# Triage a support inbox with an agent

The agent reads new tickets, tags them, and drafts a reply for each one. A person approves every reply before it is sent.

- Category: Customer support
- Runs on: Claude
- Level: Beginner
- Setup time: about 45 minutes
- Source: https://crimsonbot.ronskaggs.workers.dev/playbooks/support-inbox-triage

## You will need

- A shared support inbox (Gmail or Help Scout)
- An agent with email access (Claude, or an n8n flow)
- A short list of your common ticket types

## You will end up with

- Every new ticket tagged by type and urgency
- A drafted reply waiting on each one
- A morning queue you approve in minutes

## Steps

### 1. Connect the inbox with read-only access

Give the agent permission to read messages and create drafts, but not to send. You can widen access later once you trust the drafts.

### 2. Write down your tags and rules

List the ticket types you see most (billing, bug, how-to, refund) and what counts as urgent. Keep it to one page: this becomes the agent's instructions.

### 3. Give the agent its triage prompt

Paste this into your agent's instructions and fill in the brackets.

```text
You triage the support inbox for [COMPANY].
For each new message:
1. Tag it with one type: [billing | bug | how-to | refund | other].
2. Mark it urgent if [your urgency rule].
3. Draft a reply in our voice using [link to help docs].
4. Never send. Save the reply as a draft.
If you are unsure, tag it "needs-human" and explain why.
```

### 4. Run it on a schedule

Have the agent check the inbox every 15 minutes, or trigger it on each new email. Start with a small batch of tickets and read every draft.

### 5. Approve before anything goes out (human checkpoint)

A person reviews each draft, edits if needed and sends it. Don't give the agent permission to send until its drafts need almost no edits for a few weeks.

### 6. Tighten the rules each week

Look at the drafts you rewrote the most and add a line to the rules for each pattern. The prompt from step 3 is a living document.

## Tools used

- [n8n](https://n8n.io): Workflow automation with AI agent nodes.