WhatsApp Appointment Booking: Let AI Book and Remind
Customers would rather message “anything Thursday?” than click through a booking page. If you’re the one answering, though, every booking is a back-and-forth you have to fit around the work.
The quick answer: Carly books appointments for you on WhatsApp. A customer asks, Carly checks your real Google or Outlook calendar, offers open times, books the one they pick and sends a reminder before they’re due. It reschedules, confirms and follows up the same way, around the clock, and you can run it from ChatGPT or Claude. Set it up on carlyassistant.com or by pasting one prompt into your AI.
How booking on WhatsApp works with Carly
- A customer messages your business on WhatsApp: “Can I get a haircut Saturday morning?”
- Carly checks the real calendar, for the right person, service and length, and offers two or three open times.
- The customer picks one. Carly books it on your calendar, round robin across your team if you like, and confirms in the chat.
- The day before, Carly sends a WhatsApp reminder with the time and address. A “can’t make it” gets rescheduled right there.
- Everything is logged. The booking, the chat and the customer land on one record in your inbox and CRM.
It answers from your rules: your services, your prices, your cancellation policy, your hours. Nothing is improvised.
What else you can automate
- Confirmations. “Reply YES to confirm” the morning of, with a list of who hasn’t confirmed sent to you.
- No-show follow-ups. A missed appointment gets a WhatsApp message offering the next open slot.
- Waitlists. When someone cancels, Carly offers the slot to the next person.
- New leads. Someone fills out your website form and gets a WhatsApp message with open times within a minute.
- Photos before the visit. A customer sends a photo of the problem, and it’s on the booking for your team.
- Rebooking. “It’s been six weeks since your last appointment. Want the same time next week?”
All of it runs as free Zapier-style workflows, and Carly connects to thousands of apps, so bookings can sync to the tools you already use.
Run it from ChatGPT or Claude
With the Carly connector in Claude or the Carly plugin in ChatGPT:
- “WhatsApp everyone booked tomorrow a reminder with their time.”
- “Who hasn’t confirmed for Saturday?”
- “Move Emily to 3pm and let her know on WhatsApp.”
- “Offer Josh’s cancelled slot to the waitlist.”
See can ChatGPT send WhatsApp messages.
Set it up
Carly business setup prompt
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any AI. It sets everything up, WhatsApp included.
Help me connect Carly Teams so I can work with my organization's business texts, phone calls, voicemail and voice/text agents from this chat. I'll add it to you myself: tell me exactly what to click for the app you are, one step at a time, and wait for me to confirm before moving on. If a step doesn't match what I see, ask me what's on my screen. If you can do the setup yourself (Claude Code, Codex, Muse, Grok Bot), go ahead, and ask me for any key in your secure credential prompt, never in the chat. Don't tell me it's connected until list_phone_lines works, and if I have several teams, ask which to use. Before sending a text or making a call, confirm the team, recipient and message or task with me. The steps are below.
# Connect Carly Teams to an AI app
> Carly Teams works a team's business phone lines through the team's AI agents: business texts, phone calls, voicemail, the voice and text agents, and the team's CRM.
MCP server: https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp (streamable HTTP, OAuth)
## Setup
Carly Teams isn't in any plugin or connector directory yet, so it's added as a custom connection by URL.
1. Add Carly Teams:
- ChatGPT: open https://chatgpt.com/plugins, click Add, and choose Create MCP App (not Create plugin or Upload plugin archive). If Create MCP App isn't on the menu, turn on Developer mode first in Settings > Security and login. Name it "Carly Teams" with the description "Work with my team's business texts, calls, voicemail and voice/text agents," paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp as the server URL, choose OAuth, create it, and sign in. Then in the message box open the + menu, choose Developer mode, and pick Carly Teams. No plugin needs to be built, packaged or uploaded.
- Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly-teams https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then /mcp, pick carly-teams, and authenticate.
- Codex: `codex mcp add carly-teams --url https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then `codex mcp login carly-teams`.
- Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly-teams": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly-teams from Customize.
- Muse: a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp with a Carly API key as its bearer token. The key comes from carlyassistant.com/integrations (Advanced > API Keys > Create a new key, with Owner set to the team and all scopes selected) and goes in Muse's connector settings, not in a chat message.
- Grok: grok.com/connectors > New Connector > Custom, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Grok Bot: a custom remote MCP server named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. Approve it and sign in.
- Perplexity: Plugins in the sidebar (or Customize > Connectors), then Add custom > Connector > Add MCP connector. Choose Remote, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, pick OAuth, check the box and click Add, then click the Carly Teams card to sign in.
- Anything else: a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. It signs in with OAuth.
Sign in with the Carly account that belongs to the organization.
2. Once it's added, the Carly Teams tools show up in the chat, including list_phone_lines. If they don't, turn Carly Teams on for the chat or start a new chat.
3. To check it worked, call list_phone_lines: it returns the teams and phone lines the account can reach. A team with no phone line yet can get one with find_numbers (optionally by area code) and get_number, which may return a checkout link to finish.
4. Something to try first: "Review our missed calls and voicemail and help me reply to customers." Carly Teams also reads and answers business texts, has the team's agent make calls, and edits the voice and text agents. Texts and calls go out at once from the agent's number and can't be taken back. Team permissions apply.
## Email, calendars and workflows
Email, calendars, files, booking pages and workflows are the regular Carly connector, added separately. It's listed in ChatGPT's plugin directory (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a67a26316b88191860222f918d4ec54) and Claude's connector directory (https://claude.ai/directory/carly), and connects anywhere else at https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. Its setup is https://carlyassistant.com/mcp.txt.Turn WhatsApp on for your Carly number, or connect the WhatsApp Business app number you already use. WhatsApp doesn’t need the carrier registration US business texting does, so you can take bookings the same day. Prefer texts? Carly books the same way over SMS: see SMS appointment booking.
More: how to run your business on WhatsApp and how to automate appointment reminders.
FAQ
Can customers book appointments on WhatsApp?
Yes. With Carly, customers message your business on WhatsApp, pick from open times on your real calendar and get booked in the chat.
Can WhatsApp send appointment reminders automatically?
Yes. Carly sends a WhatsApp reminder before each appointment and handles the replies, including reschedules.
Does it work with Google Calendar and Outlook?
Yes. Carly books on your team’s Google and Outlook calendars.
Do I need the WhatsApp Business API?
No. Carly turns WhatsApp on for your number, or connects the WhatsApp Business app you already have.
Ready to automate your busywork?
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See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
