Recipe No. 02 · Scheduling
Appointment booking reminders
Send SMS or email reminders 24 hours before each appointment from your calendar.
- Plan needed
- n8n: free to self-host (you pay hosting) or n8n Cloud (paid). Check your plan.
- Est. SMS cost
- Via Twilio: ~$0.0083 per US text segment plus carrier fees, and $1.15/mo per local number (Oct 2026). Other SMS apps price differently, so check your plan.
- TriggerCreate an n8n workflow with a Schedule…
- Step 2Add Google Calendar 'Get Many Events' with…
- Step 3Add a Code or Set node to extract the…
- Step 4Add Twilio 'Send SMS'
- Step 5Clinics
- Step 6Activate the workflow and check the…
Ingredients
- Google Calendar (or Calendly)
- n8n (cloud or self-hosted)
- Twilio account or SMTP email
Editor-reviewedLast checked 2026-10-16v1.0.0 · Free
Steps reviewed against current tool UIs by the editor; not yet run end-to-end in a live account. Time saved is an estimate; results vary. Costs from Axis Consulting and Twilio pricing; check current pricing.
SMS rules: only text people who gave you their number for this purpose, identify your business, and include “Reply STOP to opt out”. US business texting needs A2P 10DLC registration.
Method
- Create an n8n workflow with a Schedule Trigger every hour.
- Add Google Calendar 'Get Many Events' with Time Min = now + 23h and Time Max = now + 24h.
- Add a Code or Set node to extract the patient's phone/email from the event description or attendee list.
- Add Twilio 'Send SMS' (or Send Email): 'Reminder: your appointment at {clinic} is tomorrow at {time}. Reply C to confirm or call us to reschedule.'
- Clinics: keep reminder content minimal (no diagnosis or treatment details) to respect patient privacy rules such as HIPAA/GDPR.
- Activate the workflow and check the Executions log for the first few days.