Setting up the AI Receptionist
Provision a phone line, write custom instructions, and build a knowledge base so inbound calls become conversations and captured leads.
The AI Receptionist answers your inbound calls and "captures new leads for your CRM". Callers who would otherwise reach voicemail get a conversation, and what they say becomes a lead you can follow up.
Turn the line on
Go to Settings → AI Receptionist.
The Receptionist line toggle enables "call intake to provision a dedicated receptionist number". Switching it on assigns a phone number to your practice.
Provisioning status
Provisioning status shows "current phone number and assistant connection details". When everything is working it reads Active — "the receptionist is ready to answer inbound calls" — with an active badge.
Below that:
- Phone number — the provisioned number, e.g. +1 (877) 415-0403.
- Last ready — when the assistant last confirmed it was available.
This is the number to publish or forward your main line to. It isn't your existing practice number; provisioning creates a new one. Most practices forward their published number to it rather than reprinting stationery.
Custom instructions
Custom instructions add "behaviour your receptionist should follow on every call", and are "used to tailor how the receptionist greets, qualifies, and routes callers". The field takes up to 20,000 characters.
The placeholder shows the intended style — specific, checkable rules:
- "Always confirm caller name and date of birth."
- "Never schedule appointments before 9am or after 5pm local time."
Write constraints rather than personality. "Be friendly" gives the model nothing to act on; "never quote a price for cosmetic procedures, take a message instead" does. The rules worth writing are the ones where getting it wrong would matter — clinical boundaries, scheduling limits, what not to promise.
Be explicit about what the receptionist must not do. An AI answering healthcare calls should not give clinical advice, confirm whether someone is a patient, or discuss anything from a record. Write those boundaries in rather than assuming them.
Knowledge base
Knowledge base lets you "upload PDFs and docs your receptionist can reference". Click or drag files into the upload area, up to 25MB.
The empty state suggests what to include: "Drop intake protocols, FAQs, or pricing sheets above. Your receptionist will reference them on calls."
This is how the receptionist answers practice-specific questions — your hours, what a service costs, what to bring to a first appointment — without you writing it all into the instructions field.
Keep uploads current. A stale pricing sheet doesn't sit quietly in a folder; it gets quoted to callers. Anything you upload should be something you'd be comfortable having read aloud to a patient.
What happens to calls
Callers become leads in your CRM. Settings → Leads controls lead capture and qualification, and the Leads section in the main sidebar is where they arrive.
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