# Clear your inbox on autopilot (/use-cases/team-ops/email)



Copy this prompt to start your first task:

<Prompt>
  Set up a teammate that patrols my Gmail on a schedule, sorts incoming email into buckets like collaboration inquiries and invoices, drafts replies for me to review, and tracks invoices to their due date so nothing slips through unnoticed.
</Prompt>

<LivePreview component="NewThread" scenario="{ draft: &#x22;Set up a teammate that patrols my Gmail on a schedule, sorts incoming email into buckets like collaboration inquiries and invoices, drafts replies for me to review, and tracks invoices to their due date so nothing slips through unnoticed.&#x22; }" />

## What is this workflow? [#what-is-this-workflow]

"Clear your inbox on autopilot" means hiring a teammate that patrols Gmail on a schedule and sorts every scanned message into one of four buckets — collaboration inquiry, invoice, system notification, or permanently ignored — so nothing gets the wrong treatment. It drafts a reply for collaboration email into Gmail Drafts for your review, never sending anything on its own, and keeps an invoice tracker current with sender, amount, invoice number, due date, and status. Most of what it finds waits for the next patrol digest; a short, specific list of things that can't wait gets an immediate DM instead.

<Callout type="warn">
  **DM you immediately, not just log it for the next patrol digest:**

  * An invoice that just crossed its due date without payment
  * A high-value, time-limited invite: an accelerator, a large sponsorship offer, anything with a closing window
  * A first-ever inbound from someone who's never contacted you before. A new potential partner's first message deserves a fast look, not a spot in tomorrow's summary
  * A promise the other side made and blew past, like "I'll send the draft by Friday" that Friday came and went on
  * Anything that needs you to act on your own account: a top-up, a payment, an authorization, an approval
  * A deliverable someone sent in that needs your review: a finished video, a piece of content, a file you're expected to sign off on

  Everything else (routine drafts, filed system notices, a normal classification pass) the teammate handles on its own and simply reports in the next digest.
</Callout>

## How to use this workflow [#how-to-use-this-workflow]

<Steps>
  <Step>
    ### Hire an email assistant, and tell it what "handled" means [#hire-an-email-assistant-and-tell-it-what-handled-means]

    Open **AI Teammates** in the sidebar, click **Hire AI Teammate**, and pick the **Email Assistant** template. The template's default bio is generic inbox triage. Replace it on the Profile step so the teammate starts out already knowing this job has four buckets, not one:

    <Prompt>
      You're our inbox manager. Each patrol, sort Gmail into four buckets: collaboration inquiries, invoices, system notices, ignored senders. Draft replies to collaboration emails into Gmail Drafts for my review. Never send automatically. Track each invoice's amount, due date, status; flag overdue ones. DM me for overdue invoices, high-value time-limited offers, first-time inbound contacts, broken promises, account actions, or deliverables needing review. Everything else waits for the next digest.
    </Prompt>

    Confirm the name and click **Create teammate**. They land in their own channel, which is where you'll send everything below. [More on hiring →](/ai-teammates/hire-an-ai-teammate)

    <LivePreview component="CreateAssistantPage" scenario="{ focus: &#x22;profile&#x22;, initialState: { start: &#x22;template&#x22;, templateRef: &#x22;@helio/email-assistant&#x22;, name: &#x22;Email Assistant&#x22;, bio: &#x22;You're our inbox manager. Each patrol, sort Gmail into four buckets: collaboration inquiries, invoices, system notices, ignored senders. Draft replies to collaboration emails into Gmail Drafts for my review. Never send automatically. Track each invoice's amount, due date, status; flag overdue ones. DM me for overdue invoices, high-value time-limited offers, first-time inbound contacts, broken promises, account actions, or deliverables needing review. Everything else waits for the next digest.&#x22; } }" />
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Connect Gmail, and Notion if you're tracking partner rates [#connect-gmail-and-notion-if-youre-tracking-partner-rates]

    Gmail is the one this teammate can't work without. It's a real native connector, the same OAuth flow you'd use anywhere else in Helio. If you also keep a running database of partner quotes and rates, connect Notion too: it's also a real native connector, and lets this teammate log every quote it finds in email straight into that database instead of you copying numbers over by hand. [Connect your tools →](/connect/connect-tools-to-ai-teammates)

