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Every 10 minutes

Get draft replies to emails that need an answer

Emails that need a reply get a draft in the same thread, ready for you to edit and send.

Runs
Every 10 minutes
Apps
Gmail
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
read+write (gmail.modify or gmail.compose)

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when an email arrives that needs a reply from me, write a short draft in my tone and save it as a Gmail draft in the same thread. Never send it.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

Many people have a few dozen emails a day that each need a short, sensible answer: confirm a meeting, send a document link, say thanks, give a price range. Writing each one costs a few minutes, and the cost is the switching, not the typing. Replies pile up until the evening, and the delay itself becomes the problem when a client assumes they were ignored.

Every 10 minutes new inbox messages are read. ClickRuntime's built-in AI decides whether a reply is needed and, if so, writes it. The draft is saved in the same Gmail thread, with the right threadId and In-Reply-To headers, so it appears under the original message ready for you to edit and send.

Consultants, recruiters, sales reps and anyone with a heavy inbox of routine messages benefit most.

What you get out of it

  • Drafts wait where you already look

    Because drafts are saved in the original thread, you find them next to the message and not in a separate tool, which keeps your normal Gmail routine intact. It feels like having a thoughtful assistant sitting in your inbox.

  • Only messages that need a reply get one

    The AI first decides whether a reply is needed, so notifications and newsletters are not filled with pointless drafts and your drafts folder stays useful. That judgment is what separates a helpful assistant from a noisy one.

  • Short answers cost seconds, not minutes

    Reviewing a draft is much faster than composing from nothing, which turns a block of inbox time into a quick pass of reading and pressing send. Many people find that the inbox stops feeling like a chore.

  • Nothing leaves without your approval

    The draft sits unsent until you decide, so a wrong assumption never reaches the recipient, which is important for sensitive or high-value conversations. Control stays with you on anything important or delicate.

  • Threads stay correct

    Headers attach the draft to the right conversation, so the reply threads properly for the recipient, with no broken or duplicated conversations to tidy up. Tidy threads also make future searches simpler for you and for the other person.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every 10 minutes ClickRuntime checks your Gmail primary inbox for new emails from other people.

  2. It skips emails it has already looked at.

  3. AI decides whether each email needs a reply and, if so, writes a short one in your voice.

  4. The reply is saved as a draft in the same Gmail conversation. Nothing is sent until you review it and press send.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Google through your own Google app (a one-time, 10-minute setup), so it works with your own Gmail

What you get

RunsEvery 10 minutes
Get draft replies to emails that need an answertoday, 9:00Succeeded
Gmail · DraftsRe: Can we move Thursday's call? Hi Sam, Thursday 3pm works better for me too. I'll send an updated invite.

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Gmail steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
ai_draft_replies_for_incoming_email.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
import base64
from email.message import EmailMessage
from clickruntime import on_trigger, report_fetched, credentials, state, ai

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    gmail = build("gmail", "v1", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False)
    msgs = gmail.users().messages().list(userId="me", q="in:inbox category:primary newer_than:1d -from:me").execute().get("messages", [])
    done = set(state.get("done") or [])
    new = [m for m in msgs if m["id"] not in done]
    report_fetched(len(new))
    if not new:
        return {"summary": "Nothing new"}
    drafted = 0
    for m in new:
        msg = gmail.users().messages().get(userId="me", id=m["id"], format="metadata",
                                           metadataHeaders=["From", "Subject", "Message-ID"]).execute()
        h = {x["name"]: x["value"] for x in msg["payload"]["headers"]}
        reply = ai.generate(f"If this email needs a personal reply, write a short, friendly one in first person. "
                            f"Otherwise answer NO_REPLY.\nFrom: {h['From']}\nSubject: {h['Subject']}\n{msg['snippet']}",
                            max_output_tokens=300).text.strip()
        done.add(m["id"])
        if reply == "NO_REPLY":
            continue
        draft = EmailMessage()
        draft["To"], draft["Subject"] = h["From"], "Re: " + h["Subject"]
        draft["In-Reply-To"] = draft["References"] = h.get("Message-ID", "")
        draft.set_content(reply)
        raw = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(draft.as_bytes()).decode()
        gmail.users().drafts().create(userId="me", body={"message": {"raw": raw, "threadId": msg["threadId"]}}).execute()
        drafted += 1
    state.set("done", sorted(done)[-1000:])
    return {"drafted": drafted}

FAQ

Common questions

Will it write drafts for newsletters and automated mail?
No. It first judges whether the message calls for a reply, and notifications, receipts and bulk mail are skipped. You can add extra exclusions, such as certain senders, to keep drafts focused on real people.
Can the draft sound like me?
You can give your AI assistant a few examples of your own replies or a description of your tone, and the draft will follow them. Review the first several drafts, then adjust the guidance if it is off.
What happens to drafts I never send?
They stay in your Gmail drafts folder until you delete them. Nothing is sent or discarded automatically, and a thread already containing a draft is not given a second one on later runs. Cleaning them up is up to you.
What permissions does it need?
read+write (gmail.modify or gmail.compose). Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it checks. Checks that find nothing new and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Get draft replies to emails that need an answer” from your assistant

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