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Building Your First AI Workflow: Complete Beginner Guide
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20 mins read
November 12, 2024

Building Your First AI Workflow: Complete Beginner Guide

Never built an AI workflow? Start here. Step-by-step tutorial with screenshots, templates, and common mistakes to avoid. Build your first automation in 30 minutes.

By :Harjot Rana

Building Your First AI Workflow: Complete Beginner Guide

Never built an AI workflow before? You're in the right place.

This guide assumes zero technical knowledge. By the end, you'll have a working AI automation.

What is an AI Workflow?

Simple definition: A sequence of steps where AI does work automatically.

Example:

New email arrives
↓
AI reads it
↓
AI writes a response
↓
Response sent to you for review

That's a workflow. No human work except final review.

What You'll Build Today

Project: AI Email Responder

What it does:

  • Monitors your inbox
  • Identifies customer questions
  • Drafts personalized responses
  • Sends to you for approval

Time to build: 30 minutes Cost: $0 (using free tools) Difficulty: Beginner

What You Need

Required:

  1. Gmail account (or similar)
  2. OpenAI account (free tier)
  3. Orchastra account (free tier)

Optional:

  1. Zapier account (if you want alternative)

Step-by-Step: Your First Workflow

Step 1: Set Up Accounts (10 minutes)

1.1 - OpenAI Account:

  • Go to platform.openai.com
  • Sign up (free)
  • Get API key (Settings → API Keys)
  • Copy and save it somewhere safe

1.2 - Orchastra Account:

  • Go to orchastra.org
  • Join waitlist (or use alternative: Zapier)
  • Confirm email
  • Log in

Step 2: Understand the Logic (5 minutes)

Before building, understand what we're building:

Trigger: "New email arrives in inbox"

Condition: "Is this a customer question?" (AI decides)

Action 1: "Extract main question" (AI reads email)

Action 2: "Draft response" (AI writes reply)

Action 3: "Send to you for review" (Email with draft)

Total: 5 steps

Step 3: Build the Trigger (5 minutes)

In Orchastra:

  1. Click "New Workflow"
  2. Name it: "Email Auto-Responder"
  3. Add "Gmail Trigger" block
  4. Connect your Gmail:
    • Click "Connect Gmail"
    • Allow access
    • Select inbox to monitor

Configure trigger:

  • Watch: Inbox
  • Filter: "from:*@customer.com" (replace with your domain)
  • Frequency: Every 5 minutes

Test it:

  • Send yourself a test email
  • Check if trigger fires
  • See email data in logs

Step 4: Add AI Classification (5 minutes)

Add "AI Agent" block:

  1. Drag "AI Agent" to canvas
  2. Connect it to Gmail trigger
  3. Name it: "Classify Email"

Configure AI Agent:

Model: GPT-4 (or GPT-3.5 to save cost)

Prompt:

Analyze this email and determine if it's a customer question requiring response.

Email details:
From: {email.from}
Subject: {email.subject}
Body: {email.body}

Return JSON:
{
  "is_question": true/false,
  "category": "support" | "sales" | "general" | "spam",
  "urgency": "high" | "medium" | "low",
  "main_question": "extracted question here"
}

Only return JSON, nothing else.

Why this works:

  • Clear instructions
  • Structured output (JSON)
  • Specific format
  • Easy to parse

Test it:

  • Use test email from Step 3
  • Check JSON output
  • Verify "is_question" = true

Step 5: Add Conditional Logic (3 minutes)

Add "Condition" block:

  1. Drag "Condition" block
  2. Connect to AI Agent
  3. Name it: "Is Question?"

Configure condition:

If: {classify_result.is_question} equals true Then: Continue to draft response Else: Stop (do nothing)

Test it:

  • Send question email → Should continue
  • Send newsletter → Should stop

Step 6: Draft Response with AI (5 minutes)

Add second "AI Agent" block:

  1. Drag another "AI Agent"
  2. Connect to "True" path of Condition
  3. Name it: "Draft Response"

Configure:

Model: GPT-4

Prompt:

Draft a professional response to this customer email.

Original email:
From: {email.from}
Subject: {email.subject}
Body: {email.body}

Question extracted: {classify_result.main_question}
Category: {classify_result.category}

Instructions:
1. Be professional but friendly
2. Address their question directly
3. Keep it under 150 words
4. Sign off as "Best regards, [Your Name]"
5. If you need more info, ask clarifying questions

Draft the response:

Test it:

  • Check drafted response
  • Is it appropriate?
  • Is tone correct?
  • Does it answer the question?

Step 7: Send for Review (5 minutes)

Add "Gmail Send" block:

  1. Drag "Gmail Send" block
  2. Connect to "Draft Response" AI Agent
  3. Configure:

To: your-email@domain.com Subject: [REVIEW] Response to: {email.subject} Body:

New customer email requires response:

Original Email:
From: {email.from}
Subject: {email.subject}

Their Question:
{classify_result.main_question}

AI-Drafted Response:
{draft_response}

---
To send this response:
1. Review and edit if needed
2. Reply to: {email.from}
3. Or click here to approve: [link]

Test it:

  • Trigger workflow with test email
  • Check your inbox
  • Verify you received review email
  • Contains original + draft

Step 8: Error Handling (5 minutes)

Add error handling:

What if AI fails? Email fails?

