send_email

The send_email tool sends an email to any recipient. Unlike send_email_to_caller (which auto-resolves the recipient from the call’s contact), this tool gives the AI orchestrator full control over who receives the email.

When It’s Available

Available during todo execution when the TodoType has SendEmail in its tools list. The AI determines the correct recipient based on the task context — typically from the todo_type.description which contains staff directories, routing rules, or other organizational context.

Tool Definition

Tool {
    name: "send_email",
    description: "Sends an email to the specified recipient with the
        given subject and body.",
    input_schema: SendEmailInput {
        recipient_email: String,  // The recipient email address
        subject: String,          // The email subject line
        body: String,             // The email body (plain text)
    },
}

Execution Flow

AI calls send_email({ recipient_email: "staff@clinic.com", subject: "...", body: "..." })
  → Send via bases::email::send_email
  → Return "Email sent successfully to staff@clinic.com."

No contact lookup is needed — the AI provides the recipient directly.

How the AI Picks the Recipient

The executor’s system prompt includes the todo type description, which organizations use to embed routing context:

You are an AI task executor. Complete the given to-do task using the available tools.

Task type: {todo_type.name}
Task type description: {todo_type.description}
Task description: {todo.description}

Example todo type description:

Forward urgent messages to the office manager at manager@clinic.com.
For scheduling requests, email scheduling@clinic.com.

The AI reads this context, analyzes the call transcription, and routes the email to the right person.

Comparison with send_email_to_caller

	send_email_to_caller	send_email
Recipient	Auto-resolved from call contact	AI-determined from task context
AI provides	Subject, body	Recipient, subject, body
Use case	Follow-up to the caller	Internal routing, staff notifications
Requires contact	Yes (fails without one)	No

send_email_to_caller — auto-resolved recipient from call contact
Agent Tools Overview — voice and task tool systems
Todos — todo extraction, approval, and execution pipeline