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VETTED AUTHORITY

Template 05 · In the Vetted Small-Business Automation Pack

Inbound email triage with AI categories, labels and tasks

What it automates

New inbox mail is sorted by AI into six categories, labelled in Gmail, and turned into a Google Task when it needs action. The AI never writes to anyone.

Last updated

Tested on: Not yet tested

Included in the Vetted Small-Business Automation Pack. It is not a separate download.

Checkout is not open yet. The pack goes on sale once the checkout provider is set up.

The flow

STARTS WHENNew unread inbox email (5-min check)AI DRAFTSAI picks category + urgencySTEPApply the Gmail labelCHECKNeeds action?RESULTCreate a Google Task

Who it is for

Solo owners and small teams whose shared inbox mixes leads, support, billing and newsletters.

Human approval

None needed: AI writes nothing a customer sees here. Customer emails are fixed text you edit in the workflow.

When something fails

If the AI step fails or returns something unreadable, the email gets your Needs review label instead of a guess. Label and task steps retry 3 times.

Apps and accounts you need

  • Gmailnew-mail trigger and labels · official page
  • OpenAI APIclassifies each email (billed per token by OpenAI) · official page
  • Google Taskscreates follow-up tasks · official page
  • n8nruns the workflow (n8n Cloud or self-hosted)

Running cost estimate

At about 20 new emails a day (an upper bound: one execution per check that finds new mail): 600 executions a month fit n8n Cloud Starter (2,500 executions a month): €20/mo billed annually. Last verified on n8n's pricing page.

One run is one n8n execution, however many steps or waits it has. The cost of the apps themselves is separate. Make: no estimate until the Make version exists, because Make bills per module action.

Check n8n pricing on the official site

Plain link to n8n's pricing page. We have no affiliate relationship with n8n.

Setup overview

  1. In n8n, open Workflows, choose Import from File, and select n8n.json.
  2. Create the Gmail labels you want (for example Triage/Sales) and copy each label's ID into Configure me. A label ID is not the label name.
  3. Copy your Google Tasks list ID into Configure me.
  4. Create credentials: Gmail OAuth2, OpenAI and Google Tasks.
  5. In Classify with AI, choose a current OpenAI model (the model ID in the file is a placeholder).
  6. Run one test with your own data, check every step's output, then switch the workflow to Active.

Known limits

  • Category quality depends on the model you pick; check the Needs review label for the first week.

Platform status

n8n
Workflow file ready. n8n-mcp 2.94.0 validate_workflow (strict profile): 0 errors (Oct 17, 2026). Validation is not a live run.
Make
Make version in progress: blueprints are published only after they pass Make's own validator.

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