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Creating Your First AI Employee with Kafka

This quickstart will walk you through creating your first AI Employee using Kafka’s core features. By the end, you’ll understand how to set up Workflows, Playbooks, Integrations, and Tools to power your employee.

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Step 1: Choose Your AI Employee Template

AI Executive Assistant

An AI Employee that manages your inbox, calendar, and communications.You’ll learn to build:
  • Daily email summary with phone call workflow (9am trigger)
  • Professional email formatting playbook
  • Gmail and Google Calendar integrations
An AI Employee that finds candidates and tracks your recruiting pipeline.You’ll learn to build:
  • Daily candidate outreach workflow (10am trigger)
  • Recruiting pipeline update playbook
  • Apollo and Greenhouse integrations
An AI Employee that syncs tasks and coordinates team work.You’ll learn to build:
  • Daily Slack-to-task sync workflow (5pm trigger)
  • Add task to ClickUp playbook
  • Slack and ClickUp/Linear integrations
Expand one of these templates to see role-specific examples throughout this guide.

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Step 2: Open Your Employee Home Page

Navigate to your Kafka Employee Home Page. This is your control center for building, customizing, and managing your AI Employee. Kafka Employee Home Page

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Step 3: Define Kafka’s Role with Global Instructions

The Global Instructions are where you set your AI Employee’s personality, boundaries, and always-on knowledge. Go to: My Kafka → Global Instructions Kafka Global Instructions Template Fill out the pre-made template to define your employee’s mission, style, and constraints. Examples:
  • Executive Assistant
  • Recruiter
  • Project Manager
You are my AI Executive Assistant. 

Always respond politely and concisely. 

Prioritize my calendar, task deadlines, and external communications. 

Defer to human input for financial approvals.
This ensures your Kafka Employee consistently operates with the right framing.

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Step 4: Add Integrations

  1. Go to: My Kafka → Integrations
  2. Connect Google Calendar
Kafka Integrations Panel Connect the integrations your AI Employee needs:
  • Executive Assistant
  • Recruiter
  • Project Manager
  • Gmail — for email scanning and management
  • Google Calendar — for scheduling and meeting coordination
Use @[integration] to reference integrations from within workflows and playbooks.

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Step 5: Deploy to Slack (Optional)

Connect Kafka to Slack so your team can interact with your AI Employee directly in your workspace.
Note: Deploying to Slack requires upgrading to the $25 Starter plan.
Go to: My Kafka → Connection Kafka Slack Connection Add Slack as a connection method to enable:
  • Direct messaging with Kafka in Slack
  • Channel mentions and interactions
  • Real-time notifications and updates
  • Team collaboration with your AI Employee
Messaging Kafka in Slack

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Step 6: Build Workflows

Workflows are automated sequences that Kafka runs autonomously when triggered. Creating a workflow in Kafka Workflow triggers:
  • Time-based — daily at 9am, weekly on Monday, hourly between 9am-5pm
  • App-based — new email in Gmail, new candidate in Greenhouse, Slack keyword mention
  • Webhook-based — external API calls, form submissions, payment events
Once triggered, Kafka executes your instructions automatically without manual intervention.
  • Executive Assistant
  • Recruiter
  • Project Manager
name: Daily Inbox Call
trigger: daily at 9 am

Content:
1. Scan through my email using @gmail for all emails in the last day
2. Summarize everything and the most important ones to call
3. Call me at [number], informing me of everything.

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Step 7: Create Playbooks

Playbooks are structured guides for repeated, semi-structured tasks — your AI Employee’s SOPs (standard operating procedures). Unlike Workflows which run fully autonomously, Playbooks are designed for tasks that need human collaboration or oversight. Using a playbook in Kafka Examples:
  • Executive Assistant
  • Recruiter
  • Project Manager
name: Structure Professional Email
activation_criteria: When drafting an external email to executives or clients

Format:
1. Subject: Clear and action-oriented (5-8 words max)
2. Greeting: Use "Hi [First Name]," for warm contacts, "Hello [Full Name]," for formal
3. Opening: State purpose in first sentence
4. Body: Use bullet points for multiple items, keep paragraphs to 2-3 sentences
5. Closing: Include clear next steps or call-to-action
6. Signature: Use professional signature with title and contact info

Tools: @gmail, @google-calendar

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Step 8: Test and Refine

Your AI Employee improves through iteration. Start using it in real scenarios, observe performance, and refine:
  1. Deploy in real use — Use Kafka for actual work, not just testing
  2. Observe performance — Notice where Kafka excels or struggles
  3. Refine instructions — Adjust Global Instructions, Workflows, and Playbooks
  4. Iterate weekly — Small, frequent improvements compound quickly
The best AI Employees are refined over weeks of real-world use. Don’t expect perfection immediately.

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Get Support

We’re constantly adding new features and want to personally help our first customers.
  • Email: [email protected] for personal support
  • In-app: Use the support widget in the app for quick help
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