How to Send Gmail Sales Alerts to Slack with Pipedream

pipedream.com > Workflows > New Workflow

Create a new Pipedream workflow

Go to pipedream.com and sign in. Click 'Workflows' in the left sidebar, then click the blue 'New Workflow' button in the top right. You'll land on the workflow canvas with an empty trigger slot at the top. This is where you'll connect Gmail as the event source. Name the workflow something like 'Gmail → Slack: Sales Lead Alerts' using the pencil icon at the top so you can find it later.

1. 1Click 'Workflows' in the left sidebar
2. 2Click the blue 'New Workflow' button
3. 3Click the pencil icon next to the default workflow name
4. 4Type 'Gmail → Slack: Sales Lead Alerts' and press Enter

Workflow Canvas > Add a trigger > Gmail > New Email

Add Gmail as the trigger source

Click the 'Add a trigger' block. In the search bar that appears, type 'Gmail' and select it from the results. Pipedream will show you a list of available Gmail triggers. Choose 'New Email' — this fires instantly via Gmail push notifications, not polling, which is what gives you sub-2-minute delivery. Do not choose 'New Email Matching Search' yet; you'll add filtering in a later step.

1. 1Click the 'Add a trigger' block on the canvas
2. 2Type 'Gmail' in the search field
3. 3Click 'Gmail' in the app results
4. 4Select 'New Email' from the trigger list

Gmail Trigger Panel > Connect Account > Google OAuth

Connect your Gmail account

In the trigger configuration panel, click 'Connect Account' under the Gmail section. Pipedream opens a Google OAuth window. Sign in with the Gmail account that receives your prospect emails — typically your shared sales inbox or your personal sales rep account. Grant the requested permissions, which include reading emails and managing Gmail watch subscriptions. After authorization, you'll return to Pipedream and see your email address listed as a connected account.

1. 1Click 'Connect Account' in the Gmail trigger panel
2. 2Select your Google account in the OAuth popup
3. 3Click 'Allow' to grant Gmail read permissions
4. 4Confirm your email address appears in the 'Account' dropdown

Gmail Trigger Panel > Label > INBOX > Generate Test Event

Configure the Gmail trigger filter

Under the connected account, set the 'Label' field to 'INBOX' to watch only incoming emails, not sent items or drafts. Leave the 'Search Query' field blank for now — you'll handle priority filtering in a code step to keep logic centralized and easier to edit. Click 'Generate Test Event' at the bottom of the panel to pull a real email from your inbox into Pipedream so later steps have data to work with.

1. 1Set the 'Label' dropdown to 'INBOX'
2. 2Leave 'Search Query' blank
3. 3Click 'Generate Test Event'
4. 4Select a recent email from the dropdown that Pipedream fetches

Workflow Canvas > + > Run Node.js code

Add a Node.js code step to filter high-priority emails

Click the '+' button below the Gmail trigger to add a new step. Choose 'Run Node.js code' from the step type list. This step will inspect the incoming email and decide whether it qualifies as a high-priority prospect email. You'll define 'high-priority' using domain matching, subject keywords, or a combination — the code step gives you exact control without building complex Zapier filter trees. Paste the filtering code from the Pro Tip section below into the code editor.

1. 1Click the '+' button below the Gmail trigger block
2. 2Click 'Run Node.js code' in the step type menu
3. 3Clear the default code in the editor
4. 4Paste the priority filter code into the editor

Paste this into two separate Node.js code steps — the first is the priority filter (Step 5) and the second is the email parser (Step 6). The filter uses domain matching and subject keywords to decide whether to continue or exit the workflow via $.flow.exit(). The parser splits Gmail's raw 'from' header, decodes HTML entities in the snippet, and formats the timestamp — producing a clean object that the Slack step references directly.

