Show HN: Non-intrusive AI agent to automate email driven workflows
The Problem: We spend hours processing emails - scheduling meetings, going through long newsletters, downloading attachments to review, verifying documents like invoices, and of course taking actions on external systems (Salesforce, Asana, Jira etc) based on emails received. A lot of this can be automated with the help of AI agents, saving several hours every week.
Our Solution: Forward any email to a specialized AI agent that completes the task and email you back the results. No integrations, no inbox access, no setup needed to begin with.
How it works:
- Forward a meeting request to schedule@mxtoai.com → get proposed times + Add to calendar links Forward an invoice to ask@mxtoai.com with "how much do I owe?" → get exact amounts and payment details extracted
- Forward a newsletter to summarize@mxtoai.com → get a 3-bullet summary in 30 seconds, set it up with forwarding rules and you'll have auto-summaries!
- Similarly we have aliases for translation, simplification, fact checking, background research, and more. Check a bigger list of use-cases in our docs: https://docs.mxtoai.com/why-use-mxtoai
We handle all attachment types (PDFs, spreadsheets, images) and you can add custom instructions in your forwarded email. So far we've processed 500+ emails in private beta.
Why this approach?
- Privacy-first: We only see emails you explicitly forward (vs. scanning your entire inbox)
- Universal: Works with any email client on any device – Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, anything
- Zero friction: No OAuth flows, browser extensions, or app switching
What's next?
- We'll be supporting dedicated aliases for users, so that you can map your own instructions to these aliases.
- We're working on adding integrations for day-to-day external apps (Github, Asana, Linear, and so on), so that those can be automated too.
- We're building a browser extension for smoother forwarding experience along with custom workflow automation.
- We'll open-source the core engine while offering hosted + self-hosted options.
Asking HN for:
- What do you think of the overall solution & approach?
- What email workflows would you automate if you could?
- Any specific feature that you're looking forward to seeing?
- Any other feedback?
Try it free at https://mxtoai.com (just whitelist your email, no signup needed, forward only what you want to)
What if I want to process a batch of emails at once? Going one-by-one through my inbox forwarding emails sounds painful. That being said, the quality of response is impressive. I tried fact-checking claims in an attachment and it was able to come back with a sane response with references.
If you have a better experience in mind, let us know. If this goes well and users trust us enough, we might work on an automated inbox monitoring service to automatically run workflows for you.
Suggestions:
- Gmail/Outlook extensions that add 'Process with MX' buttons directly in the interface
- Sample forwarding rules for common email clients so people can set up automation
- Maybe a 'trial mode' where people can paste email content on your site without forwarding?
The aliasing system is clever - reminds me of old-school email filters but AI-powered.
We're working on making this agent better everyday, open sourcing it soon. Would love to hear from power email users what kind of tasks this agent can help automate.
We are not storing emails anywhere, only as transient tasks. It'd be clearer when source is open. Would love to know your usecases for making self-hosting better.
I would really like if you can figure out a way to include this in an email chain, where multiple parties directly collaborate. For example, ask@ directly replying in the email thread
Current schedule@ will send you a direct link to add to your calendar along with a .ics attachment.