> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.servicebooked.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Automations
> How the AI Receptionist handles inbound messages, plus the automation recipes that fire on events — appointments booked, deals completed, contacts created.
**Settings → Automations** is where you control two things: how the AI Receptionist answers inbound messages (the **AI reply mode** at the top of the page), and the **automation recipes** that fire on events.
A recipe is a "when X happens, do Y" automation. They fire on triggers (new contact, appointment booked, deal completed, etc.) and run actions (send a message, create a task, update a tag).
## AI reply mode
At the top of the page you choose how the AI Receptionist handles **inbound messages** — SMS, social DMs (Messenger / Instagram / WhatsApp), and email replies. One org-wide choice, three modes:
The AI Receptionist reads each message and replies on its own, within seconds. This is how ServiceBooked has always worked, and what existing accounts stay on.
The AI Receptionist drafts a reply but **doesn't send it**. The draft is waiting in the conversation's reply box for you to review, edit, and send — or dismiss. A good middle ground while you build trust in what the AI says.
The AI Receptionist never auto-replies. Inbound messages still land in your inbox and you're still notified — you just handle every reply yourself. (No AI generation runs, so these messages don't draw down your plan's AI usage.)
The setting saves the moment you pick a mode — no separate Save needed. A few notes:
* **The website chat widget always answers automatically**, regardless of this setting. A live visitor on your site can't wait for someone to approve a draft, so Suggest / Off govern only the async channels (SMS, social, email) where a short delay is fine.
* **Per-conversation pause still works.** Even in Auto mode you can [pause the AI](/inbox/sms-replies) on a single thread to take it over by hand.
* **Email** also needs inbound email AI reply turned on for your account (a platform-level setting) before Auto/Suggest apply to email; Off always wins.
## Built-in recipes
ServiceBooked ships with a handful of pre-built recipes. The common ones:
### Appointment reminder
24 hours before a booked appointment, the customer gets an SMS or email reminder. Reduces no-shows substantially.
### Booking confirmation
The moment an appointment is booked — by the AI Receptionist on any channel, or manually — the customer gets a confirmation message with the appointment details, a calendar invite (email), and a self-serve manage link.
### Appointment rescheduled
When an appointment time is moved (via the chat widget, voice receptionist, or the manage-link page), the customer gets a "your appointment has been moved to {new time}" confirmation so there's never doubt about whether the change landed.
### Proposal follow-up
When a deal moves to the **Proposal** stage, a 3-step follow-up sequence fires on day 1, 3, and 7. It stops automatically the moment the prospect replies on any channel.
### Lead nurture sequence
A new contact created without an immediate booking gets a 3-message follow-up sequence over a week ("checking in," "still happy to help," "last touch — anything we can do?"). Stops the moment they reply.
### Post-completion review request
24 hours after a deal moves to **Completed**, fires a review request. Same logic as the Reputation feature; can be run as a generic automation if you don't want the full Reputation funnel.
### Cancellation outreach
When an appointment is cancelled, the customer gets a polite "no problem — let us know if you'd like to reschedule" message + you get notified.
### AI Escalation Notification
When the AI Receptionist escalates a conversation or form submission it can't resolve, this recipe sends an alert to the owner. You can choose to receive this via Email, SMS, and/or Push Notification.
## Configure a recipe
**Settings → Automations** lists every recipe. Each has:
* **Toggle** — on / off
* **Channels** — SMS, email, or both
* **Message templates** — editable per recipe
* **Timing** — for time-based recipes (e.g., reminder timing)
Edit the message in the rich-text editor, save, the recipe runs with your version on the next trigger.
## Custom automations
Building fully custom automations ("when a contact tagged `commercial` books, create a task assigned to Mike to call within 2 hours") isn't currently a self-serve feature — you can request it from support, and we'll wire it up for you. A no-code visual builder is on the roadmap.
## Automation runs
Every message an automation sends is logged on the **contact's timeline** — open the contact and you'll see each reminder, confirmation, or nurture step as an interaction, with the message content. That's the place to answer "did the appointment reminder actually go out?"
Time-based runs also self-cancel when their trigger becomes stale: cancelling an appointment cancels its pending reminder, and rescheduling moves the reminder to the new time automatically.
## Suppression rules
Automations respect:
* **STOP / opt-out** — anyone who replied STOP doesn't get automated SMS. The send is skipped silently; email (if configured) still goes out.
* **Missing channel data** — a send on a channel the contact lacks (no phone, no email) is skipped rather than erroring. The booking confirmation goes further: if SMS is configured but there's no phone, it falls back to email when one is on file (and vice versa).
## Limits
* Each automation run can take seconds to a few minutes (queue + LLM-rendering for AI-flavored sequences). Not a real-time guarantee.
* High-volume orgs may want to disable lead-nurture for forms with poor conversion (otherwise you're spamming a lot of cold leads).
## Next
Detailed walkthroughs of each pre-built recipe.