How to Forward Gmail Emails to Slack with Pipedream

pipedream.com > Workflows > New Workflow

Create a new Pipedream workflow

Go to pipedream.com and log in. From the left sidebar, click 'Workflows', then click the blue 'New Workflow' button in the top right. You'll land on a blank canvas with a single prompt: 'Add a trigger'. This is your starting point — everything flows from the trigger you pick here.

1. 1Log in at pipedream.com
2. 2Click 'Workflows' in the left sidebar
3. 3Click the blue 'New Workflow' button in the top right
4. 4Click the '+ Add Trigger' tile on the canvas

Trigger Panel > Search 'Gmail' > New Email

Add the Gmail trigger

In the trigger search panel, type 'Gmail' and select it. You'll see a list of available Gmail triggers. Choose 'New Email' — this fires every time a new message arrives in the connected inbox. Do not choose 'New Email Matching Search' unless you want to write a Gmail search query right now; you can add filters in a later step using code.

1. 1Type 'Gmail' in the trigger search bar
2. 2Click the Gmail app icon
3. 3Select 'New Email' from the trigger list
4. 4Click 'Connect Gmail Account' and authorize via the OAuth popup

Trigger Panel > Test Trigger

Test the Gmail trigger

Click 'Test Trigger'. Pipedream will pull the most recent email from your inbox as sample data. You'll see a JSON object appear with fields like `subject`, `from.email`, `snippet`, `labelIds`, and `body.html`. This sample data is what all downstream steps will reference. If your inbox is empty or the account is fresh, send yourself a test email first.

1. 1Click the 'Test Trigger' button
2. 2Wait 5-10 seconds for Pipedream to fetch a recent email
3. 3Expand the returned JSON to inspect the `from`, `subject`, and `body` fields

Workflow Canvas > + > Run Node.js Code

Add a Node.js code step to filter emails

Click the '+' button below the trigger to add a new step. Choose 'Run Node.js code'. This is where you decide which emails actually get forwarded. You'll write a short filter that checks the sender address, subject line, or label — and calls `$.flow.exit()` to stop the workflow if the email doesn't match. Without this step, every single email in your inbox gets posted to Slack.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the Gmail trigger tile
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code' from the step options
3. 3Paste your filter logic into the code editor (see the pro tip below)
4. 4Click 'Test' to confirm the filter runs against your sample email data

Paste this as your Step 2 Node.js filter + Step 3 formatter combined. It handles sender filtering, label matching, plain-text body extraction, and HTML tag stripping in one step — then exports everything the Slack step needs. Place it directly after the Gmail trigger, before the Slack step.

// Step: Filter + Format Gmail Email for Slack
// Place this immediately after the Gmail trigger
export default defineComponent({

// Step: Filter + Format Gmail Email for Slack
// Place this immediately after the Gmail trigger

export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    const email = steps.trigger.event;

    // --- FILTER CONFIGURATION ---
    const ALLOWED_SENDERS = ['[email protected]', '[email protected]'];
    const REQUIRED_LABEL = 'vendor-invoices'; // set to null to skip label check
    const SUBJECT_KEYWORDS = ['invoice', 'payment', 'action required'];

    // Check sender
    const senderEmail = email.from?.email?.toLowerCase() ?? '';
    const senderName = email.from?.name ?? senderEmail;
    const senderMatch = ALLOWED_SENDERS.length === 0 || ALLOWED_SENDERS.includes(senderEmail);

    // Check label
    const labelMatch = !REQUIRED_LABEL || (email.labelIds ?? []).includes(REQUIRED_LABEL);

    // Check subject keywords
    const subject = email.subject ?? '';
    const keywordMatch = SUBJECT_KEYWORDS.length === 0 ||
      SUBJECT_KEYWORDS.some(kw => subject.toLowerCase().includes(kw.toLowerCase()));

    if (!senderMatch || !labelMatch || !keywordMatch) {
      $.flow.exit(`Email filtered out — sender: ${senderMatch}, label: ${labelMatch}, keyword: ${keywordMatch}`);
    }

    // --- FORMAT FOR SLACK ---
    // Strip HTML tags from body if plain text unavailable
    const rawBody = email.body?.text ?? email.snippet ?? '';
    const cleanBody = rawBody
      .replace(/<[^>]+>/g, '') // strip HTML tags
      .replace(/\s+/g, ' ')   // collapse whitespace
      .trim()
      .substring(0, 300);     // cap at 300 chars for Slack readability