    <LivePreview component="AssistantIntegrations" />

    Not every tool a playbook like this touches has a native connector. If you later want this teammate checking something on a site Helio doesn't integrate with directly, say a payment portal's status page, or a platform dashboard that's only a web UI with no API, don't wait for a "Connect" button that doesn't exist. Install the **Stagehand Browser CLI** skill (Skills & Plugins) and it drives an actual browser for that instead. It still won't authorize a payment on your behalf; that stays a manual, you-only action either way. But it can read a page for you that you'd otherwise have to go check yourself.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Set the four classification rules [#set-the-four-classification-rules]

    Everything the teammate reads gets sorted before anything else happens to it. Give it the real rule set, not a vague "important vs. not":

    | Category              | What lands in it                                                            | What happens to it                                                   |
    | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
    | Collaboration inquiry | Creator/partner outreach: quotes, video-progress check-ins, deal follow-ups | Drafted reply saved to Gmail Drafts, summarized in the patrol digest |
    | Invoice               | Anything with an amount, an invoice number, and a due date                  | Added to the invoice tracker, flagged if overdue                     |
    | System notification   | Automated platform email, no reply expected                                 | Listed in the digest only, marked "no reply needed"                  |
    | Permanently ignored   | Senders you've told it to skip: competitor marketing, spam                  | Skipped entirely, doesn't appear in the digest at all                |

    <Prompt>
      Here are my classification rules. Collaboration inquiries (quotes, video-progress updates, deal follow-ups from creators or brands) get a drafted reply plus a line in the digest. Anything with an amount, invoice number, and due date is an invoice, so track it but don't draft a reply for it. Platform system notifications go in the digest only, marked no reply needed. And permanently skip these senders, don't even list them: [competitor marketing addresses].
    </Prompt>

    <LivePreview
      component="AssistantChat"
      scenario="{ assistantName: &#x22;Email Assistant&#x22;, messages: [
    { author: &#x22;user&#x22;, text: &#x22;Here are my classification rules. Collaboration inquiries (quotes, video-progress updates, deal follow-ups from creators or brands) get a drafted reply plus a line in the digest. Anything with an amount, invoice number, and due date is an invoice, so track it but don't draft a reply for it. Platform system notifications go in the digest only, marked no reply needed. And permanently skip these senders, don't even list them: [competitor marketing addresses].&#x22; },
    { author: &#x22;assistant&#x22;, text: &#x22;Four buckets set. Collaboration inquiries get a drafted reply plus a digest line; invoices go straight to the tracker with no reply drafted; system notices are digest-only, marked no reply needed; the senders you listed are skipped entirely, so they won't show up in any digest. I'll flag anything ambiguous instead of guessing which bucket it belongs in.&#x22; },
  ] }"
    />
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Let it track invoices to their due date, not just their arrival [#let-it-track-invoices-to-their-due-date-not-just-their-arrival]

    For every email that lands in the invoice bucket, the teammate keeps sender, amount, invoice number, due date, and status, re-checking that status every patrol instead of just once when the email arrived:

    <Prompt>
      Track every invoice you find: who it's from, the amount and currency, the invoice number, and the due date. Status should be pending, overdue, or paid. If the due date has passed and I haven't confirmed payment, mark it overdue and tell me. Don't just quietly update a field I'm not looking at.
    </Prompt>

    <LivePreview
      component="AssistantChat"
      scenario="{ assistantName: &#x22;Email Assistant&#x22;, messages: [
    { author: &#x22;user&#x22;, text: &#x22;Track every invoice you find: who it's from, the amount and currency, the invoice number, and the due date. Status should be pending, overdue, or paid. If the due date has passed and I haven't confirmed payment, mark it overdue and tell me. Don't just quietly update a field I'm not looking at.&#x22; },
    { author: &#x22;assistant&#x22;, text: &#x22;Tracking now. Current list has 4 open invoices, and one needs your attention: Bramble Media, $2,400.00, Invoice #INV-1042, due July 15. That's 2 days overdue with no payment confirmation, so I marked it ⚠️ overdue and I'm sending you a separate DM about it, not burying it in the next digest. The other 3 are still within their due date, sitting at pending.&#x22; },
  ] }"
    />
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Confirm what waits for the digest and what doesn't [#confirm-what-waits-for-the-digest-and-what-doesnt]

    The classification rules decide *what kind* of email something is; this rule decides *how fast* you hear about it. Most of what the teammate finds is fine sitting in the next scheduled digest, but a handful of things aren't, and treating them the same way is how an overdue invoice or a first-time high-value inbound sits unread for hours:

