Rules and procedures | ElevenLabs Documentation

Rules and procedures are the main way to shape your receptionist’s behavior. Both are managed in the Teach your receptionist card on the Receptionists page.

Type	When it applies	Example
Rule	On every call	”Never give medical advice.”
Procedure	Only when the caller asks for the thing it is written for	”When the caller wants to book, follow these steps: …”

Use a rule for a constraint that is always true. Use a procedure for a multi-step flow tied to one type of request.

Adding rules and procedures

Open Teach your receptionist. The dialog has a Rules panel and a Procedures panel. Each panel offers:

Browse ready-made: a catalog of common rules and procedures for your business type. Select Add this rule or Add this procedure, then edit it as needed.
Write your own: start from a blank rule or procedure.

Everything you have added appears in the In use list. Select an item to edit or delete it.

Rules

Each rule has a title, a description, and a priority. You can have up to 50 rules per receptionist.

Field	Limit	Notes
Title	1–200 characters	Only visible to you
Description	1–2,000 characters	The instruction the receptionist follows
Priority	Strict or Suggestion	Defaults to Strict

Priority	Behavior
Strict	The receptionist must follow this rule
Suggestion	The receptionist follows this rule when it fits, and may deviate if the conversation requires it

Use strict for hard business rules such as pricing, legal requirements, and safety. Use suggestion for stylistic preferences.

Example rules

Priority	Title	Description
Strict	No medical advice	Never provide medical advice. Always recommend the caller schedule an appointment with a specialist.
Strict	Confirm phone number	Always confirm the caller’s phone number before booking any appointment.
Suggestion	Mention discount	When booking a first appointment, mention our 20% new client discount.
Strict	No competitor discussion	Never discuss competitor products, pricing, or services.

Procedures

A procedure is a step-by-step flow that runs when a caller’s request matches its trigger. You can have up to 20 procedures per receptionist.

Field	Limit	Notes
Name	Up to 200 characters	Optional. Defaults to “Untitled procedure”.
Trigger	Up to 2,000 characters	Required. Describes when to run, for example “When the caller wants to book”.
Steps	Up to 40,000 characters	Markdown. The instructions the receptionist follows.

References

In the steps, type @ or select Reference to insert a reference to another procedure, a service, a staff member, a location, a tool, a variable, or a knowledge base file.

Tools include those from your MCP server and Zapier integrations, but only the ones assigned to the Client on the integration’s Tools tab. MCP tools are listed with the integration’s name first, for example Inventory: Check stock.

Default procedures

New workspaces start with procedures for the flows the business supports, such as:

Book an appointment (worded for your industry)
Book a group session
Reschedule or cancel a booking
Place an order
Check, change, or cancel an order
Take a message for callback

Edit these to match how your business works, for example to collect extra details before booking.

Example procedure

Trigger: When the caller reports a water leak.

Steps:

1. Ask whether water is actively leaking right now.
2. If it is, tell them to shut off the main water valve, then take an urgent message for a callback within 30 minutes.
3. If it is not, collect the address and offer the next available inspection slot.

Best practices

Use strict sparingly, only for non-negotiable rules.
Keep each rule to one instruction. Several focused rules work better than one long one.
Put multi-step flows in procedures, not rules.
Write procedure triggers from the caller’s point of view.
Test after every change.