    // Build Gmail deep link
    const gmailLink = `https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/${email.threadId}`;

    // Format received date
    const receivedAt = email.internalDate
      ? new Date(parseInt(email.internalDate)).toLocaleString('en-US', { timeZone: 'America/New_York' })
      : 'Unknown time';

    // Export values for Slack step
    return {
      senderEmail,
      senderName,
      subject,
      bodyPreview: cleanBody,
      gmailLink,
      receivedAt,
      slackMessage: `*New email from ${senderName} <${senderEmail}>*\n*Subject:* ${subject}\n*Received:* ${receivedAt}\n\n${cleanBody}\n\n<${gmailLink}|Open in Gmail>`,
    };
  },
});
// In the Slack step, set Text = {{steps.filter_and_format.$return_value.slackMessage}}

Workflow Canvas > + > Run Node.js Code

Extract and format the email fields

Add a second Node.js code step. This step pulls the fields you care about — sender name, sender email, subject, timestamp, and a plain-text snippet — and formats them into a clean Slack message string. Gmail's `body.html` is messy HTML; use a simple regex or string replacement to strip tags for the Slack preview. Export the formatted values so the Slack step can reference them.

1. 1Click '+' below the filter step
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code'
3. 3Write code to extract `steps.trigger.event.subject`, `steps.trigger.event.from.email`, and `steps.trigger.event.snippet`
4. 4Use `$.export()` to make these values available to downstream steps
5. 5Click 'Test' and verify the exported values appear in the Results tab

Workflow Canvas > + > Slack > Send Message to Channel

Add the Slack step

Click '+' below your formatting step and search for 'Slack'. Select the 'Send Message to Channel' action. Connect your Slack workspace via OAuth — Pipedream will open a Slack authorization popup. Once connected, select the target channel from the dropdown (e.g., #vendor-updates or #customer-inquiries). Pipedream lists all channels your bot has access to.

1. 1Click '+' below the formatting step
2. 2Type 'Slack' in the search bar and select the Slack app
3. 3Choose 'Send Message to Channel'
4. 4Click 'Connect Slack Account' and authorize via the OAuth popup
5. 5Select your target channel from the 'Channel' dropdown

Slack Step > Text Field > {{}} Reference Picker

Build the Slack message text

In the 'Text' field of the Slack step, click the '{{}}' icon to reference exported values from earlier steps. Build a message that includes the sender, subject, and snippet. Use Slack's mrkdwn formatting — asterisks for bold, backticks for code. For example: `*New email from {{steps.format_email.$return_value.senderEmail}}*\n*Subject:* {{steps.format_email.$return_value.subject}}\n{{steps.format_email.$return_value.snippet}}`. Add a direct Gmail link using the `threadId` from the trigger payload.

1. 1Click inside the 'Text' field in the Slack step
2. 2Type your message template and use '{{}}' to insert dynamic values
3. 3Reference `steps.format_email.$return_value.senderEmail` for the sender
4. 4Reference `steps.trigger.event.threadId` to build a deep link to Gmail
5. 5Click 'Test' to send a real message to your Slack channel

Workflow Canvas > + > Run Node.js Code

Add error handling with $.send.email()

Add a final Node.js step wrapped in a try/catch. If the Slack API call fails (network timeout, channel archived, token revoked), use Pipedream's built-in `$.send.email()` to notify your own inbox instead of silently dropping the event. This gives you a fallback that works without any external monitoring setup. Set the `to` field to the workflow owner's email.

1. 1Click '+' after the Slack step
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code'
3. 3Wrap a check of `steps.slack.$return_value` in a try/catch block
4. 4In the catch block, call `$.send.email({ subject: 'Slack forward failed', text: error.message })`
5. 5Click 'Test' to verify the step runs without errors on a successful flow

Workflow Canvas > Deploy > Event History

Deploy and monitor the workflow

Click the 'Deploy' button in the top right. Your workflow moves from Draft to Active status. From the workflow detail page, click 'Event History' in the left sidebar to watch live runs come in. Each row shows the event timestamp, which steps ran, how long each took, and whether the run succeeded, was cancelled (filtered out), or errored. This is your primary debugging surface.

1. 1Click the blue 'Deploy' button in the top right corner
2. 2Confirm the status indicator changes from 'Draft' to 'Active'
3. 3Send a real test email to your Gmail inbox that matches your filter
4. 4Click 'Event History' in the left sidebar to watch the run appear
5. 5Click into the run to inspect step-by-step output