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Gmail Triage → Auto-Respond

CommunicationIntermediate45 minutes

Automatically categorize emails and send intelligent auto-responses

Prerequisites

  • OpenClaw installed and running
  • Gmail account with API access enabled
  • Slack workspace for urgent email notifications

Required Skills

openclaw install email-triage
slack-digest
openclaw install slack-digest

Installation Steps

1

Install required skills

Install the email triage and Slack digest skills.

openclaw install email-triage slack-digest
2

Enable Gmail API

Enable the Gmail API in your Google Cloud Console and generate OAuth credentials for your OpenClaw instance.

3

Define triage categories

Configure the email categories, keywords, and actions in the config. Customize the response templates for each category.

4

Add the config snippet

Copy the configuration below and replace the keywords with ones relevant to your inbox.

Configuration

{
  "integrations": {
    "gmail": {
      "autoTriage": true,
      "categories": {
        "urgent": {
          "keywords": ["urgent", "asap", "critical"],
          "action": "notify-slack"
        },
        "support": {
          "keywords": ["help", "question", "issue"],
          "action": "auto-respond",
          "responseTemplate": "support-response"
        },
        "newsletter": {
          "action": "archive"
        },
        "spam": {
          "action": "delete"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Add this to your openclaw.json and customize the values for your setup.

SOUL.md

## Email Triage Rules
- Never auto-respond to emails from investors, board members, or anyone in the VIP list — only notify in Slack and let a human reply.
- Auto-responses should sound warm and human, not robotic. Use the sender's first name. Acknowledge their specific topic if possible.
- If an email is ambiguous (could be urgent OR support), err on the side of notifying Slack. False alarms are better than missed urgency.
- Never delete anything that has an attachment or mentions money, legal, or contract — flag for manual review instead.
- For support auto-responses, set expectations: "We'll get back to you within 24 hours" — don't promise faster than the team can deliver.
- Learn from corrections: if a human re-categorizes an email you triaged, remember that sender/pattern for next time.

Add this to your SOUL.md to define the agent's behavior for this workflow.

Expected Behavior

OpenClaw monitors your Gmail, categorizes incoming emails by type, and takes appropriate actions: notifies urgent emails to Slack, sends auto-responses to support requests, archives newsletters, and deletes spam.

Usage Guide

Once set up, the triage runs continuously. Urgent emails trigger an immediate Slack notification. Support emails receive an auto-acknowledgment. You can add new categories or adjust keywords at any time by updating the config.

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