Process Invoices Automatically From Your Inbox

AI extracts invoice data from emails, validates against purchase orders, and sends confirmation or discrepancy notifications — no manual data entry required.


Why this matters

Finance teams manually process hundreds of invoice emails per month — opening attachments, keying data into spreadsheets, cross-referencing purchase orders, and chasing discrepancies. This manual cycle causes payment delays, duplicate payments, and strained vendor relationships. The busier the month-end close, the more errors creep in.


How MultiMail solves this

MultiMail's AI agent monitors your AP mailbox, extracts structured data from invoice emails and attachments, validates line items against your purchase orders, and sends automated confirmations or discrepancy notifications. With monitored oversight, the agent processes invoices autonomously while your finance team maintains full visibility.

1

Monitor the AP Mailbox

Your AI agent watches the accounts payable mailbox for new invoice emails. MultiMail captures the email body and any attachments (PDF invoices, CSV line items) for processing.

2

Extract Invoice Data

The agent parses the email content and downloads attachments via MultiMail's attachment API. It extracts key fields: vendor name, invoice number, line items, amounts, due date, and payment terms.

3

Validate Against Purchase Orders

Extracted data is cross-referenced against your PO database. The agent checks for matching PO numbers, correct quantities, price discrepancies, and duplicate invoice numbers.

4

Send Confirmation or Flag Discrepancies

For matching invoices, the agent sends a confirmation to the vendor and routes the invoice to your payment queue. For discrepancies, it sends a detailed notification to the vendor and alerts your AP team.

5

Log and Audit

Every processed invoice is tagged with its status (confirmed, discrepancy, duplicate, missing-po) and logged for audit purposes. Your team can review the full processing history at any time.


Implementation

Monitor AP Mailbox and Extract Data
python
import requests

API = "https://api.multimail.dev/v1"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer mm_live_xxx"}

"cm"># Check AP mailbox for new invoices
inbox = requests.get(
    f"{API}/mailboxes/{AP_MAILBOX_ID}/inbox",
    headers=HEADERS,
    params={"status": "unread", "limit": 30}
).json()

for msg in inbox["emails"]:
    email = requests.get(
        f"{API}/emails/{msg[&"cm">#039;id']}", headers=HEADERS
    ).json()

    # Download PDF attachment if present
    for attachment in email.get("attachments", []):
        if attachment["content_type"] == "application/pdf":
            pdf_data = requests.get(
                f"{API}/emails/{email[&"cm">#039;id']}/attachments/{attachment['id']}",
                headers=HEADERS
            ).content

    # Extract invoice fields using your AI model
    invoice = extract_invoice_data(email["text_body"], pdf_data)
    # Returns: {vendor, invoice_number, po_number, line_items, total, due_date}
    print(f"Invoice {invoice[&"cm">#039;invoice_number']} from {invoice['vendor']}: ${invoice['total']}")

Poll the accounts payable mailbox for new invoice emails and extract structured data from the content.

Validate and Send Notifications
python
import requests

API = "https://api.multimail.dev/v1"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer mm_live_xxx"}

def process_invoice(email: dict, invoice: dict):
    po = lookup_purchase_order(invoice["po_number"])

    if not po:
        "cm"># No matching PO — flag and notify
        requests.post(f"{API}/reply", headers=HEADERS, json={
            "in_reply_to": email["id"],
            "text_body": (
                f"Thank you for invoice {invoice[&"cm">#039;invoice_number']}. "
                f"We could not locate a matching purchase order for "
                f"PO"cm"># {invoice['po_number']}. Please verify the PO "
                f"number and resubmit or contact our AP team."
            )
        })
        tag_invoice(email["id"], "missing-po")
        return

    discrepancies = validate_line_items(invoice["line_items"], po)

    if discrepancies:
        # Send discrepancy details to vendor
        detail = "\n".join(
            f"- {d[&"cm">#039;item']}: invoiced ${d['invoiced']} vs PO ${d['expected']}"
            for d in discrepancies
        )
        requests.post(f"{API}/reply", headers=HEADERS, json={
            "in_reply_to": email["id"],
            "text_body": (
                f"Invoice {invoice[&"cm">#039;invoice_number']} has discrepancies "
                f"against PO"cm"># {invoice['po_number']}:\n\n{detail}\n\n"
                f"Please review and resubmit a corrected invoice."
            )
        })
        tag_invoice(email["id"], "discrepancy")
    else:
        # Confirmed — send receipt and queue for payment
        requests.post(f"{API}/reply", headers=HEADERS, json={
            "in_reply_to": email["id"],
            "text_body": (
                f"Invoice {invoice[&"cm">#039;invoice_number']} for ${invoice['total']} "
                f"has been validated against PO"cm"># {invoice['po_number']} and "
                f"queued for payment by {invoice[&"cm">#039;due_date']}."
            )
        })
        tag_invoice(email["id"], "confirmed")

Cross-reference extracted invoice data against purchase orders and send confirmation or discrepancy emails.

