How to trigger Retool workflow from email

💬 Workflows
1

Hey guys,

I was wondering if triggering workflows is possible from emails received to an inbox. This is something that I've seen available on other low code platforms but can't find anything in the documentation regarding this on Retool. If not available, any workarounds for doing this? maybe Zapier + Retool?

Thanks

2

Hello @juan.guerrero.gbn,

Retool does not have built-in support for triggering workflows directly from emails received in an inbox. However, you can achieve this functionality by setting up a custom integration or using a combination of external tools like Zapier and Retool.

Option 1: Using a Custom Integration

1. Set up email monitoring:

  • Use an email library or service (e.g., IMAP, Microsoft Graph API, or Gmail API) to monitor your inbox for incoming messages.

2. Trigger Retool workflows:

  • When a new email is detected, use an HTTP client (e.g., Axios in Node.js or Python's requests) to send the email data to Retool's API trigger endpoint.
  • In Retool, enable API triggers for your workflow and configure the endpoint to process incoming email data (e.g., sender, subject, body).

Option 2: Using Zapier with Retool Workflows
Zapier allows you to connect various apps and trigger actions based on events, such as receiving an email.

1. Set up Zapier to monitor your email inbox:

  • Use a supported email service (e.g., Gmail, Outlook).
  • Create a "Zap" with the Email Received trigger. Apply filters for specific subjects, senders, or keywords in the body of the email.

2. Send data to Retool:

  • Once Zapier detects the email, configure an action to request Retool's API.
  • In Retool, enable API triggers for your workflow and use the generated endpoint to receive data from Zapier.
  • Configure the Zapier action to send the parsed email data (e.g., sender, subject, body) to the Retool API endpoint.

3. Process the workflow in Retool:

  • Your workflow will be triggered by the incoming data from Zapier, enabling you to process the email contents accordingly.

Using Zapier is quick to set up and requires no coding, making it an excellent choice for straightforward use cases. However, advanced features may require a Zapier subscription.

On the other hand, custom integration offers full customization and scales well for complex workflows, but it requires development effort and ongoing maintenance.

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3

Thanks for the suggested options!

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