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Every 15 min, sends pending rows

Send personalised texts to a list in a sheet

Fill a sheet with numbers and messages and each pending row is texted, with the delivery ID and status written back.

Runs
Every 15 min, sends pending rows
Apps
Google Sheets, Twilio
AI
Optional
Access
Sheets edit; Twilio send

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every 15 minutes, text every row in my Outbox sheet marked pending, using the message in that row with the person's name filled in, and write the message ID and status back.

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

Small businesses regularly need to text a list: a reminder to past customers, a change of opening hours, a win-back offer. Bulk texting tools charge monthly fees and want you to upload your list somewhere new.

Preparing the list and messages in a sheet you already use, and letting the pending rows send themselves, keeps control with you and gives you a clear record of who was texted.

What you get out of it

  • Your list stays in your sheet

    No uploading contacts into another tool.

  • Personal messages

    Each row can have its own text, with names filled in.

  • A clear record

    Every row gets a message ID or the reason it failed.

  • Safe to re-run

    Only pending rows are sent.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every 15 minutes it reads the rows in your sheet marked pending.

  2. Each message has the person's name filled in, or is written by AI from your notes if you choose.

  3. The text is sent to that row's number.

  4. The message ID and status, or the error, are written back, so the row isn't sent again.

Before it runs live

  • Connect your Google Sheets account and pick the spreadsheets it may use
  • Connect Twilio

What you get

RunsEvery 15 min, sends pending rows
Send personalised texts to a list in a sheettoday, 9:00Succeeded
SMS · CustomerHi Quinn, it's been a while! Here's 15% off your next Northwind Bikes service this month.

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 Google Sheets and Twilio 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.
send_bulk_personalised_sms_to_a_sheet_list.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from twilio.rest import Client
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, report_fetched

SHEET_ID = "your-spreadsheet-id"
FROM = "+15005550006"

def sms(to, body):
    return Client(credentials.secret("TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID"), credentials.secret("TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN")).messages.create(to=to, from_=FROM, body=body)
sheets = lambda: build("sheets", "v4", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False).spreadsheets().values()

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    rows = sheets().get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range="Outbox!A2:E").execute().get("values", [])
    pending = [(i, (r + [""] * 5)[:5]) for i, r in enumerate(rows, start=2) if len(r) > 3 and r[3] == "pending"]
    report_fetched(len(pending))
    if not pending:
        return {"summary": "Nothing pending"}
    for i, (name, phone, message, _, _) in pending:
        try:
            result = ["sent", sms(phone, message.replace("{name}", name)).sid]
        except Exception as e:
            result = ["failed", str(e)[:200]]
        sheets().update(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range=f"Outbox!D{i}:E{i}", valueInputOption="RAW", body={"values": [result]}).execute()
    return {"processed": len(pending)}

FAQ

Common questions

Can AI write the messages?
Yes, optionally. For win-back campaigns it can write a short personal line from notes in the row.
How fast are texts sent?
Twilio sends about one message per second per number, which is plenty for most lists.
What about people who opt out?
Twilio handles STOP replies automatically and blocks further texts to that number.
What permissions does it need?
Sheets edit; Twilio 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 (every 15 min, sends pending rows). 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 “Send personalised texts to a list in a sheet” from your assistant

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