I Built an AI Agent That Actually Manages My Email, Calendar, and Tasks

TLDR: This article provides a step-by-step guide to building a personal productivity AI agent that connects your email, calendar, and tasks. The author explains how to use Make.com, OpenAI, Gmail, Google Calendar, Notion, and Slack to create a system that can triage emails, manage your schedule, and update your to-do list.

Summary: The author shares their experience of building a specialized AI agent to solve the problem of disconnected productivity systems. Instead of a general-purpose "Jarvis-like" AI, the author advocates for narrow, specialized agents that excel at specific tasks. This tutorial walks through the process of creating a personal productivity assistant that can manage your Gmail, Google Calendar, and Notion, all controlled via Slack.

For architects and developers, this article provides a practical example of how to build a useful AI agent using existing tools. The author demystifies the process by breaking it down into a clear architecture and providing the exact steps and system prompts needed to get started. It's a great example of how to move beyond theoretical "agentic workflows" to building real, production-ready AI systems that solve a tangible problem. The author's emphasis on starting with narrow, specialized agents is a valuable lesson for anyone looking to build reliable and effective AI solutions.

Key takeaways:

Specialized AI agents that focus on a narrow set of tasks are more effective than general-purpose agents.
You can build a personal productivity agent using Make.com, OpenAI, Gmail, Google Calendar, Notion, and Slack.
The article provides a detailed tutorial, including the system prompt and architecture.
This approach can be a cost-effective alternative to pre-built AI agent services.

Link: I Built an AI Agent That Actually Manages My Email, Calendar, and Tasks