--- title: "Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP) Integration" description: "Read inbound email and send outbound from any mailbox. Agents monitor inboxes via IMAP, send messages via SMTP, and manage read status. The universal email integration for any mail provider." url: https://flowrunner.ai/integrations/mailbox date_modified: 2026-08-01T02:40:32-07:00 --- # Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP) [Email](https://flowrunner.ai/integrations/category/email-marketing) Read inbound email and send outbound from any mailbox. Agents monitor inboxes via IMAP, send messages via SMTP, and manage read status. The universal email integration for any mail provider. [Verified](https://flowrunner.ai/integrations/verified "What does verified mean?") · 3 actions · Custom auth · available Capability data verified 2026-08-04 1. Agent polls Read Inbox on invoices mailbox every 30 minutes 2. Agent checks each new message for PDF attachments 3. Agent extracts attachment and sends to Parseur for document processing 4. Agent sends automated reply requesting invoice document for messages without attachments 5. Processed invoices routed through AP workflow to ERP 6. AP team notified of processing summary at end of each run 7. Emails with legal, compliance, or threat content flagged and routed to manager immediately ## What This Integration Enables The Mailbox integration provides fundamental email capability: reading inbox contents, sending messages, and managing read status. It is the foundation for inbox monitoring workflows where agents watch for specific messages, process their content, and respond through the same mailbox. ### Without FlowRunner **Manual inbox monitoring**: AP team opens the invoice inbox multiple times daily to check for new submissions **No content-based routing**: All incoming emails treated the same regardless of type or urgency **Sensitive emails missed**: Legal notices and compliance communications sit in a shared inbox unread ### With FlowRunner **Inbox processed every 30 minutes**: New invoices extracted and queued before staff check the inbox **Automatic content classification**: Invoices, PO confirmations, and delivery receipts routed to different workflows **Immediate sensitive email alerts**: Legal and compliance content surfaced to the right manager within minutes of arrival ## Use Case Scenarios ### Dedicated AP Inbox Monitoring The AP team has a dedicated invoices@company.com inbox. The agent polls Read Inbox every 30 minutes. For new messages with attachments, it extracts the attachment and sends it to Parseur for document processing. For messages without attachments, it sends an automated reply requesting the invoice document. Processed messages are noted. The AP team opens the inbox to resolved exceptions, not to read every incoming email. ### Vendor Communications Processing A purchasing inbox receives order confirmations, shipping notifications, and delivery receipts from vendors. The agent reads new messages, classifies them by content type, routes confirmations to the ERP, routes shipping notifications to the inventory tracker, and routes delivery receipts to the receiving team. Vendor email that used to be manually forwarded and tracked now routes automatically. ### Customer Support Inbox Triage A support inbox receives inquiries. The agent reads new messages, classifies them by type (billing, technical, general), and routes each to the appropriate Jira queue or Asana project. Simple inquiries receive automated responses. Complex ones are flagged for human response. The agent marks simple processed messages as read and leaves complex ones unread for the support team to see. ## Human-in-Loop Highlight When the agent reads an email that appears to contain a threat, a legal notice, or a compliance-sensitive communication (identified by keywords), it does not process it automatically. It marks the email as unread, sends an immediate Slack alert to the relevant manager: "Email flagged for immediate attention in \[inbox\]: \[subject line\] from \[sender\]. Contains possible \[legal/compliance/complaint\] content. Review now." The manager handles it personally. Sensitive communications have a human first reader. Agent processes routinely Detects exception requiring judgment Clear match Continues automatically Ambiguous Routes to human via Slack Human decides Agent resumes with decision ## Agent Capabilities 3 actions ### Capabilities 3 - **Read Inbox** Retrieves messages from the inbox using IMAP. Used in monitoring workflows where agents watch for specific senders, subjects, or content that should trigger downstream processing. An agent polls a dedicated inbox for vendor invoices, customer orders, or exception notifications at regular intervals. - **Send Email** Sends a message via SMTP from the connected mailbox. Used for operational notifications that need to come from a specific organizational address: a vendor confirmation from the AP inbox, a customer reply from the support mailbox, a notification from a dedicated operations address. - **Mark Email As Unread** Sets a message's read status to unread. Used in workflow coordination: when an agent reads a message to process it but the processing fails, it marks the message unread so it will be picked up on the next poll cycle. Also used to flag messages that need human follow-up. ## Frequently asked questions ### What can FlowRunner do with Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP)? FlowRunner agents can run Read Inbox, Mark Email As Unread, and Send Email in Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP). ### Does connecting Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP) to FlowRunner require OAuth? Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP) uses a custom authentication method to connect to FlowRunner. ### Can Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP) trigger a FlowRunner workflow automatically? Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP) doesn't currently expose triggers in FlowRunner. It connects as an action step inside workflows started by another trigger. **Work at Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP)?** This integration exposes Mailbox (SMTP/IMAP) to AI agents on every FlowRunner plan, including through MCP, at no cost to you. [See what FlowRunner offers integration partners](https://flowrunner.ai/integrations/partners), including how to keep this page current. --- Markdown version of https://flowrunner.ai/integrations/mailbox. Site index: https://flowrunner.ai/llms.txt