An n8n flow that intercepts every inbound NDA arriving via email, classifies the counterparty risk tier, runs the document through the NDA playbook auto-redline check, and either auto-approves the contract or routes to the right reviewer in Slack with the redlined version attached. Designed for in-house teams handling 50+ NDAs per month where intake-time triage is the cycle-time bottleneck.
What you’ll need
- n8n self-hosted or cloud account
- Email account dedicated to NDA intake (e.g.,
[email protected]) - Ironclad (or another CLM) with API access for storing the resulting redlined version
- Claude API key
- Slack workspace for reviewer notifications
Setup
- Configure intake email. Create a dedicated inbox; route all NDA requests through it. Forward business unit aliases (e.g.,
[email protected]) to it. - Build the n8n flow. Six nodes:
- Email trigger — fires on new message in the intake inbox with
.docxor.pdfattachment - Counterparty extraction — Claude API call to identify the counterparty from the email body and contract content
- Risk tier lookup — Postgres or Airtable query against your counterparty database for known-risk-tier classifications
- NDA playbook check — Claude API call running the NDA playbook check on the contract; returns
auto-approve/lawyer-review/escalate - Routing decision — branches to auto-approve flow, lawyer-review flow, or escalate flow
- Slack notification + Ironclad upload — final actions per branch
- Email trigger — fires on new message in the intake inbox with
- Deploy and test. Send 5-10 known-pattern NDAs through the inbox; verify routing decisions match expectations.
- Tune the playbook check. False positives (auto-approving contracts that should escalate) are bigger problems than false negatives. Tune the Claude prompt’s threshold conservatively for first 30 days.
How the routing works
| Risk tier + playbook result | Action |
|---|---|
| Known low-risk counterparty + all clauses acceptable | Auto-approve, store in Ironclad, notify requester |
| Unknown / mid-risk counterparty + all clauses acceptable | Send to assigned reviewer with 24-hour SLA tag |
| Any tier + fallback clauses | Send to assigned reviewer with redlined version attached |
| Any tier + walk-away clauses | Escalate to GC with full redline + summary |
Output
For each NDA processed:
- Slack notification to the assigned reviewer with: original document, redlined version, deviation summary, suggested response language
- Ironclad record auto-created with extracted counterparty, contract type, status, and assigned reviewer
- Audit log entry with timestamp, decisions made, AI confidence scores, and human reviewer assignment
Where it fits
Use this flow at the top of your contract review SOP — it’s specifically the Tier 1-2 triage layer. Strategic NDAs (M&A early-stage, government partnerships) should still come through direct GC engagement, not intake automation.
Watch-outs
- Counterparty database matters. A working flow needs an up-to-date counterparty database with risk classifications. Without it, every NDA defaults to “unknown” and the flow’s value drops.
- AI confidence threshold tuning. Auto-approve threshold should be conservative — false auto-approvals are worse than false escalations. Audit weekly for first 60 days.
- Email channel discipline. If business teams keep sending NDAs to attorneys directly instead of intake@, the flow doesn’t help. Drive channel discipline first.
- Privileged content handling. If the NDA discusses pending litigation or sensitive matters, AI policy authorization for the Claude calls must be confirmed.