Create your first automation

Automations live under Insights → Automations in the sidebar, under the subtitle Trigger emails, SMS, or webhooks when events happen. An empty workspace shows No automations configured yet. Create one to get started. This article walks one realistic rule the whole way through — a short note that goes out the moment a client books — and everything else you build follows that shape.

What an automation is made of

Three choices, and one of them is optional. The Trigger is the thing that sets it off, chosen from eight: Booking Confirmed, Booking Cancelled, Booking Rescheduled, Booking Completed, Package Purchased, Package Expiring, Package Exhausted, and No Show. The Action is what happens next, chosen from three: Send Email, Send SMS, or Send Webhook. The Event type filter (optional) narrows the rule to a single event type instead of every booking you take.

That is the whole model: one trigger, one action, sent immediately. To make two things happen at the same moment, build two automations on the same trigger and both will run. An automation's email or text always goes to the client on the booking, so for the messages that land in your inbox, use notification preferences instead.

Build a welcome email on every booking

1. Open Automations and click Create Automation

   Find Automations in the sidebar under Insights. The Create Automation button sits at the top right of the page, and clicking it opens a form headed New Automation directly beneath it.

2. Give it a name you will recognise

   Type something plain into Name — "Welcome note on booking" does the job. The placeholder reads e.g. Send confirmation SMS. This name is only ever shown to you on this page; no client sees it.

3. Choose Booking Confirmed as the trigger

   Open the Trigger dropdown. It already sits on Booking Confirmed, which fires the instant a client's booking is confirmed, so for this example you can leave it alone. The other seven options are listed above.

4. Leave the event type filter on All event types

   Event type filter (optional) starts on All event types, so the rule applies to every booking you take. Leave it there for your first automation; the section below covers narrowing it once you know the rule works.

5. Choose Send Email as the action

   Open the Action dropdown and pick Send Email. A block headed Email Configuration appears beneath it, with a Subject field, a Body field, and a line of available variables.

6. Write the subject and the body

   In Subject, type Before your {eventTitle} on {bookingDate}. In Body, type something like Hi {guestName} — looking forward to seeing you at {bookingTime}. Bring a notebook and a short list of what you would like to work on. and sign it off with your name. Anything in curly braces is swapped for the real detail when the email goes out; the table below says what each one becomes.

7. Leave Active ticked and click Create

   The Active checkbox at the foot of the form is already ticked — leave it that way so the rule starts working straight away. Press Create. The form closes and the automation appears in the list with a green Active badge and the line Booking Confirmed → Send Email beneath its name.

CalsoThe Automations page

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What the curly braces do

The four tokens in that example — {guestName}, {eventTitle}, {bookingDate} and {bookingTime} — are variables, and Calso swaps each one for the real detail as the email goes out. A grey line under the Body field lists all nine you can use. Type them exactly as they appear there, capital letters included; using variables in automation messages covers how each one is spelled and which triggers have a value to put in it.

The body sends as plain text with your line breaks kept, from the same address as your other client emails, which you can change by sending from your own domain.

Send SMS and Send Webhook

Choosing Send SMS swaps the email fields for SMS Configuration and a single Message body box, which takes the same variables. It sends to the number the client typed into Phone number when they booked, and only if they also ticked Send me SMS reminders beneath it. A line under the box lists the other two conditions: Enable SMS reminders for clients has to be on in Settings → Notifications, and your plan's monthly text allowance has to have room left. Miss any one of the three and the rule skips that client and carries on.

Choosing Send Webhook gives you Webhook Configuration: a URL for the tool you want to notify, Headers (JSON, optional) for anything that service needs to identify you, and Include booking data in payload, ticked by default. The address has to be reachable on the public internet, and if the headers box is not valid JSON, Calso blocks the save and tells you so.

Which trigger can actually complete which action is the thing to get right before you build a second rule — and it is also where Event type filter (optional) stops being optional detail and starts being useful. Automation triggers and actions is the full reference for both.

Disable, edit, or delete an automation

Every row carries four buttons. Disable flips a running rule to Inactive and becomes Enable to switch it back — that is how you pause something seasonal without losing the wording. Edit reopens the form, where the save button reads Update rather than Create. Delete asks Delete this automation? and warns that it cannot be undone, so reach for Disable unless you are certain.

Test is the fourth, and it is the one to use before you trust a new rule with a real client. Two things to know first: a rule has to be Active before Calso will test it, and a Send SMS rule asks for a mobile number to send the test to. Read test an automation before you rely on it next — it explains where the test message lands and how to read the result.