Executive Assistant Agent

Executive Assistant Agent

The Executive Assistant agent manages email triage, calendar scheduling, and follow-up tracking on behalf of a team member. It classifies incoming emails, drafts replies, detects scheduling requests, and creates calendar events — all with human review before anything is sent.

What It Does

When an email arrives, the agent:

1. Classifies the email — is it actionable (meeting request, question, complaint) or skippable (newsletter, notification)?
2. Drafts a reply — matching the sender's tone, handling scheduling requests, and detecting follow-up commitments
3. Sends it for review — the assigned team member approves, edits, or rejects the draft
4. Sends the reply — once approved, the email goes out
5. Creates calendar events — if the reply involved scheduling, the event is created automatically

Skipped emails (newsletters, automated notifications) are logged so you can see what was filtered and why.

Prerequisites

Before setting up the agent, you need:

• An email source connected to Outrun (see Sources). The agent triggers on inbound email.
• A calendar integration (optional but recommended). Connect Office 365 or iCloud to enable scheduling actions.
• A knowledge base (optional). Attach one so the agent can reference your company information when drafting replies.

Setup Guide

1. Create the Agent

1. Go to AI > Agents in your dashboard
2. Click Create Agent
3. Select Executive Assistant from the template list
4. Give the agent a name (e.g. "Email Assistant" or a person's name)

2. Connect an Email Source

Under Sources, select the email source this agent should monitor. The agent will trigger on every inbound email to that source.

If you have not set up email forwarding yet, see the Email source guide.

3. Configure Settings

Timezone

Set the executive's home timezone (e.g. Europe/London, America/New_York). This is used for calendar event creation and scheduling references.

Scheduling Preferences

Write natural-language rules for how the calendar should be managed. The AI follows these when deciding whether to auto-accept, ask permission, or block a scheduling request.

Examples:

Auto-accept meetings with @acmecorp.com colleagues during working hours.
Fridays are focus days — only accept urgent meetings, ask permission for everything else.
Block anything before 9am or after 6pm.
External contacts I haven't met before — always ask permission.
Client calls can be auto-accepted Mon–Thu.

How the rules work:

• Auto-accept — the AI schedules without extra confirmation (still goes through human review)
• Ask permission — the AI flags the request for the executive to decide
• Block — the AI declines and suggests alternative times

If no preferences are set, the default is: always ask permission for external contacts, auto-accept internal team during working hours (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm).

Travel Mode

When the executive is travelling, set this to temporarily override the home timezone and relax evening rules.

Example:

Currently in Tokyo (Asia/Tokyo) for TechConf, Jan 15–19.
Open to dinner meetings with local contacts.
Conference schedule 9am–6pm JST.
Prefer morning calls with London office (overlap: 5–7pm JST = 8–10am GMT).

When travel mode is active:

• Scheduling uses the travel timezone
• Evening dinners are available but still require approval (the exec decides per-invite)
• Cross-timezone meetings with the home office prefer overlap hours
• Clear this field when the executive returns home

Personal and VIP Contacts

Define people with special scheduling permissions. One entry per line.

Format: Name — email — permission level — notes

Permission levels:

Example:

Sarah (wife) — [email protected] — full access — can move any meeting, respond warmly
Tom Chen (co-founder) — [email protected] — priority — auto-accept, any time
Dr. Patel — [email protected] — can book — personal calendar, mornings preferred

Personal contacts override scheduling preferences. For example, even if Fridays are "focus days", a full-access contact can still reschedule meetings.

Human Review

Enabled by default. Every draft reply and scheduling action is sent to the assigned team member for approval before execution. You can:

• Approve — sends the reply as drafted
• Edit — modify the reply text before sending
• Reject — discard the draft

When human review is disabled, drafts above the confidence threshold are sent automatically. Drafts below the threshold still require review.

Knowledge Base

Attach a knowledge base so the agent can reference company information, policies, or FAQs when drafting replies. This is especially useful for:

• Product or pricing questions
• Company policies referenced in emails
• Standard operating procedures

4. Activate

Once configured, toggle the agent status to Active. It will begin processing inbound emails immediately.

What the AI Produces

Classification Output

For each email, the classifier outputs:

• needsResponse — true/false
• category — question, request, scheduling, reschedule, availability, cancellation, follow-up, introduction, complaint, or skip
• urgency — high, medium, or low
• scheduling details — type of request, dates mentioned, meeting context

Draft Reply Output

For actionable emails, the draft includes:

• Reply text — ready to send, matching the sender's tone
• Confidence score — 0 to 1, indicating how confident the AI is in the draft
• Scheduling action — if applicable: event title, times, attendees, calendar, and whether approval is required
• Follow-up tracking — commitments made in the reply ("I'll send that by Friday") with due dates
• Inbound follow-up detection — if the sender is following up on something ("Any update on the proposal?")

Skip Log

For non-actionable emails, a log entry is created:

Skipped: TechCrunch — Newsletter, no response required

This appears in run history so you can see what was filtered.

Privacy Controls

The agent enforces strict privacy rules:

• Never reveals meeting titles or attendees to external contacts
• When declining, only says "I have a prior commitment"
• Personal calendar events are invisible to anyone except full-access personal contacts
• Full-access personal contacts get slightly relaxed privacy (can hear "you have a work dinner" but not who with)

How Calendar Scheduling Works

The workflow detects four types of scheduling requests:

Calendar events are created via the calendar.create_event action after the reply is approved. The event includes the title, times, attendees, and location from the approved draft.

Tips

• Start with human review on. Let the executive see how the AI handles their email for a week before considering auto-send.
• Be specific in scheduling preferences. "Block before 9am" is better than "I'm a morning person."
• Add a knowledge base with company context. The AI drafts much better replies when it knows your products, team, and policies.
• Use travel mode proactively. Set it before a trip so the AI handles timezone-aware scheduling from day one.
• Keep personal contacts updated. Add key people (spouse, EA, co-founders) so the AI responds appropriately from the start.

Limitations

• Calendar integrations currently support Office 365 and iCloud. Google Calendar support is planned.
• Cancel event action is not yet automated — the human reviewer handles cancellations manually for now.
• Reminder/follow-up system — the AI detects commitments and due dates, but automated reminders are not yet built. Commitments are visible in the HITL review and run history.