Use variables in automation messages

Variables live on Automations, under the Insights group in the sidebar. Open any automation with Edit, or start a new one with Create Automation, and they apply to two of the three actions: the Subject and Body fields under Email Configuration, and the Message body field under SMS Configuration. A grey line beginning "Variables:" sits under each of those blocks listing all nine. A Send Webhook automation has no message to write, so variables do not apply to it.

The nine variables

Type a variable straight into your sentence, braces and all. These are the only nine Calso recognises.

{meetingUrl} only has something to give you when the session actually has a video link — a Google Meet, Teams, or Zoom link, or a fixed link you set on the event type. For a session at a venue or over the phone it comes through empty, so it is worth writing a message that reads well either way, or keeping the link out of automations that cover in-person work. Where a session happens is set per event type, on Set where a session happens.

Put a variable into a message

1. Open the automation

   Go to Automations in the sidebar and press Edit on the automation you want to change, or Create Automation to start a new one. The message fields only appear once Action is set to Send Email or Send SMS.

2. Type the variable where the detail should appear

   Write your sentence normally and drop the variable in where the real value belongs — for example, "Hi {guestName}, your {eventTitle} on {bookingDate} at {bookingTime} is confirmed." Variables work in the Subject line as well as the Body, so you can put the client's name in the subject too.

3. Save and check it against the trigger

   Press Update (or Create on a new automation), then look back at the Trigger you chose and confirm every variable you used has a value on it — the table below says which do. The variable list under the message box is the same nine on every trigger, so it is not telling you which ones will fill in.

CalsoVariables typed into a message body

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How to type a variable

Calso matches the exact text between the braces, so a variable only fills in when it is spelled precisely as listed above.

The difference matters more than a typo usually does, because the two kinds of failure look nothing alike to the client.

What a client sees when a variable is empty

There are two outcomes, and which one you get depends on whether Calso recognises the variable at all.

Which variables have a value on each trigger

A variable can only fill in from what the trigger carries with it. The five booking triggers carry a client and a session; the three package triggers carry a package instead. Nothing carries both.

Two rows are worth reading twice. On Booking Completed and No Show, write the session name and your own name into the message as plain text — {eventTitle} and {hostName} have nothing to draw on there, so "Thanks for coming to your {eventTitle}" arrives as "Thanks for coming to your". And {packageTitle} and {creditsRemaining} are empty on every booking trigger, even when the client paid for that session with a package, so an automation cannot tell someone how many credits they have left after a booking.

The three package triggers have no client address or phone number attached to them at all, which means a Send Email or Send SMS automation on one of them has nobody to send to. Use Send Webhook for those, and see Automation triggers and actions for what each trigger passes on.

Dates, times, and how the message is formatted

{bookingDate} and {bookingTime} are written out in US English — "Monday, March 3, 2026" and "2:00 PM" — and in Coordinated Universal Time, rather than being converted to your workspace time zone or your client's. If your sessions run several hours away from UTC, say the time in your own words in the message and let Calso's built-in confirmation and reminder emails carry the exact hour, since those do convert to the client's time zone.

The body of an automation email is your plain text, not a designed Calso template — there is no logo, no branded header, and no session details block beyond what your variables put there. Line breaks are kept, so a message written as short paragraphs arrives as short paragraphs. Write it as a complete note on its own, because it will not be sitting inside the styled confirmation email your client also receives.

Once your message reads the way you want it, send yourself one before you switch it on for clients — Test an automation before you rely on it covers what the Test button does and what it cannot show you.