Google Review Auto-Replies with n8n + Claude (free workflow)

What this workflow does

Answer every Google review without writing a single reply yourself. This workflow checks your Google Business Profile every hour, drafts a short, personal reply with Claude, posts replies to happy reviews right away and emails you the reply to any unhappy review so you can approve it before it goes live. Every review, reply and result is logged in Google Sheets.

1. When a New Google Review Arrives polls your Google Business Profile location every hour.
2. Workflow Configuration holds your business name, your email, the star threshold for auto-posting, brand voice, contact line, sign-off and two standard replies.
3. Prepare Review Details turns the review into simple fields (name, stars as a number, text) and Skip Reviews Already Answered drops reviews that already have an owner reply.
4. Write Reply with Claude writes a 30 to 80 word reply in the reviewer's language that mentions what they said. If Claude fails, Use Standard Reply picks your standard thank-you or apology. Prepare Final Reply gathers everything in one place.
5. Is It a Happy Review? checks the stars. 4 and 5 stars (configurable) go to Post Reply on Google.
6. 1 to 3 stars go to Ask Owner to Approve Reply, a Gmail message with the review and the suggested reply and two buttons. If you approve, Post Approved Reply on Google publishes it. If you decline or don't answer within 48 hours, nothing is posted.
7. Log Review to Google Sheets adds one row per review with the reply, who wrote it, the approval type and the status (Reply posted, Declined by owner, No answer from owner or Posting failed).

Who it is for

Restaurants, cafes, clinics, salons, gyms, hotels, coaching institutes, shops and agencies that manage one or more Google Business Profile locations.

What you need

• n8n (Cloud or self-hosted)
• A verified Google Business Profile location and Google Business Profile API access
• An Anthropic API key (or swap in OpenAI or Gemini)
• A Google account with Gmail and Google Sheets

The workflow, step by step

Step 1 · Get new reviews

Fetches new reviews and skips ones already answered.

• When a New Google Review Arrives (Google Business Profile Trigger)
• Workflow Configuration (Set)
• Prepare Review Details (Set)
• Skip Reviews Already Answered (Filter)

Step 2 · Write the reply with Claude

A standard text is used if AI fails.

• Claude Chat Model (Claude model)
• Write Reply with Claude (Basic LLM Chain)
• Use Standard Reply (Set)
• Prepare Final Reply (Set)

Step 3 · Post or ask for approval

Happy reviews are answered now. Lower ratings wait for your OK.

• Is It a Happy Review? (IF)
• Post Reply on Google (Google Business Profile)
• Ask Owner to Approve Reply (Gmail)
• Did Owner Approve? (IF)
• Post Approved Reply on Google (Google Business Profile)

Step 4 · Log every review

One row per review with the reply and status.

• Log Review to Google Sheets (Google Sheets)

Setup

1. Download the JSON below and import it in n8n (Create workflow > ⋯ > Import from File).
2. Create a Google Sheet with the header row Review Date, Reviewer, Stars, Review, Reply, Written By, Approval, Status, Review ID and select it in Log Review to Google Sheets.
3. Add Google Business Profile OAuth2, Anthropic, Gmail OAuth2 and Google Sheets OAuth2 credentials. Google Business Profile API access must be enabled for your Google Cloud project.
4. Pick your account and location in When a New Google Review Arrives, Post Reply on Google and Post Approved Reply on Google.
5. Open Workflow Configuration and set your business name, your email, contact line, sign-off and standard replies.
6. Activate the workflow.
7. Test it: set autoReplyMinStars to 6 so nothing posts by itself, then run the workflow once. Expect an approval email for your newest unanswered review. Approve it and the reply appears on Google, with a row in the sheet. Then set it back to 4.

How to customise

• The sample prompt and replies are a starting point, not a fixed format. Rewrite them for your business.
• Write Reply with Claude: reply rules and length
• brandVoice, signOff, standardThankYou, standardApology: voice and fallbacks
• Ask Owner to Approve Reply: approval email
• autoReplyMinStars: auto-post threshold; trigger poll time: how often it checks
• Auto-post threshold: set autoReplyMinStars to 5 to approve every 4-star reply too, or to 6 to approve all replies by hand.
• Tone and rules: change brandVoice, or edit the prompt in Write Reply with Claude (for example "mention our weekend brunch").
• Check frequency: change the poll time in the trigger.
• Alerts on another channel: swap Ask Owner to Approve Reply for the Slack or Telegram "send and wait" operation.
• Edit before posting: to change the words yourself, decline in Gmail and reply in Google, or switch the Gmail node to a custom form response.

Why Claude

This workflow uses Claude (Anthropic Chat Model, Claude Sonnet 5). I compared it with OpenAI and Gemini for this exact job: - Public, brand-sensitive writing. Every reply is visible to future customers. Claude is strong at warm, natural writing that sounds like a person, and at calm, non-defensive apologies for 1 to 3 star reviews. - Follows the safety rules. The prompt forbids promising refunds or discounts, admitting legal fault, sharing private details and asking people to change their rating. Claude follows this kind of "never do X" list very reliably. - Replies in the reviewer's language. Indian reviews are often in Hindi or Hinglish; Claude answers in the same style. - Low volume, so cost is small. A business gets a few reviews a day, so the quality gain is worth more than the per-call price difference.

Gemini (cheapest) or OpenAI GPT models drop in by replacing the Claude Chat Model sub-node, with no other change.

Guardrails

• Posts publicly: Replies appear on Google right away. Test with autoReplyMinStars set to 6 first.

Troubleshooting

• Credential errors after import: imported workflows never include credentials. Open each node marked red and select your own account.
• Nothing runs on its own: test runs only fire once. Activate the workflow so the trigger keeps running.
• Odd times or dates: set your timezone in Workflow Settings.