Build Your First AI Agent in 60 Minutes

Ready to build your first real AI agent? Not a toy example—a production-ready system that will save you 5-10 hours every week. Let's build an email auto-responder that actually works.

What You'll Build

This agent will:

• Read incoming emails automatically
• Understand what the person wants
• Write appropriate, contextual responses
• Send them automatically or draft for your review

Time investment: 60 minutes
Time saved: 5-10 hours per week
ROI: Immediate

Before You Start (5 Minutes)

Make sure you have:

• Make.com account (free tier works)
• OpenAI API key (platform.openai.com)
• Gmail account for testing
• 60 minutes of focused, uninterrupted time

No coding experience needed. If you can follow instructions, you can build this.

Step 1: Plan Your Agent (10 Minutes)

Critical: Most people skip this step and fail. Don't be most people.

Open a document and answer these questions:

What Emails Will This Agent Handle?

Examples:

• Customer support questions
• Meeting requests
• Simple product inquiries
• Follow-up responses

What Should It NOT Handle?

Examples:

• Complaints requiring human empathy
• Refund requests
• Complex technical issues
• Urgent escalations

What Tone Should It Use?

• Professional but friendly?
• Casual and conversational?
• Formal and corporate?

Auto-Send or Review First?

Start with review mode. Let the agent draft responses, but you approve before sending. Once you trust it (usually 1-2 weeks), switch to auto-send.

Action: Write down your answers. This 10-minute planning saves 10 hours of debugging later.

Step 2: Set Up Make.com (15 Minutes)

Create Your First Scenario

1. Log into Make.com
2. Click "Create a new scenario"
3. Name it: Email Auto-Responder v1
4. Click "Save"

Add the Email Trigger

1. Click the big + (plus) button in the center
2. Search for "Gmail"
3. Select "Watch Emails"
4. Click "Create a connection"
5. Sign in with your Gmail account
6. Grant Make.com the necessary permissions

Configure the Trigger

Set these parameters:

• Label: Choose "Inbox" or a specific label
• Max results: Start with 10
• Criteria: Leave blank for now (we'll add filters later)

Test the Trigger

1. Click "Run once" at the bottom
2. Send yourself a test email
3. Wait 30 seconds
4. Check if Make.com captured it

Troubleshooting: If nothing shows up, make sure you selected the right label. Try "All mail" if "Inbox" doesn't work.

Step 3: Add AI Response Generator (20 Minutes)

This is where the magic happens.

Connect OpenAI

1. Click the + button after the Gmail module
2. Search for "OpenAI"
3. Select "Create a Completion"
4. Click "Add" next to Connection
5. Paste your OpenAI API key
6. Click "Save"

Configure the AI Model

Model: Select gpt-4o-mini

• Why? It's 16x cheaper than GPT-4 and fast enough for email responses

Temperature: 0.7

• Sweet spot for natural but consistent responses

The Prompt Template

This is the most important part. Copy and customize this:

You are a helpful customer service assistant for [YOUR COMPANY NAME].

Read this email and write a professional response.

Email subject: {{1.subject}}
Email from: {{1.from}}
Email content: {{1.text}}

Guidelines:
- Be friendly but professional
- Answer their question if you can
- If you cannot answer, acknowledge the email and say a human will respond within 24 hours
- Keep response under 150 words
- Use a warm closing like "Best regards" or "Let me know if you need anything else!"

Write only the email response, nothing else.

Replace [YOUR COMPANY NAME] with your actual company name.

Max tokens: 500 (plenty for email responses)

Test the AI Module

1. Click "Run once" again
2. Check the output in the execution log
3. Read the generated response

If the response is bad: Make your prompt more specific. Add examples of good responses. Tell it exactly what you want.

Step 4: Send or Draft the Response (15 Minutes)

You have two options. Choose wisely.

Option A: Create Draft for Review (Recommended)

Safer for beginners. The agent creates drafts, you review and send.

