On a schedule

Get an inbox summary twice a day

Twice a day you get one email listing what came in and what you need to act on.

Runs: On a schedule
Apps: Gmail
AI: Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access: read (+ gmail.send)

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: at 7am and 9pm, summarise the emails I received since the last summary, with key points and action items, and email it to me.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

Add to ChatGPT Add to Claude

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

Checking email several times a day to avoid missing something is itself the problem. Each peek becomes ten minutes of reading, the day fragments into small gaps, and the genuinely important messages are still hard to find because they sit in the same list as notifications. People who do try to batch their email often worry that something urgent is hiding in the pile.

Twice a day on a schedule such as 8am and 5pm, the messages that arrived since the last summary are listed and their bodies read. ClickRuntime's built-in AI writes a summary of what came in and a list of what you need to act on, and sends it to you, so you can check email on your own terms.

Managers, executives and anyone who wants to check email less often without missing anything important will use it.

What you get out of it

You can check email less often
Knowing a trusted summary arrives twice a day lets you leave the inbox closed in between, which returns hours of focused work every week. Fewer interruptions also means better quality work on everything else.
Action items are pulled out for you
The summary lists what needs a response or a decision, so the important two or three messages are not buried among the rest of the day's arrivals. Priorities become obvious rather than guessed at from subject lines.
Mornings start with context
An 8am summary of overnight mail gives you the shape of the day before you open anything, which makes planning meetings and priorities much easier. Knowing what is coming helps you set a sensible order for the day ahead.
Evenings end with a clear close
The late-afternoon summary shows what remains open, so you can reply or defer deliberately and stop thinking about the inbox after hours. Leaving work behind at a set time is much easier with a clear list of what is open.
Less anxiety about missed mail
Having a dependable safety net reduces the compulsive checking that comes from fearing something critical is sitting unread in the list. Peace of mind is a real productivity gain that people underestimate.

How it works

What happens, step by step

Twice a day, for example at 7am and 9pm, ClickRuntime collects the emails that reached your inbox since the last summary.
It reads the sender, subject and opening of each one.
AI writes a short summary of the key points and a list of things you need to do.
The summary is emailed to you, with the number of emails covered in the subject.

Before it runs live

Connect Google through your own Google app (a one-time, 10-minute setup), so it works with your own Gmail

What you get

RunsOn a schedule

Get an inbox summary twice a daytoday, 9:00Succeeded

Email · Inbox summary: 23 emailsKey points: Acme approved the Q4 quote; Northwind moved the kickoff to Monday. Action items: send the signed contract to Acme; confirm Monday 10am with Northwind.

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other Gmail steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

ai_inbox_summary_morning_and_evening.pyexample

from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
import time
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, state, ai, notify

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    gmail = build("gmail", "v1", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False)
    since = state.get("since") or int(time.time() - 12 * 3600)
    msgs = gmail.users().messages().list(userId="me", q=f"in:inbox after:{since}", maxResults=100).execute().get("messages", [])
    lines = []
    for m in msgs:
        meta = gmail.users().messages().get(userId="me", id=m["id"], format="metadata",
                                            metadataHeaders=["From", "Subject"]).execute()
        h = {x["name"]: x["value"] for x in meta["payload"]["headers"]}
        lines.append(f"From {h.get('From')}: {h.get('Subject')} – {meta['snippet'][:200]}")
    state.set("since", int(time.time()))
    if not lines:
        return {"emails": 0}
    summary = ai.generate("Summarise these emails: key points first, then a list of action items.\n" + "\n".join(lines),
                          max_output_tokens=800).text
    notify.email_me(f"Inbox summary: {len(lines)} emails", summary)
    return {"emails": len(lines)}

FAQ

Common questions

Does the summary include every email?

It covers all messages since the last summary, but groups routine items briefly and gives more detail to those needing action. Very long messages are condensed, so for key conversations you may still open the original.

Can I change the times it arrives?

Yes. The schedule is simply a setting, so morning and evening can move to any time of day, or you can ask for three summaries instead of two. The change is shown for approval first.

Where is the summary sent?

To your own address, so it lands in your inbox like any other email. Each summary links to the original messages, so opening one for the full text is a single click. Nothing leaves your mailbox account.

What permissions does it need?

read (+ gmail.send). Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run each time it runs (on a schedule). Checks that find nothing to do and stop right away aren't counted.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

On a scheduleAI