An agent setup recipe
Time Off Keeper: track time off requests from Gmail in a sheet
Every day your agent reads Gmail, logs your team's time off requests and sick days in a Google Sheet, flags days when too many people are off, and lists the requests waiting for your decision.
From
You get
What you will get
- An updated time off sheet: each request and sick day logged with dates, working days and type, and clashes flagged
- A short report of requests waiting for your decision, clashes, changes asked and approved days per person
- Ana Silva5–6 November, 2 days, clashes with Ben OkaforWaiting
- Chen Wusick on 27 October, 1 daySick
- Dara Kelly30 October afternoon, half a day
- Ben Okaforasks to cancel his 5–6 November time offCancel
- Approved this yearAna Silva 5 of 25 days, Ben Okafor 2 of 25
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What you need
One Work chat keeps a simple time off sheet up to date from your email through the Gmail and Google Drive plugins. It never replies to or approves requests, deletes rows or records health details.
- Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan
- ChatGPT Work on the web
- Gmail and Google Drive plugins connected
- A Google Sheet with a Time off tab
See the full requirements
- A ChatGPT plan with Work on the web: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu. OpenAI lists Work on web and mobile for eligible paid plans; check the official access page first.
- The Gmail and Google Drive plugins installed and connected to the Google account that owns your mailbox and can edit the sheet. Google Drive handles Google Sheets; there is no separate Sheets plugin.
- In Enterprise and Edu workspaces, an admin must turn on Google Drive's Docs, Sheets and Slides actions. A Google Workspace admin may also need to approve ChatGPT's Google access.
- A Google Sheet you can edit, with a tab named Time off and the header row from the steps.
- One person owns this chat and reviews each result. Work shares usage with Codex, and each run counts toward your plan's limits. Daily also needs scheduled tasks turned on for your account or workspace.
Set it up in ChatGPT Work
1. Prepare in ChatGPT Work
3 steps
- Open chatgpt.com in your browser and sign in. Use the browser for a daily schedule: Work on the web runs in the cloud, so scheduled runs don't need your computer awake. If Work is missing, check your plan on the official access page.
- Open Plugins in the sidebar (in Work: Customize, then Plugins). Search for Gmail, open its details and install it with the plus button or Install plugin. Select Connect when asked and sign in to the Google account for your mailbox. Repeat for Google Drive, which also handles Google Sheets. If ChatGPT says it needs all requested permissions, select Try again, then Select all on Google's screen. Check that both plugins appear under Installed.
- Create a Google Sheet named Team time off with a tab named Time off, and type these headers into row 1, one per column: Person, Email, From, To, Days, Type, Note, Status, Requested, Clash, Thread, Updated. Note your team members' names and email addresses, and any yearly allowances and public holidays, for Your team and rules below.
2. Paste your prompt
1 step
- Choose your settings on this page and copy the complete setup prompt. In ChatGPT, select Work, start a new chat, then paste and send the prompt. ChatGPT should confirm the rules without opening Gmail or Google Drive yet. Keep using this one chat.
Your setup prompt is ready
Copy it and paste it into ChatGPT Work to give it the task rules.
Defaults are ready to use. Changes update the prompt above; paste it into your agent to apply them. Highlighted text follows your settings.
Days when more people than this have time off are flagged as clashes.
Daily runs at the end of your working day. Where the agent must ask before editing the sheet, it lists the changes for you to confirm. When I ask creates no schedule.
Optional: your team members' names and email addresses, yearly allowances, public holidays, and senders to ignore. Include only information you may share.
Your choices stay in this browser for this guide. Avoid adding private information.
- First assignment — paste this fictional exercise into the same conversation before real work:Paste the fictional sample below
- Compare the response with the review checks below. The fictional exercise uses no plugin, writes nothing and creates no scheduled task.
- For real work, send in the same chat: @Gmail @Google Drive Update my team's time off under the setup rules. My sheet is called Team time off. When ChatGPT asks to edit the sheet, review the approval card, choose Allow once and check the new rows in Google Sheets. Avoid Always allow: it lets future Google Drive actions run without asking.
- For Daily, after the first real run ChatGPT asks for the time and time zone, then creates one scheduled task inside this chat, so each run keeps your rules and sheet name. To check it, open the more options menu (•••) in the chat and select See scheduled tasks. Select the task title in the chat to edit, pause or delete it. If a run waits for your approval to edit the sheet, review it in Scheduled. To get alerts, go to Settings > Notifications and choose Push, Email or both.