1. Add Gmail "Create a Draft" module
2. Configure:
   • To: {{1.from}}
   • Subject: Re: {{1.subject}}
   • Content: {{2.choices[].message.content}}

Option B: Send Automatically (For Later)

Riskier but powerful. The agent sends responses automatically.

1. Add Gmail "Send an Email" module
2. Configure the same fields as Option A

Pro tip: Start with Option A. After 1-2 weeks of reviewing responses, if they're consistently good, switch to Option B.

Step 5: Add Safety Filters (10 Minutes)

Prevent your agent from handling complex issues it shouldn't touch.

Add Filter Module

Between the Gmail and OpenAI modules:

1. Click the wrench icon on the connection line
2. Click "Set up a filter"
3. Add conditions:

Text content DOES NOT contain: "refund"
AND Text content DOES NOT contain: "complaint"  
AND Text content DOES NOT contain: "urgent"
AND Text content DOES NOT contain: "problem"

Why? These keywords indicate issues that need human attention. Simple inquiries go to AI, complex ones come to you.

Add Sender Filter (Optional)

Want to test on yourself first?

Email from EQUALS your-email@company.com

This way only YOUR emails trigger the agent during testing.

Step 6: Test Everything (10 Minutes)

Send Test Emails

Send 3-5 test emails with different scenarios:

1. Simple question: "What are your business hours?"
2. Meeting request: "Can we schedule a call next week?"
3. Complex issue: "I need a refund urgently" (should be filtered out)
4. Casual inquiry: "Tell me more about your services"

Review Each Response

Check:

• ✓ Is the tone appropriate?
• ✓ Does it answer the question?
• ✓ Is it under 150 words?
• ✓ Would you send this to a customer?

Iterate on the Prompt

If responses aren't perfect:

• Add specific examples to your prompt
• Clarify the tone more explicitly
• Add constraints ("Never mention pricing" or "Always offer a demo call")

Going Live

Week 1: Review Everything

• Let drafts accumulate
• Review each one before sending
• Note which types of responses need improvement
• Update your prompt accordingly

Week 2-3: Build Trust

• Keep reviewing, but faster
• Start to trust the agent for simple inquiries
• Identify patterns in good vs. bad responses

Week 4+: Automate

Once you're confident (usually after reviewing 50-100 responses):

• Switch to auto-send for simple inquiries
• Keep complex issues filtered to manual review
• Monitor daily for the first week

Cost Breakdown

Make.com: Free (under 1,000 operations/month)
OpenAI API: ~$5-15/month (depending on volume)
Total: $5-15/month

Time saved: 5-10 hours/week = 20-40 hours/month
Value: $1,000-2,000/month (at $50/hour)

ROI: 5,000%+

Next Steps

Once this agent is running smoothly:

1. Add more labels: Handle different types of emails differently
2. Create specialist agents: Sales, support, general inquiries
3. Add memory: Make the agent remember past conversations
4. Integrate CRM: Auto-log responses to your CRM

Want to learn advanced techniques? Check out our guide on Advanced Make.com Techniques.

Common Issues & Solutions

Issue: Agent responds to everything

Solution: Add better filters. Be specific about what types of emails to ignore.

Issue: Responses are too formal/casual

Solution: Update your prompt with specific tone examples. Show the AI what "professional but friendly" means with 2-3 examples.

Issue: Agent doesn't understand context

Solution: This basic agent doesn't have memory. For contextual responses, you need to add a memory system (covered in Building Real AI Agents).

Issue: Too slow (15-minute delay)

Solution: Make.com's free "Watch Emails" checks every 15 minutes. Upgrade to instant Mail Hooks (covered in our Advanced Make.com guide).

You Built Your First AI Agent!

Congratulations! You now have a working AI agent that will save you hours every week.

This is just the beginning. The skills you learned here—triggers, AI prompts, safety filters—are the foundation for any AI agent.

Ready for more? Explore our AI Automation Academy for advanced tutorials, templates, and strategies.

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Questions? Issues? Contact us and we'll help you get your agent working perfectly.