    <Prompt>
      Most of what you find can wait for the next patrol digest, so don't message me for routine drafts or filed notifications. But DM me right away, don't wait, for: an invoice that just went overdue, a high-value time-limited invite, a first-ever inbound from someone new, a promise someone made and missed, anything needing me to act on my own account, or a deliverable that needs my review.
    </Prompt>

    <LivePreview
      component="AssistantChat"
      scenario="{ assistantName: &#x22;Email Assistant&#x22;, messages: [
    { author: &#x22;user&#x22;, text: &#x22;Most of what you find can wait for the next patrol digest, so don't message me for routine drafts or filed notifications. But DM me right away, don't wait, for: an invoice that just went overdue, a high-value time-limited invite, a first-ever inbound from someone new, a promise someone made and missed, anything needing me to act on my own account, or a deliverable that needs my review.&#x22; },
    { author: &#x22;assistant&#x22;, text: &#x22;Got it, six things get an immediate DM, everything else waits for the next digest: overdue invoices, time-limited high-value invites, first-time inbound from someone new, a missed promise, anything needing you to act on your own account, and deliverables needing your review. Routine drafts and system notices stay in the regular patrol summary.&#x22; },
  ] }"
    />
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Put the patrol on a schedule [#put-the-patrol-on-a-schedule]

    Open **Automations** in the sidebar, click the **Create via Chat** dropdown, and pick this teammate. This is what turns the rules above from something it does when asked into something it does on its own:

    <Prompt>
      Patrol the inbox every 3 hours, reading the latest 50 messages. Apply the classification rules, draft replies for collaboration inquiries, update the invoice tracker, and DM me immediately for anything on the urgent list. Everything else goes in one digest per patrol. Separately, once a day, scan for any new quotes from creators. If Notion is connected, log them to the partner rates database there; otherwise just list them in the digest.
    </Prompt>

    <LivePreview component="NewThread" scenario="{ populated: false }" />
  </Step>
</Steps>

**This flow won't send email on its own:** sending external email is a sensitive action, so replies always land in Gmail Drafts for you to send yourself. Reading your inbox, classifying messages, and updating the invoice tracker run on their own without pausing for approval. See [Control](/ai-teammates/control) for what pauses for sign-off and what doesn't.

## Tips for Better Results [#tips-for-better-results]

| Tip                                            | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Give it the real classification rules up front | The four buckets only work well if you hand over specifics — what counts as an invoice, which senders to permanently skip — instead of a vague "important vs. not."                                                     |
| Review drafts before they go out               | Replies land in Gmail Drafts, not your sent folder. Read the exact wording before you send anything.                                                                                                                    |
| Name exactly what deserves an immediate DM     | Overdue invoices, high-value time-limited invites, first-time inbound, missed promises, account actions, and deliverables needing review are the only things that skip the digest — everything else should wait for it. |
| Connect Notion if you track partner rates      | Without it, quotes found in email only show up in the digest; with it, they're logged straight into your rates database.                                                                                                |

## Common Questions [#common-questions]

<Accordions type="single">
  <Accordion title="Does it ever send email on its own?">
    No. Replies always land in Gmail Drafts for you to review and send yourself. Sending external email is a sensitive action, so this flow is built to never do it automatically.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens to invoices after they're logged?">
    They're tracked with sender, amount, invoice number, due date, and status (pending, overdue, paid), rechecked every patrol. One that crosses its due date without payment gets marked overdue and triggers an immediate DM.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will I get pinged for every email?">
    No. Only overdue invoices, high-value time-limited invites, first-time inbound contacts, broken promises, account actions, and deliverables needing review trigger an immediate DM. Everything else rides along in the next patrol digest.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What if it needs to check a tool with no native connector?">
    Install the Stagehand Browser CLI skill so it can drive an actual browser for that instead of waiting on a "Connect" button that doesn't exist. It still won't authorize a payment on your behalf — that stays a manual, you-only action.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I need Notion connected?">
    Only if you track partner rates. Without it, quotes found in email just show up in the digest instead of being logged to a database.
  </Accordion>
</Accordions>

<Cards>
  <Card title="Team Ops" href="/use-cases/team-ops" description="Back to the Team Ops use case overview." />

  <Card title="Plan your day automatically" href="/use-cases/team-ops/day-planner" description="A morning brief and an evening slip check, every day." />
</Cards>