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In this tutorial, you’ll set up ShingleAI to automatically handle incoming support emails using AI. By the end, you’ll have a working automation that acknowledges support requests, extracts key details, and saves the sender as a contact — all without you lifting a finger. This is how ShingleAI is designed to work: you connect your communications, tell the AI what to do in plain English, and let it handle the rest.

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What you’ll build

You’ll create a complete support email workflow that:
  1. Detects incoming emails that look like support requests
  2. Sends an immediate, personalized acknowledgment to the sender
  3. Saves the sender as a contact if they’re new
By the end, you’ll understand how ShingleAI’s core features — email, contacts, and automations — work together.

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Prerequisites

  • A Google or Microsoft email account you can use for testing
  • A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge)

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Step 1: Create your account and organization

First, let’s get you set up on ShingleAI.
1

Sign up

Go to shingleai.com and click Get Started. Create an account using your email or sign in with Google/Microsoft.
2

Create an organization

After signing in, you’ll be prompted to create an organization. Enter a name — this can be your company name, or something like “My Business” if you’re just exploring. Click Create.
3

Land on the dashboard

You’re now on your organization’s dashboard. This is your home base — everything you do in ShingleAI happens within this organization.

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Step 2: Connect your email

ShingleAI needs access to your email to receive and send messages on your behalf.
1

Open Resources

Click Resources in the sidebar. Resources are the email accounts and phone numbers that ShingleAI uses to communicate.
2

Add your email

Click Add Resource and select your email provider (Google or Microsoft).
3

Authorize access

You’ll be redirected to your email provider to authorize ShingleAI. Review the permissions and click Allow (Google) or Accept (Microsoft).
4

Wait for sync

ShingleAI begins syncing your recent emails. This takes a few minutes depending on your inbox size. You’ll see a progress indicator on the Resources page.
ShingleAI uses OAuth — it never sees or stores your email password. You can revoke access at any time from your email provider’s settings.
Once sync completes, click Inbox in the sidebar. You should see your recent emails. Take a moment to click through a few threads — this is the unified inbox where all your connected accounts appear together.

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Step 3: Create your first automation

Now for the interesting part. You’ll tell ShingleAI to watch for incoming emails and respond to them using AI.
1

Open Automations

Click Automations in the sidebar, then click Create Automation.
2

Name it

Enter a descriptive name: Support Email Auto-Acknowledgment. Good names make it easy to find and manage your automations later.
3

Set the trigger

For the trigger event, enter: New email received. This tells ShingleAI to run the automation every time an email arrives.
4

Write your instructions

This is where you tell the AI what to do — in plain English. Paste the following into the instructions field:
When a new email arrives:

1. If the email looks like a support request or question about
   our services, send a friendly acknowledgment reply:
   - Thank them for reaching out
   - Confirm we received their message
   - Let them know we'll respond within 24 hours
   - Keep the tone warm and professional
   - Keep the reply under 100 words
   - Sign off with "Best regards" and "The Support Team"

2. If the email is clearly not a support request (newsletters,
   marketing, automated notifications), do nothing.
5

Save and enable

Click Save. The automation is enabled by default and starts working immediately.

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Step 4: Test it

Let’s see your automation in action.
1

Send a test email

From a different email account (or ask a friend), send an email to the address you connected. Write something that looks like a support request, for example:
Subject: Help with my account Hi, I’m having trouble logging in to my dashboard. I keep getting an “invalid credentials” error even though I’m sure my password is correct. Can you help?
2

Watch it work

Wait a minute or two, then check the Inbox in ShingleAI. You should see:
  • The incoming support email in your inbox
  • An outgoing reply that the AI generated and sent automatically
3

Review the reply

Click the thread to see the full conversation. The AI’s reply should be a friendly acknowledgment that follows your instructions — thanking the sender, confirming receipt, and setting expectations.
If the automation didn’t trigger, check a few things: Is the automation enabled? (Look for the toggle on the Automations page.) Did the email finish syncing? Give it another minute and check the automation’s execution history for any errors.

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Step 5: Check the results

Let’s verify everything worked end-to-end.
1

Check the automation history

Go to Automations, click your automation, and look at the execution history. You should see a successful execution with details about what the AI did.
2

Check Contacts

Click Contacts in the sidebar. If the sender was new, ShingleAI may have automatically created a contact record for them. Click the contact to see their profile and the linked message history.

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What you’ve accomplished

You’ve built a working AI-powered support workflow. Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes every time an email arrives:
  1. ShingleAI receives the email through your connected account
  2. The automation detects a new message and triggers
  3. The AI reads the email and evaluates your instructions
  4. If it’s a support request, the AI composes and sends a reply
  5. The sender and message are linked in your contact database
This is the core loop of ShingleAI: connect → automate → let AI handle it. Every feature builds on this pattern.

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Next steps

Now that you’ve seen ShingleAI in action, here are some ways to go further:

Refine your automation

Learn how to fine-tune triggers, add conditions, and write better AI instructions

Understand the concepts

Learn how organizations, contacts, messages, and automations fit together

Manage contacts

Organize your contacts with labels, notes, and detailed profiles

Connect AI agents

Give AI assistants like Claude direct access to your ShingleAI data