// === STEP 5: Priority Filter ===
// Paste this into the first Node.js code step
export default defineComponent({

// === STEP 5: Priority Filter ===
// Paste this into the first Node.js code step
export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    const email = steps.trigger.event;
    
    // Define your high-priority prospect domains
    const priorityDomains = [
      'acmecorp.com',
      'globaltrade.io',
      'enterpriseco.com'
    ];
    
    // Define subject keywords that indicate sales intent
    const priorityKeywords = [
      'pricing', 'demo', 'enterprise', 'trial', 'interested',
      'evaluation', 'quote', 'proposal', 'contract'
    ];
    
    const fromHeader = email.payload?.headers?.find(h => h.name === 'From')?.value || '';
    const subject = email.payload?.headers?.find(h => h.name === 'Subject')?.value || '';
    const labelIds = email.labelIds || [];
    
    // Must be in INBOX (not spam, promotions, etc.)
    if (!labelIds.includes('INBOX')) {
      $.flow.exit('Email not in INBOX — skipping');
    }
    
    const emailMatch = fromHeader.match(/<(.+?)>/) || [null, fromHeader];
    const senderEmail = emailMatch[1]?.toLowerCase() || '';
    const senderDomain = senderEmail.split('@')[1] || '';
    
    const isDomainMatch = priorityDomains.some(d => senderDomain === d);
    const isKeywordMatch = priorityKeywords.some(k => 
      subject.toLowerCase().includes(k)
    );
    
    if (!isDomainMatch && !isKeywordMatch) {
      $.flow.exit(`Email from ${senderDomain} with subject "${subject}" did not match priority criteria`);
    }
    
    return { passed: true, senderEmail, senderDomain, subject };
  }
});

// === STEP 6: Email Parser ===
// Paste this into the second Node.js code step
export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps, $ }) {
    const email = steps.trigger.event;
    const headers = email.payload?.headers || [];
    
    const getHeader = (name) => 
      headers.find(h => h.name.toLowerCase() === name.toLowerCase())?.value || '';
    
    // Parse sender name and email from combined 'From' header
    const fromRaw = getHeader('From');
    const fromMatch = fromRaw.match(/^(.*?)<(.+?)>$/);
    const senderName = fromMatch ? fromMatch[1].trim().replace(/^"|"$/g, '') : fromRaw;
    const senderEmail = fromMatch ? fromMatch[2].trim() : fromRaw;
    
    // Decode HTML entities in snippet
    const rawSnippet = email.snippet || '';
    const snippet = rawSnippet
      .replace(/&amp;/g, '&')
      .replace(/&#39;/g, "'")
      .replace(/&quot;/g, '"')
      .replace(/&lt;/g, '<')
      .replace(/&gt;/g, '>')
      .substring(0, 300);
    
    // Format timestamp from Gmail's internalDate (milliseconds)
    const receivedAt = new Date(parseInt(email.internalDate)).toLocaleString('en-US', {
      month: 'short', day: 'numeric', year: 'numeric',
      hour: 'numeric', minute: '2-digit', hour12: true
    });
    
    // Build Gmail deep link
    const gmailLink = `https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/${email.id}`;
    
    // Build Slack message
    const slackMessage = [
      `*New prospect email*`,
      `*From:* ${senderName} (${senderEmail})`,
      `*Subject:* ${getHeader('Subject')}`,
      `*Received:* ${receivedAt}`,
      `> ${snippet}`,
      `<${gmailLink}|Open in Gmail>`
    ].join('\n');
    
    return { senderName, senderEmail, snippet, receivedAt, gmailLink, slackMessage };
  }
});

Workflow Canvas > + > Run Node.js code

Parse and format the email data

Add another Node.js code step below the filter. This step extracts the fields you want in your Slack message: sender name, sender email, subject, timestamp, and the email snippet (first 300 characters of body text). Gmail's API returns the 'from' field as a combined string like 'Jane Smith <[email protected]>' — you need to split this into display name and email address separately for a clean Slack message. This step outputs a clean object that the Slack step will consume.

