Maxime Beaudoin

Posted on May 26

InboxInsights: AI-Powered Mood Analytics Through Email

#devchallenge #postmarkchallenge #webdev #api

InboxInsights: AI-Powered Mood Tracking Through Email Analysis

This is a submission for the Postmark Challenge: Inbox Innovators.

InboxInsights: Transform your emotional well-being through intelligent email-based mood tracking and AI-powered insights.

💡 What I Built

InboxInsights is an AI-powered mood tracking platform that revolutionizes personal wellness monitoring by leveraging Postmark's inbound email parsing capabilities. Users can track their emotional well-being simply by sending emails describing their day, mood, and activities to a dedicated email address.

The platform uses n8n workflows integrated with Postmark's inbound webhooks to automatically process incoming emails, extract mood data using OpenAI's GPT-4, and store structured insights in a Supabase PostgreSQL database. Users can then visualize their mood trends, energy levels, and stress patterns through an interactive Next.js dashboard.

Key features include:

📧 Email-Based Data Ingestion: Send mood updates via email using Postmark's inbound parsing
🤖 AI-Powered Analysis: GPT-4 extracts mood scores, energy levels, stress indicators, and activities
📊 Advanced Analytics Dashboard: Multi-tab interface with Overview, Trends, and AI Insights
📈 Rich Visualizations: Interactive charts, mood heatmaps, distribution analysis, and trend tracking
🧠 AI-Powered Insights: Personalized recommendations based on mood patterns and correlations
📅 Mood Heatmap: GitHub-style calendar view showing mood patterns over 12 weeks
🛡️ Content Moderation: Automated content filtering with violation detection and blocking
🔐 Secure Authentication: User authentication and data privacy with Supabase Auth
📱 Responsive Design: Modern UI built with Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and shadcn/ui

🎯 Use Case

Mental health and emotional well-being tracking is often cumbersome, requiring users to remember to log into apps or fill out forms. InboxInsights solves this by meeting users where they already are - their email inbox.

Target Users:

Individuals seeking to track their emotional well-being without additional apps
Mental health professionals who want clients to maintain mood journals
Wellness enthusiasts interested in data-driven self-improvement
Busy professionals who prefer email-based workflows over dedicated apps

Problem Solved:

Friction in mood tracking: Traditional apps require remembering to log in and fill forms
Inconsistent data collection: Users often forget to track their mood regularly
Limited context: Simple mood ratings lack the rich context that natural language provides
Data silos: Mood data trapped in proprietary apps without export capabilities

🧪 Demo

🚀 Try InboxInsights Live: https://inboxinsights.me/

I strongly encourage you to test the full application! We've built extensive features and content that showcase the complete email-to-analytics workflow. The live demo includes rich mood data, advanced visualizations, and AI-powered insights.

Testing Instructions

Option 1: Use Demo Account (Recommended for Quick Testing)

Sign in using the demo credentials provided in the form
View existing mood data on the dashboard with interactive charts

Option 2: Create Your Own Account

Sign up with your own email address for a personalized experience
Start with a clean slate and build your own mood tracking history
Important: You must send mood emails from the same email address you used to sign up

For Both Options:

Send a test email to: b82ba9d30ef2dd7cf65016dfe8c69b37@inbound.postmarkapp.com
Email content example:

Subject: Daily Mood Update

Hi! Today was a pretty good day. I slept about 7 hours last night and woke up feeling refreshed.
My energy level is around 8/10 today. I went for a morning jog and had a productive work session.
Stress level is low, maybe 3/10. The weather is sunny and warm which always boosts my mood!

Activities: Morning jog, work meetings, lunch with friends

Watch real-time updates as your email gets processed and appears on the dashboard
Explore advanced features:
- Overview Tab: Enhanced mood statistics, today's mood, weekly trends, and recent entries timeline
- Trends Tab: Interactive mood charts, distribution analysis, and 12-week mood heatmap
- Insights Tab: AI-powered personalized recommendations and pattern analysis

Content Moderation Demo

Try sending inappropriate content to see the automated blocking system in action - you'll receive an immediate violation notification email.

