PlainAgent / Starter recipes
Starter recipes · 2Starter recipes for your first AI agent
Two beginner-friendly builds with a small number of steps, a clear right answer and a person checking the output. Each has a ready-made n8n workflow and a Zapier blueprint on our sister site, RecipeAgents.
Invoice PDFs from email into a spreadsheet
Watches your inbox for invoice attachments, reads each PDF, and adds the key fields (supplier, number, date, amounts) as a new row in a bookkeeping sheet for you to check.
- An email account the tool can read
- An automation tool (n8n, Zapier or Make)
- A model API key for the AI step
- A spreadsheet with one column per field
- Trigger on new emails that have a PDF attachment and look like invoices.
- Turn the PDF into text (scanned images need an OCR step).
- Ask the model for the fields as JSON, with null for anything not printed.
- Skip invoice numbers already in the sheet, then add the row.
- Check rows by hand, and add a formula that flags totals that don't add up.
Full recipe on RecipeAgents ↗n8n workflow (.json)Zapier blueprint
The spec behind it: Invoice data extraction agent template. RecipeAgents is our sister site; test any imported workflow with sample data before switching it on.
Draft support replies from your help docs
When a customer writes in, it drafts a reply using only your help documentation and saves it as a draft or internal note. A person reviews and sends; questions the docs don't cover get flagged instead of answered.
- Your help desk or support inbox (for example Gmail, Help Scout or Front)
- An automation tool
- A model API key
- Help docs that actually answer your common questions
- Trigger on each new support conversation.
- Give the model the email plus the relevant help-doc text.
- Tell it to answer only from the docs and return a clear 'needs a person' marker otherwise.
- Save the result as a draft or note, never auto-send.
- Tag drafts so you can review quality each week and fix the docs where answers were wrong.
Full recipe on RecipeAgents ↗n8n workflow (.json)Zapier blueprint
The spec behind it: Customer support chatbot template. RecipeAgents is our sister site; test any imported workflow with sample data before switching it on.
New to all of this? Read build your first AI agent first.