Appointment Booking System

A complete appointment booking and management system for service businesses. Handles booking intake, confirmation emails, automated reminders, no-show detection, and daily schedule reports.

Problem

Service businesses (salons, clinics, consultants, studios) lose revenue from missed appointments, no-shows, and scheduling chaos. Booking platforms charge $30-100+/month and often lack customization. Manual reminders are unreliable.

This system provides self-hosted booking management with zero monthly fees.

What It Does

Booking Intake — Webhook API receives bookings, validates fields, generates booking ID, stores in Sheets
Confirmation — Sends confirmation email to client and notification to staff immediately
Smart Reminders — Sends 24-hour and 2-hour reminders automatically
No-Show Followup — Detects missed appointments and sends rescheduling email
Daily Schedule — Morning email with today's and tomorrow's appointments plus weekly stats

Included Workflows

#	File	Purpose
01	`01-booking-intake.json`	Webhook → validate → store → confirm client → notify staff
02	`02-booking-confirmation.json`	Update booking status (confirm/cancel) via webhook
03	`03-reminder-engine.json`	Hourly check → send 24h and 2h reminders
04	`04-noshow-followup.json`	Check past appointments → detect no-shows → followup email
05	`05-daily-schedule.json`	Morning report with today's schedule and weekly stats

Architecture

Client books online (form/API)
    |
    v
Workflow 01: Booking Intake
    +-> Validate required fields
    +-> Generate booking ID
    +-> Save to Google Sheets
    +-> Email confirmation to client
    +-> Email notification to staff
    +-> Return booking ID

Status update (confirm/cancel):
    |
    v
Workflow 02: Booking Confirmation
    +-> Update status in Sheets

Hourly:
    |
    v
Workflow 03: Reminder Engine
    +-> Read confirmed appointments
    +-> Check: is appointment in 24h? -> send reminder
    +-> Check: is appointment in 2h? -> send reminder
    +-> Mark reminders as sent in Sheets

Every 2 hours:
    |
    v
Workflow 04: No-Show Followup
    +-> Check past appointments (1-48h ago)
    +-> IF no showed_up status -> mark as no-show
    +-> Send rescheduling email

Daily at 7 AM:
    |
    v
Workflow 05: Daily Schedule
    +-> Build today's and tomorrow's schedule tables
    +-> Calculate weekly stats (completed, no-shows, cancelled)
    +-> Email to staff

Required n8n Credentials

Credential Type	Used For	Placeholder in JSON
Google Sheets OAuth2	Appointment storage	`YOUR_GOOGLE_SHEETS_CREDENTIAL_ID`
SMTP	Confirmations, reminders, reports	`YOUR_SMTP_CREDENTIAL_ID`

Environment Variables

# Business Details (used in client-facing emails)
BUSINESS_NAME=Your Business Name
BUSINESS_PHONE=+1234567890
STAFF_EMAIL=staff@yourbusiness.com

Note: The Google Sheet ID is configured as a YOUR_BOOKING_SHEET_ID placeholder in the workflow JSON files (not an environment variable). Replace it directly in n8n after import.

Configuration Placeholders

Placeholder	Description
`YOUR_BOOKING_SHEET_ID`	Google Sheet ID for appointments
`YOUR_GOOGLE_SHEETS_CREDENTIAL_ID`	n8n Google Sheets credential ID
`YOUR_SMTP_CREDENTIAL_ID`	n8n SMTP credential ID
`YOUR_NOTIFICATION_EMAIL`	Staff email for schedule reports

Google Sheets Schema (Appointments)

Column	Type	Description
booking_id	text	Unique booking ID (auto-generated)
name	text	Client full name
email	text	Client email
phone	text	Client phone
service	text	Service type (e.g., haircut, consultation)
date	date	Appointment date (YYYY-MM-DD)
time	text	Appointment time (HH:MM)
notes	text	Client notes
status	text	confirmed / cancelled / no-show / completed
showed_up	boolean	Whether client attended
reminder_24h	boolean	24h reminder sent
reminder_2h	boolean	2h reminder sent
created_at	datetime	Booking creation timestamp

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

n8n v2.4+ (self-hosted)
Google Sheets OAuth2 credentials
SMTP email credentials

2. Create Appointments Sheet

Create a Google Sheet with the columns above. Name the tab "Appointments".

3. Import & Configure

Import all 5 JSON files into n8n. Replace all YOUR_* placeholders and set environment variables.

4. Test Booking

curl -X POST https://your-n8n.com/webhook/booking/new \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Jane Smith",
    "email": "jane@example.com",
    "phone": "+1234567890",
    "service": "Consultation",
    "date": "2026-03-10",
    "time": "14:00",
    "notes": "First visit"
  }'

Use Cases

Hair salons — Booking, reminders, and no-show tracking for stylists
Medical/dental clinics — Patient appointment management
Consultants — Strategy call scheduling with automated reminders
Fitness studios — Class and personal training bookings
Auto repair shops — Service appointment scheduling

Requirements

n8n v2.4+ (self-hosted or cloud)
Google Sheets OAuth2 credentials
SMTP email credentials