1. 1Click '+' below the filter step
2. 2Select 'Run Node.js code'
3. 3Paste the email parsing code into the editor
4. 4Click 'Test' and confirm the output shows senderName, senderEmail, subject, snippet, and receivedAt fields

Workflow Canvas > + > Slack > Send Message to a Channel

Add Slack as the destination step

Click '+' below the parsing step and search for 'Slack'. Select 'Send Message to a Channel' as the action. Connect your Slack workspace using the 'Connect Account' button — this opens Slack's OAuth flow and asks for permission to post messages. Once connected, set the channel to your sales notifications channel (e.g., #inbound-leads). You'll build the message text in the next step.

1. 1Click '+' below the parsing step
2. 2Search for 'Slack' and click the app
3. 3Select 'Send Message to a Channel'
4. 4Click 'Connect Account' and authorize with your Slack workspace
5. 5Set the 'Channel' field to your sales notifications channel, e.g. #inbound-leads

Slack Step > Message Text > field references from parsing step

Build the Slack message with email details

In the Slack step's 'Message Text' field, reference the output fields from your parsing step using Pipedream's double-brace syntax. Build a message that includes sender name, sender email, subject line, time received, and the email snippet. Use Slack's mrkdwn formatting — *bold* for the subject, > blockquote for the snippet. Set 'Bot Name' to 'Sales Inbox' and optionally set 'Icon Emoji' to :email: so reps can visually scan the channel.

1. 1Click into the 'Message Text' field in the Slack step
2. 2Type the message template using {{steps.parse_email.$return_value.senderName}} style references
3. 3Set 'Bot Name' to 'Sales Inbox'
4. 4Set 'Icon Emoji' to ':email:'
5. 5Click 'Test' to send a sample message to your Slack channel

Workflow Settings > Error Handling > Notification Email

Add error handling with a fallback notification

Add one more Node.js step at the end wrapped in a try/catch, or use Pipedream's built-in 'On Failure' workflow feature. Go to the workflow settings (gear icon, top right of canvas) and set an error notification email under 'Error Handling'. This catches cases where the Slack API is down or returns a rate limit error and alerts you instead of silently dropping the notification. For sales workflows, silent failures are worse than noisy ones.

1. 1Click the gear icon in the top right of the workflow canvas
2. 2Click 'Error Handling' in the settings panel
3. 3Enter your email address in the 'Send error notifications to' field
4. 4Set 'Notify after N consecutive errors' to 1 for immediate alerts
5. 5Click 'Save'

Workflow Canvas > Events tab > Select latest event

Test the full workflow end-to-end

Send a real test email to your Gmail inbox from an external address that matches your priority criteria. In Pipedream, watch the workflow's 'Events' tab — you should see a new event appear within 60–90 seconds of the email arriving. Click the event to inspect each step's input and output. Confirm the Slack message posted to your channel with the correct sender, subject, and snippet. If the event doesn't appear within 3 minutes, check the Gmail trigger's 'Subscription Status' in the trigger panel.

1. 1Send a test email from an external account to your connected Gmail address
2. 2Click the 'Events' tab at the top of the workflow canvas
3. 3Wait up to 90 seconds for the event to appear
4. 4Click the event row to open the step-by-step execution log
5. 5Check your Slack channel to confirm the message posted correctly

Workflow Canvas > Deploy button (top right)

Deploy and activate the workflow

Click the blue 'Deploy' button in the top right of the canvas. Pipedream will activate the Gmail push notification subscription and your workflow will start processing live emails. The workflow status changes from 'Development' to 'Active' with a green badge. From this point, every incoming Gmail message that passes your filter will trigger a Slack notification automatically — no polling, no cron jobs.

1. 1Click the blue 'Deploy' button in the top right
2. 2Confirm the deployment dialog if prompted
3. 3Check that the workflow status badge shows 'Active' in green
4. 4Send one final test email to confirm the live workflow fires correctly