Inbox & communication

A 15% Discount Nobody Approved: 4 Ways His n8n AI Email Drafts Broke, and the Fixes

  • Level Intermediate
  • Setup1–3 hrs (estimated)
  • Evidence Some evidence
  • CostNot stated in source
  • No-codeYes
n8nSource-linkedNeeds verification

What they did

His workflow ran green every time, but the drafts were wrong. He built an n8n email assistant that sorts incoming mail and writes reply drafts but never sends. One draft offered a 15% discount nobody approved, every draft was signed '[Your Name]', the recipient was blank on all of them, and one run made 2 drafts for the same customer. He fixed it with clear rules in the prompt, the right recipient setting, an 'AI Processed' label and marking emails as read.

How it went

Reply drafts waiting in Gmail that don't make promises you didn't approve.

Worth knowing

  • Forum post from one builder testing with a test sender. A green run doesn't mean good drafts: read a sample before trusting it.

Prompt

Cleaned version rewritten from the source — not a direct quote.

Build an email assistant that only drafts replies: watch unread Gmail, sort each email into lead, support, newsletter or other, label it, and draft a reply in the same thread. Rules for drafts: no discounts, prices or promises; sign as [name]; fill in the recipient. Label each processed email 'AI Processed' and mark it read so it's never drafted twice. Never send anything.

Recommended

Try it in Grok Bot

Grok Bot can draft replies under the same rules and leave them for you to send.

  1. Copy the prompt (button below).
  2. Open Grok Bot chat and paste it. Replace any [bracketed] placeholders.
  3. Connect the listed tools (Gmail, Email) as connectors when Grok Bot asks.
  4. If the task repeats, ask: "Make this a daily routine."

Alternatives: the same prompt works in n8n, Claude, ChatGPT Agent, OpenClaw.

Set it up

Tools: Gmail, Email · Stack: n8n + Gmail + Gemini

  1. Read the original source for full context.
  2. Connect the tools your agent needs.
  3. Paste the prompt and replace [bracketed] placeholders.
  4. Run once manually and check the output before scheduling it.

Generic suggested steps, not from the source.

Evidence

n8n community post: 4 draft failures (15% discount, [Your Name], empty recipient, duplicate drafts) and fixes; workflow JSON free on GitHub

Source: Web · 2026-10-22 · Verified by us: not yet · Report broken or outdated

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