Poll a Gmail label for new RFIs, classify by trade/priority/cost impact via Claude, log to a Google Sheet, and notify the PM. Inbound automation via Gmail.

RFI Triage

Auto-classify incoming RFIs (Requests for Information) by trade, priority, and cost/schedule impact. Logs each to a Sheet and alerts the PM.

What it does

Every ~15 minutes during work hours:

Reads Gmail messages with the label rfi-incoming (set by your Gmail filter).
For each message, asks Claude to classify it: which trade does it belong to, how urgent, how expensive, who should review.
Appends the classification to an RFILog Google Sheet.
Relabels the email rfi-triaged so the next poll skips it.
Sends the PM a digest of newly-classified RFIs.

Pattern note

This workflow uses a single runtimeenv task with BOTH the Google Workspace AND Anthropic credentials injected via credentialNames. The script does everything: fetches Gmail, calls Claude, writes to Sheets, modifies labels.

Why not strict hybrid (separate tool tasks per operation)? Because the data flow has variable-length lists (N emails → N classifications → N sheet rows → N label modifications). Splitting into 6+ tasks would force JSON-through-template-substitution for each step. One task with credentialNames is dense but coherent.

Setup

1. Gmail labels + filter

In Gmail: - Create label rfi-incoming. - Create a filter that applies the label to incoming RFIs. Common patterns: subject contains "RFI" or "Request for Information", or replies on threads from your designers. - Create label rfi-triaged.

2. Service account Gmail access

The service account needs to read AND modify the relevant mailbox. In Google Workspace admin: - Enable domain-wide delegation for the service account. - Grant scopes: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly AND https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify. - Set the credential's account field to the mailbox owner's email so gog impersonates them.

(For individual Gmail accounts outside Workspace, OAuth is required — service account won't work. This workflow assumes Workspace.)

3. Sheet

Tab RFILog with this header:

rfi_id	received_at	project	trade	priority	cost_impact	schedule_impact_days	summary	suggested_reviewer	raw_subject	status

4. Credentials

<<GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CREDENTIAL>> — Workspace service account with Gmail modify + Sheets write
<<ANTHROPIC_CREDENTIAL>> — Anthropic API key credential

5. Edit placeholders + schedule

In workflow.yaml: - <<RFI_LOG_SHEET_ID>> - <<DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME>> (used until per-message project detection is added) - <<PM_PUBLISHER>>

Schedule: every 15 min during work hours.

What it won't do

Reply to the RFI on the user's behalf (intentional — RFIs need PM judgment).
Detect project membership from the email body. v1 stamps everything with one default project name. For multi-project, run one workflow instance per project with different Gmail filters.
Read PDF attachments inline. Most RFIs are text email; the classification works on subject + body. Heavy-attachment RFIs may need a follow-up review.

AI cost

Per-RFI classification: ~600 tokens prompt, ~150 tokens response with Claude Sonnet 4.6. Maybe $0.005 each. A shop receiving 20 RFIs/day = ~$3/month.