MCP-Based Invoice Agent
typescript
"cm">// Invoice processing agent using MultiMail MCP tools

async function processInvoices() {
  const inbox = await mcp.check_inbox({
    mailbox_id: "ap-mailbox-id",
    status: "unread"
  });

  for (const msg of inbox.emails) {
    const email = await mcp.read_email({ email_id: msg.id });

    "cm">// Download and parse invoice attachment
    const attachment = email.attachments?.find(
      (a: any) => a.content_type === "application/pdf"
    );
    let invoiceData;
    if (attachment) {
      const pdf = await mcp.download_attachment({
        email_id: email.id,
        attachment_id: attachment.id
      });
      invoiceData = await extractInvoiceFromPDF(pdf);
    } else {
      invoiceData = await extractInvoiceFromText(email.text_body);
    }

    "cm">// Validate against PO database
    const validation = await validateAgainstPO(invoiceData);

    "cm">// Tag with processing status
    await mcp.tag_email({
      email_id: email.id,
      tags: ["invoice", `status:${validation.status}`, `vendor:${invoiceData.vendor}`]
    });

    "cm">// Send appropriate response (auto-sends under monitored mode)
    await mcp.reply_email({
      email_id: email.id,
      text_body: validation.status === "confirmed"
        ? `Invoice ${invoiceData.invoice_number} validated and queued for payment.`
        : `Invoice ${invoiceData.invoice_number} requires review: ${validation.reason}`
    });
  }
}

Process invoices using MultiMail MCP tools for a cleaner integration in AI agent frameworks.


What you get

Eliminate Manual Data Entry

AI extracts vendor, amounts, line items, and PO numbers automatically from emails and PDF attachments. No more copying data from invoices into spreadsheets.

Catch Discrepancies Before Payment

Automated validation against purchase orders catches price mismatches, quantity errors, and duplicate invoices before they enter your payment queue.

Faster Payment Cycles

Validated invoices are confirmed and queued for payment within minutes of arrival. Vendors get faster confirmations, and your team avoids late payment penalties.

Vendor Communication on Autopilot

Confirmation emails, discrepancy notifications, and missing PO alerts are sent automatically. Vendors stay informed without your AP team composing individual emails.

Complete Audit Trail

Every invoice is tagged with its processing status, validation results, and communication history. Month-end reconciliation and audits become straightforward.


Recommended oversight mode

Recommended
monitored
Invoice confirmation and discrepancy notifications are factual, templated communications. Monitored mode allows the agent to process and respond at speed while your finance team retains full visibility to audit decisions and catch any extraction errors.

Common questions

Can the AI handle different invoice formats?
MultiMail provides the email and attachment data. Your AI model handles the extraction logic. Modern vision and language models can parse most invoice formats — structured PDFs, scanned images, and plain-text email invoices. You can fine-tune extraction for your specific vendors over time.
What about invoices sent as email body text instead of attachments?
The agent processes both. MultiMail provides the full email body text alongside any attachments. Your extraction logic can pull invoice data from either source. Many smaller vendors send invoice details directly in the email body, and this workflow handles that seamlessly.
How do I connect this to my ERP or accounting system?
MultiMail handles the email layer. Your agent code bridges MultiMail's API to your ERP. When an invoice is validated, your agent pushes the structured data to NetSuite, QuickBooks, SAP, or whatever system you use via its API. The MultiMail side is simple — the integration complexity lives in your ERP's API.
What happens with duplicate invoices?
Your agent maintains a record of processed invoice numbers. When a duplicate is detected, it tags the email as 'duplicate' and sends a notification to the vendor referencing the original invoice and its processing date. This prevents double payments without manual intervention.
Is this secure enough for financial data?
MultiMail encrypts all email data at rest and in transit. With monitored oversight, your finance team has real-time visibility into every action the agent takes. You can also restrict the agent's mailbox access to the AP inbox only, ensuring it never touches other email accounts.

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