How to create your first AI agent without coding (2026)

1. Go to https://www.make.com and click Get started free.
2. Sign up with your Google account or email.
3. Select the Free plan when prompted (you can upgrade later).
4. Complete your profile and enter your dashboard.

The free plan gives you up to 1,000 operations per month, more than enough to learn and test. Confirm the current limit on the official page.

In Make.com, a scenario is your agent: a chain of connected steps that run automatically when something happens.

1. In your dashboard, click the blue Create a new scenario button (or the + symbol).
2. You’ll see a blank canvas with an empty circle in the center: that’s your starting point.
3. Click the empty circle to choose the first step of your agent.

The trigger is the event that puts your agent to work. Choose one based on what you want to automate:

Trigger	What it does
Gmail	Process incoming emails
Google Forms	Respond to forms automatically
Webhooks	Receive data from any app
Google Sheets	React when someone fills a sheet
Schedule	Run the agent at a set time

To follow this guide, use Webhooks: it’s the most universal and doesn’t require connecting any extra app.

1. Search for Webhooks in the module list.
2. Choose Custom webhook.
3. Click Add to create the webhook and copy the URL Make.com gives you. This URL is the “entry door” of your agent.

Now you tell the agent to use AI to process the information it receives.

1. Click the + symbol to the right of the webhook module.
2. Search for OpenAI (for ChatGPT) in the module list.
3. Choose Create a Chat Completion.
4. Click Add to connect your OpenAI account with your API key (find it on platform.openai.com, under API Keys). Confirm you have available credits in your OpenAI account.
5. In the Content field, write the prompt you want the agent to use. For example:

Summarize the following text in three key points:
{{1.body}}

The {{1.body}} tells Make.com to insert the text that arrived via the webhook.

To use Anthropic’s Claude instead of OpenAI, search for the HTTP module and configure a request to the Anthropic API (console.anthropic.com).

Now you tell the agent what to do with the AI result:

1. Click + after the OpenAI module.
2. Choose the app where you want to save or send the result:

Action	Module
Save to Google Sheets	Google Sheets → Add a Row
Send by email	Gmail → Send an Email
Notify in Slack	Slack → Create a Message
Save in Notion	Notion → Create a Page

3. Connect the app you chose with your account (Make.com guides you step by step with OAuth).
4. In the content field, use the OpenAI response variable that Make.com shows when you hover over the previous step’s results.

1. Click Run once (the play button in the bottom left corner) for a manual test.
2. Send test data to your webhook: open Hoppscotch (hoppscotch.io, free) or any API client and make a POST request to the webhook URL with sample text in the body.
3. Verify that the agent took the text, processed it with AI, and correctly saved or sent it.
4. When everything works, click the OFF toggle in the bottom left corner to switch it to ON: your agent is now active and runs on its own.

If something fails, Make.com shows you the exact step where the error occurred with a red message. The most common causes are an incorrect API key or missing credits in OpenAI.

Make.com has hundreds of pre-built scenario templates with AI already configured. To use them:

1. From your dashboard, go to Templates in the left menu.
2. Search for “AI”, “ChatGPT”, or “OpenAI” to see available templates.
3. Click Use template on the one you want.
4. Just connect your accounts (Gmail, OpenAI, etc.) and activate it.

Some useful templates to start with:

• Summarize Gmail emails with ChatGPT
• Classify Slack messages with AI
• Answer Google Forms with AI

Make.com is ideal for starting out, but there are other tools depending on your needs:

• n8n (n8n.io): similar visual interface but open-source. The free version is installed on your computer or your own server. A good option if you want more control and don’t mind the initial setup. The cloud plan starts from $35/mo (confirm on the official page).
• Flowise (flowiseai.com): specialized in LLM-based agents with memory, tools, and more sophisticated reasoning. Also open-source and free to self-host.

If you want to build full applications with AI (not just automations), go to the tutorial How to create an application with artificial intelligence. And if you want to automate marketing reports, see How to automate marketing reports with ChatGPT.

Problem	Fix
The webhook doesn’t receive data	Check that the webhook URL is correct and your request reaches it
”Invalid API key” error	Check your API key on platform.openai.com; copy it again without spaces
No credits in OpenAI	Add a payment method or use free trial credits
The scenario doesn’t activate on its own	Make sure the toggle is ON (not just “Run once”)
The AI responds in English	Adjust the prompt to request the response in Spanish