Quick Video Demo

🧰 Code Repository

🔗 GitHub – InboxInsights

The complete source code is available on GitHub with comprehensive documentation, setup instructions, and deployment guides. The repository includes:

Full Next.js application with TypeScript
Supabase database schema and migrations
n8n workflow configuration for email processing
Docker setup for local development
Comprehensive README and documentation

⚙️ How I Built It

Architecture Overview

InboxInsights uses a modern, scalable architecture built around Postmark's inbound email processing:

📊 View Complete Workflow Diagram →

The architecture consists of four main layers:

Email Ingestion Layer: Postmark receives emails and triggers webhooks to n8n
Processing Layer: n8n workflows handle AI analysis and content moderation
Data Storage Layer: Supabase PostgreSQL stores structured mood data
Presentation Layer: Next.js dashboard provides real-time visualization

As shown in the diagram above, the system processes emails through two distinct paths:

Content Violation Path: Inappropriate content is blocked and triggers immediate email notifications
Clean Content Path: Valid mood data flows through AI analysis to the dashboard

Tech Stack

Frontend: Next.js 15, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui components
Backend: Supabase (PostgreSQL, Auth, Real-time subscriptions)
Email Processing: Postmark inbound webhooks + n8n automation
AI Integration: OpenAI GPT-4 for mood analysis and content moderation
Deployment: Vercel (frontend), Supabase Cloud (backend), self-hosted n8n

Implementation Process

1. 📬 Postmark Integration

Configured Postmark inbound server with webhook endpoint
Set up dedicated email address: b82ba9d30ef2dd7cf65016dfe8c69b37@inbound.postmarkapp.com
Implemented webhook payload processing in n8n

2. 🔄 n8n Workflow Design

Content Moderation: First node classifies incoming emails for inappropriate content
Conditional Processing: Blocks violating content and sends notification emails
AI Analysis: GPT-4 extracts structured mood data from email content
Database Integration: Stores processed data in Supabase with proper relationships

3. 🤖 AI-Powered Analysis
The AI agent extracts:

Mood Score (1-10): Overall emotional state
Energy Level (1-10): Physical and mental energy
Stress Level (1-10): Stress and anxiety indicators
Sleep Hours: Sleep duration and quality
Activities: Daily activities and events
Weather: Environmental factors affecting mood
Personalized Notes: Encouraging AI-generated feedback

4. 🗄️ Database Design

mood_entries: Core mood tracking data with email metadata
email_violations: Content moderation results and flags
Real-time subscriptions: Live dashboard updates

5. 🎨 Frontend Development

Interactive Charts: Recharts for mood trends and patterns
Real-time Updates: Supabase real-time subscriptions
Responsive Design: Mobile-first approach with Tailwind CSS

Postmark Features Utilized

1. 🔗 Inbound Email Parsing

Configured inbound server to receive emails at custom domain
Webhook integration delivers structured email data (sender, subject, body, metadata)
Automatic parsing of email headers and content

2. ⚡ Real-time Processing

Immediate webhook delivery enables real-time mood tracking
No polling required - instant processing of incoming emails
Reliable delivery with built-in retry mechanisms

3. 🛡️ Content Filtering Integration

Email metadata used for sender verification and spam protection
Integration with AI moderation for content policy enforcement
Automated response emails for policy violations

4. 📊 Analytics & Monitoring

Email processing metrics tracked in dashboard
Delivery status monitoring for outbound notifications
Error handling and logging for failed processing

🔄 Key Features & Innovations

Email-First Approach

Unlike traditional mood tracking apps, InboxInsights meets users in their existing workflow - email. This reduces friction and increases consistency in mood tracking.

AI-Powered Insights

The platform doesn't just store data - it provides intelligent analysis, extracting multiple dimensions of wellness from natural language descriptions.

Content Moderation

Built-in AI content moderation ensures the platform maintains appropriate communication standards while protecting user experience.

Advanced Analytics Dashboard

The platform features a sophisticated three-tab dashboard interface:

Overview Tab: Real-time mood statistics, today's mood tracking, weekly trends, and timeline of recent entries
Trends Tab: Interactive mood charts with time-series analysis, mood distribution pie charts, and a GitHub-style mood heatmap showing 12 weeks of data
Insights Tab: AI-powered personalized insights including mood pattern analysis, sleep correlation, stress indicators, and actionable recommendations

Real-time Dashboard

Live updates create an engaging experience where users can immediately see their mood data visualized after sending an email.

💡 Lessons Learned

Email as an Interface: Email remains one of the most universal and accessible interfaces for data collection
AI Context Understanding: GPT-4 excels at extracting structured data from unstructured natural language
Real-time User Experience: Immediate feedback loops significantly improve user engagement
Content Moderation: Automated content filtering is essential for user-generated content platforms
Workflow Automation: n8n provides powerful visual workflow design for complex email processing pipelines

🚀 Future Possibilities & Enhancements

Multi-language Support: Expand AI analysis to support multiple languages
Advanced Analytics: Machine learning models for mood prediction and trend analysis
Integration Ecosystem: Connect with fitness trackers, calendar apps, and other wellness tools
Team Features: Shared mood tracking for families or therapy groups
Mobile App: Native mobile app with email composition shortcuts