Route emails that arrive outside any campaign to the inbound team

When someone emails a sending mailbox directly, outside any sequence, Master Inbox moves the thread to an Inbound list and alerts the inbound team in Slack.

Routing and assignment

SlackSDR managerRevOpsTeam plan

When

Incoming MessageAll channels

Only if

Campaign name is empty

Then

Move to listInbound

And

Notify in SlackPost the message and thread link to #inbound

Why teams run it

Forwards and direct emails never reach the sequencer, so they are easy to lose.

Set it up in Master Inbox

In Master Inbox, open Settings, then Workflows, and click Add a workflow.
Name it Route emails that arrive outside any campaign to the inbound team.
Set the trigger to Incoming Message and choose All channels.
Add a condition: Campaign name is empty.
Add the action Move to list: Inbound.
Add the action Notify in Slack: Post the message and thread link to #inbound.
Save the workflow and switch it to Active.

Before you start, connect Slack under Settings, Integrations.

Or create it with the API

Everything in the workflow builder is also in the Master Inbox API. This request creates the same workflow. Replace the example ids with your own label, list and campaign ids from GET /workflows/filter-fields. This workflow also uses conditions: add them under trigger_config.conditions, as shown on the conditions page.

curl -X POST https://api.masterinbox.com/api/api-webhook/v1/api/workflows/create-workflow \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MASTER_INBOX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "name": "Route emails that arrive outside any campaign to the inbound team",
  "trigger_type": "incoming_message",
  "trigger_config": {
    "channel_ids": [
      "-1"
    ]
  },
  "action_configs": [
    {
      "action_type": "move_to_list",
      "inbox_type_id": 52311
    },
    {
      "action_type": "slack_notify",
      "payload_variables": [
        "name",
        "company_name",
        "label_names",
        "text",
        "thread_url"
      ],
      "show_draft": true
    }
  ]
}'

Full reference: workflow API guide and API docs.

Or ask Claude, ChatGPT or Grok to build it

Our workflow guide is written for AI agents to read. Give your assistant your API key and this prompt:

Read https://app.masterinbox.com/public-workflow-api.md and use my Master Inbox API key to create this workflow: "Route emails that arrive outside any campaign to the inbound team". First call GET /workflows/filter-fields and look up my label, list and channel ids, then create the workflow and tell me what you set up.

Questions

Why would a campaign name be empty?

The message did not come from a sequencer campaign, for example a forward or a brand-new email to your mailbox.

Can I send these to Clay too?

Yes. Add a webhook action that posts the lead to your Clay table.

Can I build this workflow through the API?

Yes. Send the create-workflow request shown on this page with your Master Inbox API key. The API checks the payload first and lists every problem by field if anything is off.

Which plan includes this?

This workflow works on the Team plan. Every plan has unlimited users and starts with a free 7-day POC.