Configuring Auto-Responses

Your triage is working — you're getting a daily digest of categorized emails. Now let's take it further: have OpenClaw draft replies so you can respond to emails directly from your chat app.

This lesson requires send permissions

Auto-responses require the gmail.send or Mail.Send scope. You'll update your email skill permissions in Step 1.

Enable send permissions

Update your Gmail skill to include send permissions:

Add send scope

clawhub update gmail-reader --scope gmail.send

Re-authorize to grant the new permission:

Re-authorize with send scope

openclaw skill auth gmail-reader

Update your triage prompt with draft replies

Edit your Email Triage cron job to include draft replies for the RESPOND category:

openclaw cron edit <job-id> --message "Read my unread emails from the last 24 hours. Categorize each as:
🔴 URGENT | 🟡 RESPOND | 🔵 FYI | ⚪ SKIP

For each RESPOND email, draft a short reply that I can review and send.
Draft guidelines:
- Match my tone: professional but friendly
- Keep replies under 3 sentences when possible
- If the email asks a question I can't answer, draft a holding reply
  ('Let me check and get back to you by [day]')
- For scheduling requests, suggest 2-3 time slots this week

Format each RESPOND item as:
📩 [Sender] — [Subject]
Summary: [one line]
Draft reply:
> [the drafted reply text]
Reply command: /reply [email-id]

Show URGENT items first (no drafts — I'll handle those manually).
Count-only for FYI and SKIP."

Send replies from chat

When you see a draft you like, you can send it directly from your chat app:

Send a drafted reply as-is

/reply email-id

Send a modified reply

/reply email-id "Thursday at 2pm works better for me"

The triage digest includes a unique email-id for each RESPOND item
When you type /reply email-id, OpenClaw sends the drafted reply as-is
If you add text after the email-id, it replaces the draft with your text
The reply is sent from your actual email account — recipients see it as a normal email
OpenClaw confirms the send in chat: "Reply sent to Jane Smith"

By default, OpenClaw never sends emails without your explicit /reply command. The drafts are suggestions only. You can:

Send as-is: /reply email-id
Modify and send: /reply email-id "your custom text"
Skip: just don't reply — the draft expires after 24 hours
Flag for later: /flag email-id adds it to your follow-up list

Set up template responses

For emails you get frequently, create templates that OpenClaw uses automatically:

openclaw run "Save these email reply templates:

1. MEETING_ACCEPT: 'Sounds great, I'll be there. Thanks for setting this up!'
2. MEETING_DECLINE: 'Unfortunately I can't make this time. Could we look at [suggest alternative]?'
3. ACKNOWLEDGE: 'Thanks for sending this over. I'll review and get back to you by [suggest day].'
4. DELEGATE: 'Thanks — I think [person] would be the best person for this. Copying them.'
5. QUICK_YES: 'Yes, approved. Thanks!'
6. QUICK_NO: 'I'll have to pass on this one, but thanks for thinking of me.'

Use these templates when drafting replies. Match the template to the email type.
Personalize with the sender's name and specific details from their email."

Templates improve over time

The AI learns your communication style from the templates. The more specific you make them, the better the drafts become. Update templates as you notice patterns in your replies.

Add a weekly inbox report (optional)

Get a weekly summary of your email patterns:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Weekly Email Report" \
  --cron "0 18 * * 5" \
  --tz "America/New_York" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Generate a weekly email report for the past 7 days:

1. Total emails received and breakdown by category (Urgent/Respond/FYI/Skip)
2. Average response time for RESPOND emails
3. Top 5 senders by volume
4. Emails still awaiting my reply
5. Suggested unsubscribes (newsletters I haven't opened in 2+ weeks)

Keep it to 10 lines. End with one suggestion for improving my email workflow." \
  --announce \
  --channel telegram \
  --to "CHAT_ID"

What's Next?

Your email triage system is complete. Here's what you've built:

Morning digest — categorized, summarized emails in your chat app
Real-time alerts — instant notification for truly urgent items
Draft replies — AI-written responses you can send with one command
Weekly report — patterns and suggestions for inbox improvement

Add your email digest to your existing morning briefing. Edit your briefing cron job prompt to include:

Also check my unread emails and add an "Email" section with:
- Count of urgent, respond, and FYI emails
- Subject lines of the top 3 most important

This gives you weather + calendar + tasks + email in one message.

If you have both work and personal email, install the email skill twice with different credentials and create separate triage jobs — or combine them into one digest with clear sections.

Consider exploring these related courses:

Morning Briefing — Combine email triage with weather, calendar, and tasks
Calendar & Tasks — Auto-schedule meetings from email requests
Content Pipeline — Turn email newsletters into content ideas

You did it!

You've built an AI-powered email triage system. No more scanning 100+ emails every morning — OpenClaw handles the sorting so you can focus on what matters. Welcome to Inbox Zero.

Knowledge Check

What is the safest way OpenClaw handles email replies?