> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.eesel.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.eesel.ai/integrations/communication/email.md).

# Email

Set up an AI agent for email with nothing to connect. Every agent has its own address. Send or forward it mail and it writes an AI email reply in the thread.

eesel's AI agent for email is an address your agent has from the moment it is created. Send it a question or forward it a thread and it replies in the same thread, using everything it is connected to. It writes back to members of your workspace, which makes it a teammate your team emails rather than a customer inbox.

Your AI teammate has its own email address from the day it is created. Send it a question and it reads the whole thread, checks everything it is connected to, and writes back in the same thread. Forward it something to work on and it picks that up too. Your team can also have it email them: a summary, an alert, a follow-up.

Two limits to know before you start: your agent can only write back to members of your workspace, and a workspace can send up to 200 emails a day.

<figure><img src="https://3732419023-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2xXO0947TYoPIhGoBgSE%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-a831067de31a042ce8ed803f1aca397c36373169%2Femail-reply-in-gmail.png?alt=media" alt="A Gmail thread where the Email Agent replied to a teammate&#x27;s question with a bulleted rundown of what it can help with and how to send it a customer question"><figcaption><p>Your agent's reply landing in a teammate's inbox.</p></figcaption></figure>

## Set up your agent's email address

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Ask your agent for its address

Open the chat in your dashboard and ask for the agent's email address. It replies with the address: its id followed by `@inbox.eesel.ai`. Anything sent to the address arrives as a conversation for it to handle.

**Check it worked.** In the left sidebar, under **Integrations**, click **Explore all integrations** (it reads **Add integration** once the agent has another integration, or a channel such as the chat bubble). If Email is added to the agent you are on, the **Email** tile reads "1 added to agent". Your workspace's first agent usually has it from the start.

<figure><img src="https://3732419023-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2xXO0947TYoPIhGoBgSE%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-88ec63c56219090f099768e19ec8a085463b4dfd%2Femail-integrations-gallery.png?alt=media" alt="The Integrations page with the Email tile first, marked 1 added to agent, above the helpdesk and knowledge tiles"><figcaption><p>The Email tile on the Integrations page.</p></figcaption></figure>

Open the tile. The Email page lists the agent's address, marked **Added to agent**, or with an **Add** button on an agent that doesn't have it yet, such as one you created later. Mail sent to the address reaches the agent either way, and the next step works the same.

<figure><img src="https://3732419023-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2xXO0947TYoPIhGoBgSE%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-839fb1bea9f7431cd8439b14b1e121bc7c2b84e2%2Femail-integration-page.png?alt=media" alt="The Email integration page with the agent&#x27;s inbox address marked Added to agent and an animated example of a reply"><figcaption><p>The address listed as Added to agent, above an example reply.</p></figcaption></figure>
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Set the send actions

On the Email page, click the address to open its settings. **Actions** lists the two send actions in the **Write** group. This is where you choose what your agent may do with them.

<figure><img src="https://3732419023-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2xXO0947TYoPIhGoBgSE%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-799c16e61f08dfa469e10ed3cae39a6afc1267e4%2Femail-address-settings.png?alt=media" alt="The settings page for the agent&#x27;s email address, marked Connected, with the Write group of actions"><figcaption><p>The address's own settings page.</p></figcaption></figure>
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Add the people it can write to

Your agent can only send email to members of your workspace. A message from an address outside the workspace still wakes it, but it has no way to answer. So anyone who should get replies needs to be a member. Open **Workspace settings > Members** and click **Invite teammates**. Pick a role, **Viewer** is enough to receive email, and enter their address. They accept the invitation from their inbox. The full walkthrough, with screenshots, is on the [Account](/account/account.md) page.

**Check it worked.** The Members page lists the new member with their role and no pending label.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Tell your agent how to answer its email

Mail reaches your agent with no setup. What shapes the replies is your agent's [instructions](/instructions-and-memory/instructions-and-memory.md): tell it in the dashboard chat how to handle mail, what to check first, and when to loop a person in, and it writes that down. If you want to pause email, or give it instructions of its own, ask your agent in chat to create an email automation.

Your agent's core instructions apply to email the same as everywhere else, so tone and escalation rules carry over without repeating them.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Send it a test email

From a member's mailbox, write to the address with a real question.

<figure><img src="https://3732419023-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2xXO0947TYoPIhGoBgSE%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-57698a05baeb958692f160a928e66c707a6b2539%2Femail-test-compose.png?alt=media" alt="A Gmail compose window addressed to the agent&#x27;s inbox address, with a subject line and a short question about what the agent can do for the team"><figcaption><p>A test email to the agent's address.</p></figcaption></figure>

The run appears on your **Activity** page, labelled **Email**.

<figure><img src="https://3732419023-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2xXO0947TYoPIhGoBgSE%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-ef0dc2edf2fa61738a7e912c7a6dab18ad5013d5%2Femail-activity-list.png?alt=media" alt="The Activity page listing the email run by its subject line with an Email label, above the earlier dashboard chats"><figcaption><p>The email run on the Activity page.</p></figcaption></figure>

Open it to read the email, the reply your agent sent, and what it did in between.

