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Thu Kha Kyawe
Thu Kha Kyawe

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6.Use AI as an Email Assistant

#ai #kodekloud

Lab Information

The nautilus AI Development Team is now working on automating written communication tasks. As part of this initiative, you are required to build a Python-based AI Email Assistant that rewrites messages into polite and professional emails.

Inside email_assistant.py, create an OpenAI client using the provided API key and base URL under /root/.bash_profile. Then, define a function named rewrite_email(text: str) -> str that constructs a parameterized prompt asking the AI to rewrite the given email text politely and professionally.

After defining rewrite_email, send the constructed prompt to the OpenAI chat model with these parameters:

model: openai/gpt-4.1-mini
messages: user → prompt
max_tokens: 60
temperature: 0.1
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Store the output in a variable named response and print the polite rewritten email to the console.

Use the following email text for rewriting:

hey send me that report asap

Notes:

Function should accept one parameter: text.

Use the provided OpenAI API key and base_url under /root/.bash_profile.

File email_assistant.py must be inside /root/openaiproject.

Use hardcoded values for api_key and base_url when initializing the OpenAI client or read them from environment variables via os.environ.get('OPENAI_API_KEY') and os.environ.get('OPENAI_BASE_URL').

Before running the script,use the following commands install OpenAI:
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python3 -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate && pip install openai

You are allowed a maximum of 10 requests before rate limiting may occur.
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Lab Solutions

🧭 Part 1: Lab Step-by-Step Guidelines

Step 1: Navigate to the project directory

cd /root/openaiproject
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Step 2: Create and activate the virtual environment

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
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Step 3: Install the OpenAI package

pip install openai
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Step 4: Create the email_assistant.py file

vi email_assistant.py
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Paste the following code:

import os
from openai import OpenAI

# Initialize OpenAI client
client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url=os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_BASE")
)

# Function to rewrite email politely
def rewrite_email(text: str) -> str:

    prompt = f"""
Rewrite the following email in a polite and professional tone.

Email:
{text}
"""

    response = client.chat.completions.create(
        model="openai/gpt-4.1-mini",
        messages=[
            {
                "role": "user",
                "content": prompt
            }
        ],
        max_tokens=60,
        temperature=0.1
    )

    return response.choices[0].message.content


# Original email text
text = "hey send me that report asap"

# Store AI response
response = rewrite_email(text)

# Print rewritten email
print(response)
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Step 5: Save and exit vi editor
Press Esc, then type :wq and hit Enter.

Step 6: Load environment variables

source /root/.bash_profile
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Step 7: Run the script

python email_assistant.py
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Expected Output Example

Subject: Request for Report

Dear [Recipient's Name],

I hope this message finds you well. Could you please send me the report at your earliest convenience? 

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Best regards,  
[Your Name]
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🧠 Part 2: Simple Step-by-Step Explanation (Beginner Friendly)

What this lab does

You are building an AI-powered email rewriting assistant.

The script:

Takes an informal email
Sends it to an AI model
Requests a polite professional rewrite
Prints the improved email
Understanding the Code

  1. Importing modules
    import os
    from openai import OpenAI
    os reads environment variables
    OpenAI connects Python to the AI API

  2. Creating the OpenAI client
    client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_KEY"),
    base_url=os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_BASE")
    )

This connects your script to the AI server using credentials stored in /root/.bash_profile.

  1. Creating the rewrite function def rewrite_email(text: str) -> str:

This function accepts any email text as input.

Example:

rewrite_email("send me the files")

  1. Building the AI prompt prompt = f""" Rewrite the following email... """

The f creates an f-string.

Python inserts the input email automatically into the prompt.

  1. Sending the request to the AI response = client.chat.completions.create(

This sends the rewrite request to the AI model.

Important settings:

model="openai/gpt-4.1-mini" → supported AI model
max_tokens=60 → keeps output short
temperature=0.1 → makes responses consistent and professional

  1. Extracting the AI-generated email response.choices[0].message.content

This extracts only the rewritten email text from the API response.

  1. Printing the rewritten email print(response)

Displays the professional email in the terminal.

Resources & Next Steps
📦 Full Code Repository: KodeKloud Learning Labs
📖 More Deep Dives: Whispering Cloud Insights - Read other technical articles
💬 Join Discussion: DEV Community - Share your thoughts and questions
💼 Let's Connect: LinkedIn - I'd love to connect with you
Credits
• All labs are from: KodeKloud
• I sincerely appreciate your provision of these valuable resources.

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