5 simple steps to build automations with Google Workspace Flows

Gemini 3 + Google Workspace Flows = impactful automations you can build in minutes.

Last week, I had the honor of delivering a workshop in Istanbul for EO Türkiye.

Minutes before I was due on stage, I deleted my entire presentation. 🤣

Instead, I decided to do a live demo showing all the AI tools I use and how I integrate them in my everyday life as a founder.

The whole event was a blast, and it was awesome to connect with founders who are on the same page about AI.

Huge thanks to EO Türkiye, EO Greece, EO Russia, EO Europe Bridge - Entrepreneurs' Organization for having me 🙏

In other news, I’m in awe of Google Gemini 3: the most powerful model in the world right now.

In this week’s newsletter, we’ll talk about Gemini 3, AntiGravity, and how to build insanely powerful automations in just a few simple steps.

🚨 Join our live session this Friday 21st November about Claude for work!

I’ll show you practical workflows, Skills you should set up first, and how to make Claude an essential AI assistant.

Sign up here:

News

Google launches the world’s most powerful AI model, Gemini 3

On Tuesday, Google launched Gemini 3, its most intelligent model yet, best in the world for multimodal understanding, reasoning, and agentic capabilities.

According to Google:

“Responses are smart, concise, and direct, trading cliché and flattery for genuine insight.”

How does it measure up against other models?

• Gemini 3 Pro topped almost every other LLM on the LMArena leaderboard.
• It achieved 91.9% on the GPQA Diamond benchmark which tests PhD-level scientific reasoning, beating Claude Sonnet 4.5 and ChatGPT 5.1
• The model scored 37.5% on Humanity’s Last Exam without tools, surpassing GPT-5 Pro’s previous high of 31.64%.
• It set a new standard in math with 23.4% on MathArena Apex.

(Source: Fortune.com)

I’m excited about this model and its capabilities.

This week’s guide is all about harnessing the intelligence of Gemini 3 in workspace automations.

Antigravity: AI coding, reimagined

Google’s release also included a new coding platform called Antigravity.

Instead of AI being an assistant in your coding workspace, Antigravity provides a dedicated integrated development environment (IDE) where you write code.

It understands what you’re trying to build, can write and test code itself, and catch problems with less human intervention.

📘 The Guide

Build time-saving automations in 5 simple steps with Google Workspace Flows

Google Workspace Flows with Gemini 3 is a powerful AI agent to end busywork and make you more efficient.

By the end of this guide, you’ll have:

• A clear understanding of how Google automations work.
• One workflow that preps you automatically before meetings.
• Plenty of ideas for agents you can build next.

Just a few key automations will free you up to focus on work that matters.

How to build Google Workspace Flows

To start building, go to your Google Workspace.

You’ll see a new icon towards the top right, next to Gemini.

Click here to open the workflow builder and start adding “steps”.

Here are the three types of steps:

1. Starter (aka the trigger)

Starters are events that “wake up” the agent and activate the workflow.

What, when, and how should the agent or workflow be activated?

Examples:

• New Gmail message
• Calendar event starting soon
• Time-based triggers
• File changes in Drive

2. Action steps

Action steps are where you define what should happen next.

These can be actions like:

• Send a Chat message
• Update a Sheet
• Move or rename files
• Branch logic (if/else)

3. AI step

This is the agentic side of flows. Here, you can prompt Gemini to do something using workspace content.

For example:

• Summarize content
• Extract tasks
• Generate drafts
• Interpret documents
• Search Google Drive using natural language (because there is no built-in Drive search action)

Agents vs Workflows: What’s the difference?

In this guide I refer to both “agent” and “workflow” because, like in Zapier, you can include agents in your workflows with Google Workspace Flows.

An agent is a large language model (LLM) that has access to multiple tools and can decide how to use these tools to achieve a task.

In contrast, workflows only utilize the tools and steps you have predefined. They cannot make decisions to deviate from the established flow.

However, in Google Workspace Flows, AI steps allow you to bring Gemini’s capabilities into your flows.

Build a workflow:

Automatic meeting prep

Imagine having a meeting prep assistant to help you get ready for an upcoming meeting.

