# AI agent workflows: examples with connected apps

> Examples of AI agent workflows that combine email, calendars, files, spreadsheets, and social inboxes, plus the difference between a tool call and a completed workflow.

Web version: https://claw-link.dev/learn/ai-agent-workflows

An AI agent workflow is a sequence of steps that moves a task from input to an
outcome. A single tool call is only one step. Reading an inbox, updating a
spreadsheet, and sending a draft are useful actions, but none proves that a
customer task is complete until the workflow records an outcome.

## A workflow has four parts

| Part | Example |
| --- | --- |
| Trigger | A new email, scheduled review, or user request |
| Context | Email thread, calendar availability, file, or row data |
| Actions | Search, read, create draft, update record, or notify someone |
| Checkpoint | A person approves, an API confirms, or a system records completion |

The checkpoint matters most for write actions. It tells you whether the agent
finished the requested work, not merely whether its last tool call returned 200.

## Example: inbox follow-up preparation

1. Find unread customer emails from the last day.
2. Read the thread and extract the requested action.
3. Search the shared drive for the relevant document.
4. Create a reply draft with links and a short summary.
5. Ask a person to review before sending.

This workflow combines Gmail and Google Drive. The read steps can run without
external side effects. Sending should remain an explicit approval point when a
mistake would reach a customer.

## Example: weekly operations review

1. Read upcoming calendar events.
2. Find the matching project rows in a spreadsheet.
3. Flag missing owners or dates.
4. Create a short status draft for the team.
5. Write the approved updates back to the spreadsheet.

Calendar listing and spreadsheet reads are common ClawLink actions. The workflow
is an example built from those capabilities, not a claim that production logs
proved every call belonged to this sequence.

## Example: social inbox triage

1. List new conversations.
2. Read the messages in each conversation.
3. Apply a category such as support, lead, or spam.
4. Draft or publish a response only under the rules your team approves.
5. Record the decision in the customer system.

Production data shows high usage of Instagram message listing, Gmail retrieval,
Facebook conversations, calendar events, Drive file search, and Sheets reads.
See [most-used ClawLink actions](https://claw-link.dev/learn/most-used-clawlink-actions) for the
aggregate counts and their limits.

## Design rules

- Start with read access. Validate the agent's context before giving it writes.
- Give every write action an owner, an approval rule, or a reversible record.
- Use real IDs from a list or search tool. Do not let a model invent a file,
  conversation, or calendar identifier.
- Log the tool call and the outcome separately. A successful API response is
  not the same as a successful business result.
- Handle retries deliberately. Retrying a read is usually safe; retrying a send
  or publish action can create duplicates.

## Keep reading