fields for further processing' and 'Build email raw' nodes are set up for standard replies. Review them if you have specific needs for subject lines (e.g., adding 'Re:'), recipients, or email structure.
9. Activate the workflow. Emails in Gmail that receive the specified label will now have draft replies generated by your AI Agent.