Personal assistant · Workflow template

Catch promises you make by email → Carly to-do

Every hour, scan the emails you sent and add anything you committed to (“I’ll send…”, “I’ll get back to you”) to your Carly to-do list. No connection to set up. Skips emails with no commitment.

Gmail

Outlook

Build this in Carly Or copy the prompt ↓

The workflow at a glance

Trigger

Every hour

cron

Tool

Search email

Foreach

For each item

How this workflow works, step by step

1 Trigger Every hour

Carly runs this workflow on a schedule — every hour. No clicks, no reminders. It just fires.
2 Tool Search email

Carly pulls live data from Gmail or Outlook — "Search email." Whatever's needed for the next step is fetched fresh, not cached.
3 Foreach For each item

Carly loops over a list — for each item — and runs the next steps once per item. Works for leads, attendees, rows, files, anything iterable.

When to use this template

You want this work to happen consistently without anyone remembering to do it.
You're already using Gmail and Outlook, and the manual version of this is eating real minutes a week.
You want a visible canvas you can audit and edit — not a black-box agent doing things you can't see.

When not to use it

This task only happens once or twice a month — the setup cost won't pay back.
The decision in the middle of the flow needs human judgment every single time, not just on edge cases.
Your stack doesn't include any of the apps above and you don't want to wire a generic HTTP step.

Build it in 10 minutes — copy this prompt

Paste this in an email to and Carly will build the workflow for you.

Hey Carly — set up the "Catch promises you make by email → Carly to-do" template for me and turn it on once it's working. If you need any details from me (like which sender, folder, or channel), just ask. Thanks!

Or open the dashboard →

Apps you'll connect

Carly authenticates these for you over OAuth when she sets up the workflow.

Gmail

Outlook

Questions teams ask before building this

How long does this workflow take to set up?

Most teams have "Catch promises you make by email → Carly to-do" running in under 10 minutes. Copy the prompt on this page into an email to carly@usecarly.com and Carly wires the workflow together for you, including authenticating Gmail.

Can I edit this template after Carly builds it?

Yes. Every workflow lives on the Carly canvas where you can rename steps, change conditions, swap LLM models, add filters, and re-route branches. Templates are starting points, not locked recipes.

What if I use a different tool than the ones in this template?

Carly connects to 200+ tools, plus a generic HTTP node for any API that doesn't have a native integration. Tell Carly your stack when you send the prompt and she'll pick the right connectors.

Does this run automatically once it's built?

Yes. The trigger at the start of the workflow fires automatically — on a schedule, on an inbound email, on a webhook, on a calendar event, whatever this template specifies. Carly handles the listening; you only step in when a step is gated on you.

Does this workflow cost anything to run?

This template has no AI step, so it runs free — no subscription required. Carly only charges when a workflow step calls an AI model, and this one doesn't. Build it, set it on whatever trigger you like, and it keeps running at no cost.