<figure><img src="https://3732419023-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2xXO0947TYoPIhGoBgSE%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-812f633493e13f1b54754d28be48814a5fb3f24f%2Femail-activity-run.png?alt=media" alt="The email run opened in Activity, showing the incoming question, the Email sent marker and the full reply"><figcaption><p>The run, with the reply it sent.</p></figcaption></figure>

**Check it worked.** The reply is in the sender's inbox, in the same thread, from your agent's name. From a terminal with [the eesel CLI](/apis-and-developer-resources/cli.md) installed, `eesel activity` lists the run.

<figure><img src="https://3732419023-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F2xXO0947TYoPIhGoBgSE%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-9d1eac66ebe42dc2959b6e6ca85c32411f812500%2Femail-reply-in-gmail-callout.png?alt=media" alt="The reply from the Email Agent in Gmail, listing what it can help with and how to send it a customer question"><figcaption><p>The reply in the sender's inbox.</p></figcaption></figure>
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

## Sources, triggers and actions

### Sources

Email adds no source of its own. What your agent reads to answer is everything else you have connected: your help center, files, helpdesk and website. See [Integrations](/integrations/overview.md).

### Triggers

| Trigger                    | Fires when                               | Best for                                                  | Key                    |
| -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| **When an email comes in** | A message arrives at the agent's address | Questions from the team, forwarded customer mail, testing | `email_email_received` |

This trigger is on from the start. Ask your agent in chat to create an email automation only if you want to pause email or give it instructions of its own.

### Actions

| Group     | Action                        | What it does                                                                                          |
| --------- | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Write** | Send Email to Workspace Users | Sends an email from the agent's address to members of your workspace. Replies land in the same thread |
|           | Email eesel Support Team      | Loops in eesel's support team at <hi@eesel.app> when the agent is stuck, copying the workspace owner  |

You stay in control the whole way. Adjust your AI agent's access to knowledge and its action permissions to your liking. See [Actions and Approvals](/instructions-and-memory/actions-and-approvals.md).

## Limitations

* **Replies go to workspace members only.** It cannot answer a customer directly from this address. For a customer inbox, use [Gmail](/integrations/communication/gmail.md) or your helpdesk.
* **Up to 200 emails a day per workspace.**
* **No knowledge source of its own.** It answers from what else you have connected.
* **Handing a customer to a person goes through your team.** Your agent cannot email the customer, so it tells the team instead: an email to a workspace member, a ticket in your connected helpdesk, or a note in the dashboard, whichever your instructions ask for.
* **One address per agent.** The address is the agent's id followed by `@inbox.eesel.ai`, and you cannot pick a custom one.

## Troubleshooting

<details>

<summary>I emailed the agent and got nothing back?</summary>

Check your **Activity** page. If the run is there, the agent read the email. It can only reply to a workspace member, so an address that is not on your **Members** page gets no answer. Invite it, then send again.

</details>

<details>

<summary>The run is there but no email went out?</summary>

Open the run. If the send is waiting for someone to approve or deny it, the approval card appears in the dashboard chat and on the run itself in Activity. Also check the Write group on the address's settings page.

</details>

## FAQ

<details>

<summary>How do I set up an AI agent for email?</summary>

There is nothing to connect. Every eesel agent has its own address from the day it is created. Ask your agent in the dashboard chat for its address, invite the people it should write to as workspace members, and send it a test email. The steps are in [Set up your agent's email address](#set-up-your-agents-email-address).

</details>

<details>

<summary>Do I need to connect a mailbox for the email AI agent?</summary>

No. The address is created with the agent. There is nothing to sign in to and no inbox to hand over.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Can the email AI agent reply to emails automatically?</summary>

Yes, to members of your workspace. Mail sent to its address wakes it, and it writes an AI email reply in the same thread. Mail from outside your workspace also wakes it, but it cannot write back to them.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Can the email AI agent reply to my customers?</summary>

No, not from this address. Replies go to workspace members only. For a shared support mailbox, connect [Gmail](/integrations/communication/gmail.md) or your helpdesk, where replies go to the customer.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Can I forward customer emails to the AI agent?</summary>

Yes. Forward a thread to the address and it reads the whole thing and replies to you with a draft or an answer. It cannot write to the customer directly.

</details>

<details>

<summary>What name does the AI agent's email come from?</summary>

It comes from your agent's name and its own address.

</details>

## Related pages

* [Gmail](/integrations/communication/gmail.md) for working a shared Google mailbox and replying to customers
* [Slack](/integrations/communication/slack.md) for asking the same agent in a thread
* [Actions and Approvals](/instructions-and-memory/actions-and-approvals.md) for choosing what your agent may do
* [Integrations overview](/integrations/overview.md) for how sources, triggers and actions fit together
* [Use eesel from Claude and other assistants](/apis-and-developer-resources/use-eesel-from-claude-and-other-assistants.md) and [Use eesel from ChatGPT](/apis-and-developer-resources/use-eesel-from-chatgpt.md) to work with your agent from an AI assistant


---

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