How to Build a Simple AI Workflow (No Coding Required)

"Workflow" sounds technical. "AI workflow" sounds terrifying. Neither should be.

An AI workflow is just: something happens, AI does something with it, and the result goes somewhere useful. That's it. Trigger, process, output.

You probably already do AI workflows manually. You receive an email, paste it into ChatGPT, get a summary, and paste the summary into a document. That's a workflow. It's just manual. The point of this article is to make it automatic.

No coding required. I mean it. If you can use a spreadsheet, you can build these.

The tools you need

Zapier or Make (formerly Integromat)

These are automation platforms. They connect apps together. "When X happens in App A, do Y in App B." They have free tiers and they work with hundreds of apps including email, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, spreadsheets, and AI tools.

Zapier is easier to use. Make is more powerful and cheaper. I'd start with Zapier because the learning curve is gentler.

An AI tool with an API or integration

ChatGPT and Claude both work with Zapier and Make. So does Google's Gemini. You can use any of them as the "brain" of your workflow.

Your existing apps

Email, spreadsheets, Slack, project management tools, CRM, whatever you use day to day. These are the inputs and outputs of your workflow.

Three workflows you can build today

Workflow 1: Automatic email summaries

The problem: You get long emails or email threads and waste time reading them.

The workflow:

1. Trigger: New email arrives matching certain criteria (from a specific sender, with a specific subject line, or containing certain keywords)
2. Process: Send the email content to ChatGPT/Claude with the prompt "Summarise this email in three bullet points. Highlight any action items for me."
3. Output: Post the summary to a Slack channel, add it to a spreadsheet, or send it back as a tagged note

How to build it in Zapier:

• Create a new Zap
• Trigger: Gmail (or Outlook) > New Email matching search
• Action: ChatGPT > Conversation
• Action: Slack > Send Message (or Google Sheets > Add Row)

Total setup time: about 15 minutes.

Workflow 2: Meeting notes to action items

The problem: After meetings, notes sit in a document and action items get lost.

The workflow:

1. Trigger: New file added to a specific Google Drive or OneDrive folder (where your meeting notes get saved)
2. Process: Send the content to Claude with "Extract all action items from these meeting notes. Format as: Owner, Action, Deadline. If no deadline is mentioned, flag it."
3. Output: Add each action item as a task in your project management tool (Asana, Trello, Monday, etc.) or add rows to a tracking spreadsheet

Workflow 3: Content research digests

The problem: You need to stay current on industry news but don't have time to read everything.

The workflow:

1. Trigger: RSS feed from industry publications, or saved articles from Pocket/Instapaper, or a scheduled daily trigger
2. Process: Send article titles and summaries to ChatGPT with "Which of these articles are most relevant to [your industry/role]? Summarise the top three in one paragraph each."
3. Output: Email yourself the digest, or post it to a team Slack channel

Building your first workflow (step by step)

Let's build Workflow 1 together. I'll use Zapier because it's the most beginner-friendly.

Step 1: Go to zapier.com and create a free account.

Step 2: Click "Create Zap" (or "Make a Zap" or whatever they're calling the button this month).

Step 3: For the trigger, choose your email app (Gmail or Outlook). Select "New Email" or "New Email Matching Search." If you want to limit which emails get processed, add a search filter (e.g., from a specific sender, or with "report" in the subject line).

Step 4: Connect your email account. Zapier will walk you through the authorisation.

Step 5: For the action, choose "ChatGPT" (it's listed as "OpenAI" in Zapier). Select "Conversation." You'll need an OpenAI API key for this (separate from a ChatGPT subscription, costs a few pence per use).

Step 6: In the message field, write your prompt: "Summarise the following email in three bullet points. Highlight any action items directed at me. Email content: [insert the email body field from Step 3]"

Step 7: Add another action for the output. Choose Slack, Google Sheets, or email. Configure where you want the summary to go.

Step 8: Test it. Zapier lets you test each step. Make sure it works before turning it on.

Step 9: Turn it on. Your workflow now runs automatically whenever a matching email arrives.

Things that go wrong (and how to fix them)

The AI gives inconsistent results. Be more specific in your prompt. Add examples of what good output looks like. Add constraints ("always use bullet points," "never exceed three sentences per point").

It triggers too often. Tighten your trigger conditions. Filter for specific senders, subjects, or keywords instead of processing every email.

It costs more than expected. API calls cost money (usually tiny amounts, but they add up if you're processing thousands of items). Set spending limits in your AI tool's settings and monitor your usage for the first week.

The output goes to the wrong place. Double-check your output configuration. Test with a low-stakes example before going live.

Beyond the basics

Once you're comfortable with simple workflows, you can chain them together. A workflow that processes emails, updates a spreadsheet, generates a weekly report, and emails it to your team. A workflow that monitors social media mentions, analyses sentiment, and flags negative mentions. The building blocks are the same; you just stack more of them.

You can also explore more advanced platforms like n8n (open source, more technical) or Microsoft Power Automate (if you're in the Microsoft ecosystem) for workflows with more complex logic.

For more on the AI tools available to you, check our full guide.

The one thing to do today: identify one repetitive task you do at least three times a week. Write down the steps: what triggers it, what you do, where the result goes. That's your workflow. Now go to Zapier and see if you can automate it. Even if you only automate part of it, that's time back in your week. Every week. Forever. Which is honestly a better return than most things you'll do today.