Add "Error Handler" block:

  1. Drag "Error Handler"
  2. Connect to all AI blocks
  3. Configure:

On Error:

  • Send email to you: "Workflow failed at step: {error.step}"
  • Include error details
  • Don't crash silently

Test error handling:

  • Disconnect internet
  • Trigger workflow
  • Should receive error email

Step 9: Test End-to-End (10 minutes)

Complete test:

  1. Send test customer email
  2. Wait 5 minutes (trigger frequency)
  3. Check workflow logs
  4. Verify:
    • Email was received ✓
    • AI classified correctly ✓
    • Response was drafted ✓
    • Review email sent ✓

Test edge cases:

Test 1: Spam email

  • Send obvious spam
  • Should be classified as spam
  • Should NOT draft response
  • Workflow stops at condition

Test 2: Unclear question

  • Send vague email
  • AI should ask clarifying questions in draft

Test 3: Urgent request

  • Send urgent email
  • Should be marked "high urgency"
  • Subject line should indicate urgency

Test 4: Non-question email

  • Send FYI email
  • Should be classified as "not question"
  • Should NOT draft response

Step 10: Deploy & Monitor (5 minutes)

Activate workflow:

  1. Review all steps
  2. Check all connections
  3. Click "Activate"
  4. Workflow is now live

Set up monitoring:

  1. Email digest: Daily summary of processed emails
  2. Error alerts: Immediate notification on failures
  3. Weekly report: Performance metrics

First week monitoring:

  • Day 1: Check every 2 hours
  • Day 2-3: Check twice daily
  • Day 4-7: Check once daily
  • After week 1: Check weekly

Common Mistakes & Solutions

Mistake 1: Prompt Too Vague

Bad Prompt:

"Read this email and respond"

Problem: AI doesn't know HOW to respond

Good Prompt:

"Draft a professional customer support response.
Tone: Friendly but professional
Length: 100-150 words
Address the main question
Sign off as [Your Name]"

Mistake 2: No Error Handling

Problem: Workflow fails silently, you never know

Solution: Always add error handler that notifies you

Mistake 3: Testing with Fake Data

Problem: Real emails are messier than test data

Solution: Test with actual past customer emails

Mistake 4: Not Reviewing AI Output

Problem: AI makes mistakes, sends wrong responses

Solution: ALWAYS include human review step (at least initially)

Mistake 5: Overcomplicating First Workflow

Problem: Trying to handle every edge case on Day 1

Solution: Start simple. Add complexity gradually.

Improving Your Workflow

Week 1: Basic functionality

  • Just get it working
  • Review every output
  • Fix obvious issues

Week 2: Add sophistication

  • Improve prompts based on AI responses
  • Add more conditions (urgency, category)
  • Refine tone and style

Week 3: Scale up

  • Handle more email types
  • Add auto-send for simple questions
  • Integrate with CRM

Week 4: Optimize

  • Faster AI models for simple tasks
  • Parallel execution for complex tasks
  • Cost optimization

What to Build Next

After Email Responder, try:

  1. Social Media Post Generator
  • Input: Blog post URL
  • Output: Twitter thread + LinkedIn post + Instagram caption
  1. Meeting Note Summarizer
  • Input: Meeting recording
  • Output: Summary + action items + follow-up emails
  1. Content Idea Generator
  • Input: Your industry
  • Output: 10 content ideas with outlines
  1. Document Analyzer
  • Input: PDF contract
  • Output: Key terms, risks, summary
  1. Lead Qualifier
  • Input: Contact form submission
  • Output: Lead score + suggested next action

Resources

Free Templates:

Video Tutorials:

Community:

Troubleshooting

"Workflow not triggering"

Check:

  • Is workflow activated?
  • Is trigger configured correctly?
  • Is filter too restrictive?
  • Check logs for errors

"AI output is garbage"

Fix:

  • Make prompt more specific
  • Add examples in prompt
  • Use better model (GPT-4 vs GPT-3.5)
  • Add output format requirements

"Too expensive"

Optimize:

  • Use GPT-3.5 for simple tasks
  • Add conditions to reduce unnecessary AI calls
  • Batch similar requests
  • Use caching where possible

"Can't connect to Gmail"

Fix:

  • Re-authorize Gmail connection
  • Check OAuth permissions
  • Enable "Less secure app access" (if using older Gmail)
  • Use App Password instead of main password

The Bottom Line

You just built your first AI workflow.

It monitors emails, classifies them, drafts responses, and sends for review.

What you learned:

  • Triggers and actions
  • AI prompting
  • Conditional logic
  • Error handling
  • Testing and deployment

Next steps:

  1. Let it run for a week
  2. Review all outputs
  3. Refine prompts
  4. Build workflow #2

Welcome to AI automation. 🚀

Harjot Rana is the founder of Orchastra. He teaches non-technical people how to build AI automations.

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