n8n Clio + Twilio SMS/Email Matter Status Updates Workflow

Instant Clio Matter Status Replies via Twilio SMS or Email (with Compliance Approval)

This n8n workflow automatically answers client “Where are my matters?” requests by matching the sender to a Clio contact, pulling their open matter status from Clio, and sending a status-only reply through Twilio SMS or SMTP email—only after a compliance/opt-out guardrail workflow approves delivery.

What this workflow does

• Receives inbound requests either from a Twilio webhook (SMS) or by reading new messages from an IMAP inbox.
• Identifies the client by extracting the sender’s phone number or email address and searching Clio contacts for an exact match.
• Handles no-match scenarios by sending a generic “not found” response back via Twilio or SMTP email.
• Prevents repeated replies using a per-sender cooldown window stored in n8n.
• Fetches open matters from Clio and composes a reply listing the current matter status values.
• Uses compliance guardrails: delivers the draft only through a separate compliance/opt-out workflow and sends via Twilio/SMTP only if approved.

Use cases

• Clients text your firm for updates—receive an automated status-only response within minutes.
• Inbound inquiries arrive via a shared inbox—respond from the same workflow using IMAP + SMTP.
• Reduce repetitive manual work while controlling message frequency with a sender cooldown.
• Maintain compliance by routing outbound messages through an approval/opt-out guardrail before sending.

Technical details

• Clio OAuth2 credentials + CLIO_BASE_URL for contacts and matters access.
• Twilio integration using FIRM_TWILIO_NUMBER, with your inbound SMS webhook pointed to the workflow URL.
• IMAP to monitor incoming messages and SMTP to send email replies from FIRM_FROM_EMAIL (optional FIRM_NAME).
• Workflow nodes include webhook, twilio, email send, if, code, and no op, plus the compliance/opt-out sub-workflow gate.