Rules: IF the contact says X, THEN do Y

Rules let you teach the agent to detect things in conversation and take
automatic action. The agent evaluates every inbound message against every
active rule.

Anatomy of a rule

Each rule has four parts:

1. Name — a short label so you can find it later (e.g. "Out of town")
2. When the contact… — a plain-English description of the condition
3. Example phrases — real phrases from your audience that should match
4. Then… — the action that fires when the rule matches

Actions (the THEN)

The action picker covers every CRM action the agent can take based on
conversation. Each one has its own parameter panel below the picker:

• Update contact field — write a value to a standard or custom field.
• Add tag(s) to contact — apply one or more tags
• Remove tag(s) from contact — strip tags
• Enrol contact in workflow(s) — add to one or more published GHL
• Remove contact from workflow(s) — opposite
• Change opportunity status — won / lost / abandoned / open
• Set opportunity value — update the monetary value
• Mark contact as Do Not Disturb — block the current conversation

Example: update a field

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Out of Town |
| When the contact… | indicates they are out of town, traveling, away, or otherwise unreachable |
| Example phrases | im out of town, im away sorry, back next week |
| Then | Update field custom.out_of_town → Yes, keep first |

Example: enrol in a workflow

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Interested in Service X |
| When the contact… | asks about Service X pricing, shows interest in booking Service X |
| Example phrases | how much for Service X, can I book Service X, what's your Service X package |
| Then | Enrol in workflow: "Service X nurture" |

How the agent matches

The condition is evaluated semantically, not by keyword match. It
handles paraphrases, typos, and indirect answers. The example phrases are
illustrative, not exhaustive — give 3–5 good ones and the agent generalises.

Tools auto-enable

When you author a rule with an action (e.g. enrol in workflow), the
underlying tool (add_to_workflow) is enabled on the agent
automatically — you don't need to go to the Tools tab and toggle it
separately. Authoring the rule is consent.

Overwrite semantics (update_contact_field only)

Two modes when the action is "Update contact field":

• Keep first (default) — only set the field if it's currently empty.
• Always update — overwrite every time the rule fires. Good for state

When to use Rules vs Listening

• Rules = structured CRM action. You know what should happen.
• Listening = free-text note to agent memory. Info is too variable for

The full comparison lives in Rules vs Listening.

Common patterns to build first

• Out-of-town → update out_of_town field
• Interested in Service X → enrol in "Service X nurture" workflow
• Asks to unsubscribe / stop → mark DND on channel + remove from nurture workflow
• Budget confirmed ≥ $N → set opportunity value
• "No longer interested" → mark opportunity as Lost + add cold tag