Smart Invoice AI Agent built with N8N

🎥 Video Explaination (LOOM):

https://www.loom.com/share/b94367867f4948f69c208ac603e6d545

The Problem

Many businesses still receive invoices by email and manually log them into spreadsheets or CRMs.
This process is slow, repetitive, and error-prone — files get lost, totals are mistyped, and tracking VAT or payment status becomes messy.
I wanted to create a fully automated system that could read invoice emails, extract the right data, and organize everything in one place.

The Solution

This workflow automates the entire invoice management process from start to finish using n8n and OpenAI.

1. Email Trigger (IMAP)
   The workflow listens for new emails from specific senders (e.g., billing services like Register or Notion).
   When a new invoice email arrives, the trigger activates automatically.

2. File Extraction
   The attached PDF is downloaded and processed by the “Extract from File” node, which retrieves the raw text of the document.

3. AI Agent (OpenAI Chat Model)
   The extracted text is sent to an AI Agent powered by OpenAI.
   The model identifies and structures the key information — invoice number, total amount, currency, VAT, date, and service name — returning clean JSON data via the Output Parser.

4. Data Storage in Airtable
   The parsed values are then used to automatically create a new record in Airtable, building a centralized and searchable invoice database.

5. Cloud Upload
   The original PDF is uploaded to Google Drive, and its public link is updated in the corresponding Airtable record.

6. Slack Notification
   Finally, a confirmation message is sent to Slack, notifying the team that a new invoice has been processed successfully.