The agent runs 1 hour before every meeting and sends you a Chat message with:

• A summary of relevant documents
• Key points
• Open questions
• Action items
• File links

Here’s how to build it:

Step 1 — Starter: Calendar event

• Create a new Flow.
• Choose Based on a meeting
• Select Every meeting
• In Time offset select 60 minutes, and below select Before meeting.

This wakes the agent before every meeting.

Step 2 — AI step: Understand the meeting

• Add an Ask Gemini step.
• Enter the following prompt:

Extract the meeting title, date/time, attendees, and any useful keywords from this calendar event. Return everything as structured information for the next step.

This creates the context the agent will use.

Step 3 — AI step: Search Google Drive

• Add another Ask Gemini step.
• Enter this prompt:

Search my Google Drive for documents, spreadsheets, or slides that match:

• The meeting title
• The event keywords
• Work recently done by the attendees

Return the top 5 most relevant files with:

• Title
• Link
• Last modified date
• One-sentence relevance note.

Gemini performs the Drive search for you.

Step 4 — AI Step: Generate the briefing

• Add a third Ask Gemini step.
• Prompt:

Act as my executive assistant. Using the list of files you found and their content, create a concise meeting briefing including:

• 3 main bullet points
• Open questions
• Existing action items

Think in steps:

1. Understand context
2. Identify key people
3. Extract decisions
4. Produce final summary

Keep it under 200 words.

This creates the final briefing.

Step 5 — Output: send it in Google Chat

• Add an action step to send a message in Google Chat
• Choose your own Google account
• Message:

Meeting Prep: {{meeting_title}}

Happening at {{event_time}}

Summary:

{{ai_summary_output}}

Files reviewed:

{{file_links}}

• Turn on the Flow.

From now on, every meeting prep is done automatically.

Other agents you can build

1. Smart inbox triage

Starter: new Gmail message

AI Step: classify (urgent, client, invoice, spam)

Action: label + Chat ping

2. Daily executive briefing

Starter: 8 AM daily

AI Step: scan your calendar + emails + Sheets

Action: send one summary in Chat

3. Drive auto-organizer

Starter: new file in Drive

AI Step: identify topic/client

Action: rename + move file

Action: notify you

4. Lead capture CRM

Starter: email from prospect

AI Step: extract name, company, info

Action: add row to Sheet

Action: send Chat alert

Facts to keep in mind

• Drive search can only be done via Ask Gemini
• AI Steps depend on your Workspace plan
• Admin settings may hide certain features
• It works only with Google apps today
• Use Google Sheets as your database or memory layer

Challenge: Build one automation this week!

Pick one of the following:

• Meeting Prep
• Inbox Triage
• Daily Briefing
• CRM Lite
• Drive Organizer

Sketch it:

Starter → Ask Gemini → Action

Then build the simple version now.

🎧 Content to enjoy

So, I’ve decided to add a new section to the newsletter. In this section, I’ll be sharing interesting pieces of content that I think you should check out.

You’ll find podcasts, blog posts, YouTube videos, books, social media posts, and more.

Here are my recommendations for this week:

• 🎙️Podcast: Demis Hassabis on Gemini 3, Google Antigravity, Medical-grade AI, on The State of AI with Rowan Cheung
• 📚 Book: Wherever You Go, There You Are by John Kabat-Zinn: a simple path for cultivating mindfulness in your own life.
• 📹 YouTube: In my latest video, I dive into Google Workspace Flows. If you enjoyed this week’s guide, you’ll get even more examples and practical demos in this video. Watch here:

⚙️ Tools of the Week

• Google Workspace Flows: Build super easy, powerful workflow automations in your Google Workspace.
• Gemini 3: The most powerful model in the world right now
• ChatGPT record mode: Record meetings or transcribe your thoughts, then repurpose later.

🧾 TL;DR

• Thanks again to the Entrepreneurs Organization for inviting me to speak at the event in Istanbul last week 🙏
• A huge week for Google: Gemini 3 and Antigravity launched
• Guide: 5-steps to powerful automations with Google Workspace Flows
• Content: An interview with Google CEO Demis Hassabis, a book about mindfulness in everyday life.
• Tools: Google Workspace Flows, Gemini 3, ChatGPT record mode.
• Reminder: join this week’s live session to learn how to use Claude for work. We’ll cover the basics to advanced business automation.