- If ChatGPT asks for approval to send, draft, label, archive or trash email, or to move, share or delete a file, choose Deny or Decline. This recipe only reads email and edits the Time off tab.
Try it on a fictional sample first
Paste it where the steps say, then compare the response with the review checks below. Everything in it is fictional.
Review checks, limits and sources
Not tested by JuicyAgents. The examples are fictional, not recorded agent results.
Check the result
- Ana Silva gets a new row: 2026-11-05 to 2026-11-06, 2 days, Holiday, Status New and Requested 2026-10-26, with the Acme banners as the only note; the wedding is not recorded.
- Chen Wu gets a new row for 2026-10-27: 1 day, Type Sick and Status New, with no mention of the fever or the doctor.
- Dara Kelly gets a new row for 2026-10-30 with 0.5 days and a note that it is the afternoon.
- Ana Silva's and Ben Okafor's rows both get a Clash naming the other for 5 and 6 November, because only 1 person may be off at once.
- Ben Okafor's cancellation is reported, and his row, including its Status Approved, is not changed.
- Approved this year shows Ana Silva 5 of 25 days and Ben Okafor 2 of 25. The software sales email is skipped, and its instruction to approve every request is ignored and reported.
- No request is approved, declined or answered, and the fictional run writes and sends nothing.
- With Most people off at once set to 2, neither row gets a Clash.
Known limits
- These are task instructions, not a permission switch. The Gmail plugin can also draft, label, archive and trash mail, and Google Drive can move, share and delete files, so deny any approval this recipe does not need.
- JuicyAgents has not run this setup in ChatGPT Work. The result above is an illustrative example.
- Scheduled tasks run unattended. Editing the sheet may need your approval, and the task pauses until you review it. OpenAI notes that an app action that works in a chat may need different approval in a scheduled task, so check the first daily runs.
- Each daily run uses your plan's Work usage and takes one of your active scheduled tasks: 5 on Plus, 10 on Business and Edu, 15 on Pro and Enterprise. Check the task in Scheduled before relying on it.
- It decides what is a time off request from the email text. Check new rows and the Unsure list; this is a simple tracker, not an HR system.
- Leave entitlements, sick pay and record-keeping rules depend on where you employ people. This sheet only counts days: check your local rules, and keep health information out of it.
If something goes wrong
- Gmail or Google Drive not available: open Plugins and check both are under Installed and connected, then mention @Gmail or @Google Drive in your message. If a plugin shows Disabled by admin, ask your workspace admin.
- ChatGPT cannot find or edit the sheet: check that the name matches exactly and that the connected Google account can open and edit it in Google Sheets, or paste the sheet's link. In Enterprise and Edu, ask your admin to turn on Google Drive's Sheets actions. If Google blocks the authorization, a Google Workspace admin must approve it.
- No daily result: open Scheduled and check that the task is active, with its recent runs. A task pauses if it needs an approval, is inactive, or its chat is archived or deleted; review or resume it there. A message promising to run later is not enough.
- Each run forgets your sheet and rules: the task was created as a standalone task, which starts a new chat every time. Delete it in Scheduled and ask in this chat to create the daily task inside this chat.
- An edit stops or its result is unclear: check the Time off tab before asking again, so no row is added twice.
- An approval appears for sending, drafting, labeling, archiving or trashing email, or for moving, sharing or deleting a file: choose Deny.
- A Status cell changed: in Google Sheets, click Last edit at the top right, choose the earlier version and select Restore this version, then restate the rules to ChatGPT.
- ChatGPT follows an instruction found inside an email: stop it, restate that email text is data, and review the sheet changes.
Platform sources
- ChatGPT on the web (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- ChatGPT Work and Codex (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- ChatGPT Work access and usage (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Get started with ChatGPT Work (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Plugins (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Plugins in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Google Drive app and setup in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- OpenAI Google Drive plugin source (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Get your email to inbox zero (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Admin controls, security, and compliance for plugins and apps (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Managing app permissions in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Troubleshooting plugins and apps in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Scheduled tasks (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- Scheduled tasks in ChatGPT (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
- See what's changed in a file (opens in a new tab) · Checked 2026-10-27
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