How I Built an AI Agent to Manage My Gmail with RunnerH

This is a submission for the Runner H "AI Agent Prompting" Challenge

What I Built

I created an Email Inbox Management Agent using Runner H. This autonomous agent logs into Gmail daily, sorts and prioritizes unread messages, summarizes lengthy emails, drafts appropriate replies, and delivers a full summary to Slack. It reduces the time and stress of email overload, especially for busy professionals or teams managing high volumes of correspondence.

Demo

Attached is a screenshot of the workflow summary generated by Runner H:

How I Used Runner H

I built this autonomous workflow entirely within Runner H using well-structured prompts and its built-in plugin integrations. No coding was required — the entire system leverages Runner H's natural language understanding, tool chaining, and memory across steps.

Step-by-Step Breakdown:

1. Input Prompt Design
   
   I crafted a clear multi-step prompt that Runner H could follow sequentially:

2. Gmail Plugin Usage

Runner H accessed my Gmail inbox through the Gmail plugin. It retrieved unread emails and extracted necessary metadata — subject lines, senders, and full message content. The tool was able to analyze and manipulate the content directly inside the workflow without needing any scripting.

1. Categorization

Emails were sorted into three categories:

• Urgent (e.g., deadline or immediate issue),
• Action Needed (follow-ups, non-critical responses),
• Read Later (FYI or low-priority info).

This categorization was done using context cues (like urgency keywords, sender importance, etc.).

1. Summarization of Long Emails

Emails over a certain threshold (3+ paragraphs) were summarized into 3 concise bullet points. This reduced cognitive overload and made it easy to scan for relevant details.

1. Drafting Responses

The agent then automatically generated context-appropriate responses. The tone was controlled by instructions to be “professional, brief, and polite.” Relevant details was also filled in using the original email context, avoiding generic or robotic replies.

1. Manual Reply Flagging

For emails that were ambiguous, highly sensitive, or too complex (like multi-person threads or nuanced decisions), the agent marked them for manual review. These were highlighted in the Slack report.

1. Slack Integration

Lastly, Runner H compiled a daily summary containing:

• The count of each category,
• The key urgent items with links,
• Drafted replies ready for review.

This summary was automatically sent to a designated Slack channel using the Slack plugin. Now I get a clean email briefing each morning in my Slack workspace.

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How to Replicate This Workflow

You can recreate this agent in under 10 minutes using Runner H:

1. Go to Runner H and click "New Agent".
2. Paste the multi-step prompt (as shown above) into the input box.
3. Ensure you enable the Gmail, OpenAI, and Slack plugins via the integrations menu.
4. Set the agent to run on a schedule — I run it at 7:30 AM every weekday.
5. Save and test the agent. It will walk through your inbox, summarize, categorize, and report.

Optional: You can customize the tone of the email responses (e.g., friendly, formal), or modify the summary format to send to Notion or a Google Doc instead of Slack.

This entire workflow showcases how Runner H can function like a real executive assistant, handling nuanced tasks like communication triage and writing — entirely from a single prompt and natural-language instructions.

Use Case & Impact

This workflow is designed for anyone who deals with a high volume of daily emails — including startup founders, project managers, customer support leads, and independent professionals.
By automating email triage, summarization, and response drafting, this solution transforms a time-consuming and often overwhelming task into a streamlined daily routine. Instead of spending 30–60 minutes each morning reviewing messages, users receive a prioritized digest in Slack with ready-to-send drafts and action items clearly outlined. This improves response time, reduces decision fatigue, and ensures that nothing important gets missed.
It’s especially useful in remote work environments, where asynchronous communication and task clarity are critical. By integrating AI-driven summarization and Slack for daily reporting, this Runner H workflow modernizes inbox management without requiring any technical skills or scripting.