Skip to content

On a schedule

Email 20 new Airtable leads every weekday

Each weekday, 20 new leads from Airtable get a personal email from your Gmail and are marked Contacted.

Runs
On a schedule
Apps
Airtable, Gmail
AI
Optional
Access
Airtable read+write; Gmail gmail.send

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every weekday, take 20 Airtable leads with status New, write a personalised email and send it from Gmail, then mark them Contacted.

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

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

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A two-person agency builds a list of potential clients in Airtable: company, contact, a note on why they might need help. The list keeps growing, but outreach happens in bursts when there is a quiet week, and then stops again when client work picks up.

This automation works through the list at a steady pace, twenty leads a day, so new conversations keep starting even in the busiest weeks.

What you get out of it

  • Outreach that never stalls

    A fixed daily number keeps the pipeline filling, rather than depending on whoever has a free afternoon.

  • Emails that read as personal

    Each email uses the lead's name, company and your note on them, with optional AI help, so it does not read like a mass mailing.

  • A pace that protects your inbox

    Twenty a day from your own Gmail is a sensible volume that keeps replies manageable and your account in good standing.

  • Your list stays up to date

    Each lead is marked Contacted with the date, so you always know who has been emailed and when to follow up.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every weekday morning ClickRuntime takes up to 20 leads marked New in your Airtable table.

  2. For each lead it writes a short email using their name, company and your notes, with optional AI help to personalise it.

  3. The email is sent from your Gmail account.

  4. The lead is marked Contacted with today's date, so it is never emailed twice.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Airtable
  • 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
Email 20 new Airtable leads every weekdaytoday, 9:00Succeeded
Email · SentQuick idea for Northwind Bakery: "Hi Alex, I saw you opened a second shop in Leeds..."

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 Airtable and 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.
outreach_emails_to_airtable_leads.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
import base64
from datetime import date
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, ai

TABLE = "https://api.airtable.com/v0/your-base-id/Leads"

def send(gmail, to, subject, text, thread=None):
    msg = MIMEText(text)
    msg["to"], msg["subject"] = to, subject
    body = {"raw": base64.urlsafe_b64encode(msg.as_bytes()).decode()}
    if thread:
        body["threadId"] = thread
    gmail.users().messages().send(userId="me", body=body).execute()

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    h = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.secret('AIRTABLE_API_KEY')}"}
    leads = http.get(TABLE, headers=h, params={"filterByFormula": "{Status}='New'", "maxRecords": 20}).json()["records"]
    gmail = build("gmail", "v1", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False)
    for r in leads:
        f = r["fields"]
        body = ai.generate(f"Write a short, friendly first outreach email (under 120 words) to {f['Name']} at "
                           f"{f['Company']}. Context: {f.get('Notes', '')}. Sign off as Sam.", max_output_tokens=300).text
        send(gmail, f["Email"], f"Quick idea for {f['Company']}", body)
        http.patch(f"{TABLE}/{r['id']}", headers=h, json={"fields": {"Status": "Contacted", "Contacted on": date.today().isoformat()}})
    return {"sent": len(leads)}

FAQ

Common questions

Can I change the number of emails per day?
Yes. Twenty is a safe starting point for a personal Gmail account, and you can raise or lower it to suit how many replies you can handle.
Which fields from Airtable are used?
Name, email, company and a notes field are used by default. Any other field, such as industry or a recent project, can be added to the email.
Will someone be emailed twice?
No. Only leads with status New are picked, and each is marked Contacted as soon as its email is sent.
What permissions does it need?
Airtable read+write; Gmail gmail.send. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
No, but you can ask for an AI step (for example a summary). It then uses ClickRuntime's built-in 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.

Set up “Email 20 new Airtable leads every weekday” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.