Three email-triggered Bots from the Grok Bot team's demo

How this helps you

You get three ready patterns for email-triggered Bots, taken from the team that built Bot inboxes, with the safety rules they designed in.

✦ Try it

Set up a routine that runs whenever an email arrives at your [+receipts] alias. For each receipt, add a row to [spreadsheet] with the date, vendor, amount, currency and category, and attach or link the original. Don't reply to the sender. If a receipt is unclear, list it for me instead of guessing.

Fill in: [+receipts]: the plus alias, such as yourbot+receipts@. [spreadsheet]: the sheet to log into. Swap the task for 'research whether this deal is good' to make the newsletter Bot.

What they did

In the official What's New in Grok Bot #2 workshop, Sam Sokolin, the engineer who built Bot inboxes, showed three Bots running off the inbox he claimed in chat. Docbot: he made a Google account using the Bot's email address (it doesn't have to be Gmail), so he can share a doc with it and it leaves comments to help him prepare a presentation. A newsletter Bot: he sends it daily wine-deal newsletters and it researches whether each one is really a good deal by checking other sellers, then makes a PDF with maps of where the vineyard is. Finbot: a routine fires whenever he sends receipts to a plus alias, and it logs each one in a tracking spreadsheet. He explained that Bots only act on incoming email through routines you set up, and an email the Bot wants to send shows as a draft for you first.

Who it's for: People who forward receipts, newsletters or docs around and want a Bot to handle each kind automatically.

Before you start

A Bot email address (ask your Bot to claim one).
A Google account made with that address, if you want doc comments.
A spreadsheet for receipts.

How to try it

Ask your Bot to claim an email address if it hasn't. Each user gets one address, with plus aliases.
For doc reviews, create a Google account with the Bot's address, then share a doc with it and ask for comments.
Point a newsletter at the Bot's address (or a +deals alias) and set a routine to research each deal when one arrives.
For receipts, ask for a routine that runs only for mail to a +receipts alias and logs each one in your sheet.
Remember the safety model: the Bot acts on email only through routines, and sends show as drafts for your approval.

What to expect

Forward a receipt and, a moment later, a new row appears in your spreadsheet; the demo's routine fired within seconds of the email arriving.

Common mistakes

Expecting the Bot to read every email automatically. It acts on incoming mail through the routines you create.
Using one address for everything. Plus aliases let each routine handle only its own mail.
Forgetting that outgoing email waits as a draft for your OK, so a 'reply to sender' step won't send on its own.

Related tips

Give your Bot its own email address: Ask your Bot to claim an address so you can forward or CC it, and so it can sign up for accounts itself.
Ask for plus-addressed aliases on your Bot's email: Your Bot can send from tagged addresses like name+shop@, and a routine on that tag runs only for its mail.
Expense Bot: inbox receipts into a Notion table: Sonny Sangha's expense Bot scans two inboxes for receipts, logs them in Notion, and learns to fetch portal invoices with Teach a task.