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Spot out-of-scope client requests and draft the change order

Every time a client emails you, the agent checks the request against the agreed scope, prices any extra work at your hourly rate and drafts a change order for you to review.

L2 semi-autonomousVerified sourceBased on official documentation we checked; not tested by us yet.Updated
Difficulty
Intermediate
Setup time
≈ 1 h 30 (estimate)
Estimated cost
n8n: €0 self-hosted or from €20/month (Starter, billed annually) + OpenAI API calls; Telegram is free
Category
Small business & freelancers

⏱ Trigger

New email from a client (Gmail trigger)

✋ Human approval

Nothing reaches the client: the change order lands in your inbox, you review and adjust it, then decide whether to send it or do the work for free.

→ Output

Draft change order by email (out of scope) + Telegram alert (ambiguous cases) + Google Sheets ledger

Autonomy level 2 — Semi-autonomous (approval): Runs on its own but waits for your approval before anything sensitive.

01Connected tools

02What the agent does on its own

  1. step 01

    Fires on every new email matching your Gmail filter (for example from:[email protected]).

  2. step 02

    Has the request checked against the scope of work pasted into the configuration: in scope, out of scope or ambiguous, quoting the exact clause.

  3. step 03

    Out of scope: estimates the extra hours, prices them at your hourly rate and emails you a draft change order (to you, never to the client).

  4. step 04

    Ambiguous: pings you on Telegram with the AI's reasoning.

  5. step 05

    Logs every decision in a Google Sheets ledger: what was quoted, waived or is still owed.

03Agent instructions

$ instructions.txt · replace the {VARIABLES}
> Scope of my engagement with {CLIENT}: {SCOPE}. My hourly rate: {RATE} {CURRENCY}. Incoming request: "{EMAIL}". Return JSON {"status":"in_scope|out_of_scope|ambiguous","clause":"exact quote from the scope","estimated_hours":0,"amount":0,"reason":"…"}. Only quote sentences that appear in the scope; when in doubt, answer "ambiguous". If out of scope, write me a friendly but firm change order of under 150 words.

04Limits and legal points

Hour estimates come from the model: treat them as a starting point, not a quote. The agent is only as good as the scope you give it: a vague proposal will produce lots of "ambiguous" cases. If clients have different scopes, set up one workflow (or one filter) per client. Client emails are sent to OpenAI: check your confidentiality commitments and the provider's data-processing terms (GDPR).

05In short

When does the agent run, and what does it produce?
Trigger: New email from a client (Gmail trigger). Output: Draft change order by email (out of scope) + Telegram alert (ambiguous cases) + Google Sheets ledger.
What stays under your control?
Nothing reaches the client: the change order lands in your inbox, you review and adjust it, then decide whether to send it or do the work for free. Autonomy level 2 — Semi-autonomous (approval): Runs on its own but waits for your approval before anything sensitive.
How much does it cost and how long does setup take?
Estimated cost: n8n: €0 self-hosted or from €20/month (Starter, billed annually) + OpenAI API calls; Telegram is free. Setup time: ≈ 1 h 30 (estimate), difficulty "intermediate". Tools: n8n – Gmail Trigger, n8n – OpenAI, n8n – Gmail, n8n – Google Sheets, n8n – Telegram.

Answers taken from this recipe · updated 22 October 2026

06Source

https://n8n.io/workflows/21110-guard-freelance-project-scope-with-gmail-openai-google-sheets-and-telegram/

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