ChatGPT & Claude (MCP)
Get Texted the Second an Urgent Email Arrives, From ChatGPT
This walkthrough builds an urgent-email text alert by asking for it in one sentence, from whichever AI assistant you already have open. ChatGPT is the one in the clip, but Claude, Gemini, Grok or Carly herself all work, because Carly connects over MCP and exposes the same workflow tools to any of them. You need a Carly account, your inboxes added on the Integrations tab, and a phone number registered under SMS. Then the request: text me when an email arrives that genuinely needs me. The assistant creates the workflow through Carly and switches it on. There is a prebuilt template for it too, "Text me when an urgent email arrives", whose prompt you can paste straight into the chat. What gets built is an incoming-email trigger on Gmail or Outlook, an AI triage step that reads the message in context, a filter deciding whether it is worth interrupting you, and an SMS action to your registered number. It watches every connected inbox, not just the main one. And it keeps firing when no chat is open: MCP has no trigger or scheduler of its own, so the workflow runs on Carly's side, started by the email arriving. Once this one is on, the same sentence-long request builds the rest: newsletters archived on arrival, a morning digest into Slack or Teams, attachments filed into Drive, replies drafted in your own voice.
Step by step
- 01
Pick the assistant you already use
ChatGPT in this walkthrough, but Claude, Gemini, Grok or Carly herself all work. Carly connects over MCP and exposes the same workflow tools to whichever one you have open.
- 02
Have the three things ready
A Carly account at usecarly.com, your inboxes added on the Integrations tab, Gmail or Outlook, and a phone number registered under SMS. Texts only ever go to your own number.
- 03
Make the request in one sentence
Text me when an email arrives that genuinely needs me. The assistant creates the workflow through Carly and switches it on. Or paste the prompt from the prebuilt template, "Text me when an urgent email arrives".
- 04
See what gets built
An incoming-email trigger on Gmail or Outlook, an AI triage step that reads the message in context, a filter deciding whether it is worth interrupting you, and an SMS action to your registered number.
- 05
Let it watch every connected inbox
Not just the main one. Work, personal and any old address you added all run through the same triage, so one alert covers all of them.
- 06
Understand why it fires with no chat open
MCP has no trigger and no scheduler of its own, so an assistant only acts while you are talking to it. This workflow runs on Carly's side, started by the email arriving, which is why it reaches you away from your desk.
- 07
Build the next one the same way
Newsletters archived on arrival, a morning inbox digest into Slack or Teams, attachments filed into Drive, emails turned into tasks with the thread attached, replies drafted in your own voice. Each is one sentence in the same chat.
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