Track client reply SLAs in Gmail with OpenAI, Google Sheets, and Slack

Description

Quick overview This workflow runs hourly to find Gmail threads where a client is waiting for your reply, uses OpenAI to triage and summarize new overdue messages, logs SLA timing in Google Sheets, and posts new and escalated reminders to a Slack channel. How it works Runs every hour on a schedule. Reads recent Inbox and Sent messages from Gmail and matches them by thread to identify client emails that are still awaiting your reply. Compares the currently-waiting threads against a Google Sheets “Reply Log” to detect newly-due threads, threads that have become overdue, and threads you have already replied to. For newly-due or overdue unlogged threads, sends the email preview to OpenAI to decide whether a reply is needed, assign a priority, and generate a short summary. Appends each new thread evaluation to the Google Sheets “Reply Log” and posts a formatted alert to Slack only when OpenAI indicates a reply is needed. For still-unanswered threads that cross 2× the reply target, updates the row as overdue in Google Sheets and posts an escalation message to Slack. When a reply is detected for an open thread, updates the Google Sheets row with replied time and calculated response hours. Setup Connect credentials for Gmail, Google Sheets, OpenAI, and Slack. Create a Google Sheets tab named “Reply Log” with columns matching the fields the workflow writes (including inbound_message_id, thread_id, client_email, subject, summary, priority, stage, status, received_at, flagged_at, replied_at, and response_hours). In the workflow’s settings values, set your email address, internal domains to exclude, reply_target_hours and lookback_days, the Google Sheet ID, and the target Slack channel (and optionally set client_domains to limit monitoring). Requirements Gmail account (used for both inbox and sent mail) OpenAI API key, a Google Sheet with a Reply Log tab, and a Slack workspace Customization List client_domains to watch only specific clients, and adjust reply_target_hours Change the Gmail search to watch one label or a shared client inbox Add a weekly Slack summary of average response hours per client from the Reply Log. An n8n automation workflow template by Samruddhi Mokal.

Community Metrics

Categories

• Automation
• AI

Tags

• n8n
• workflow
• google-sheets
• slack
• gmail
• code
• basic-llm-chain
• openai-chat-model
• structured-output-parser

Capabilities

• 7 nodes

Information