Automate routine work with rules

Automations do the repetitive parts of support for you: they route, tag, assign and reply the moment a conversation matches your conditions. This guide walks through building one, then covers every option the rule builder offers. If you are new to Relaypoint, read Get to know Relaypoint first.

How a rule works#

Every rule has three parts, always in this order:

1. When: the trigger, such as a conversation is created or a customer replies.
2. If: one or more conditions. All of them must match.
3. Then: the actions Relaypoint performs, top to bottom.

Rules run in the order they appear on the Automations page. A rule can stop later rules from running with the stop_processing action. Since version 2.4, rules run in under 200 ms on average.

Build your first rule#

1. Open the builder#

   Go to Settings › Automations and select New automation.

2. Name the rule#

   Give it a name your team will recognise, e.g. Route billing questions to Finance.

3. Pick a trigger#

   Choose A conversation is created. Other triggers are listed in Triggers.

4. Add conditions#

   Add Subject contains invoice, refund, billing. Add a second condition Customer plan is Team or Business to skip free accounts.

5. Choose actions and save#

   Choose Assign to team › Finance, then select Save automation. The rule is on as soon as it's saved.

Reference#

Triggers#

Conditions#

You can combine conditions on:

• Message fields
  • Subject, body, sender address
  • Channel (email, chat, API)
• Customer fields
  • Plan, country, language
  • Any custom attribute, such as account_tier
• Time: business hours, weekday, or the conversation's age

Matching text#

Text conditions are case-insensitive. contains matches any of a comma-separated list; matches takes a regular expression.

Regular expression flavour#

Relaypoint uses RE2 syntax. Look-behind isn't supported.

A note on performance#

Very long expressions are slower. Keep each one under 500 characters.

Actions#

Rules as code#

Teams that keep their configuration in version control can export and import rules as YAML or JSON.

name: Route billing questions to Finance
trigger: conversation.created
conditions:
  all:
    - field: subject
      op: contains
      value: [invoice, refund, billing]
    - field: customer.plan
      op: in
      value: [team, business]
actions:
  - assign_team: finance
  - add_tag: billing

{
  "name": "Route billing questions to Finance",
  "trigger": "conversation.created",
  "conditions": {
    "all": [
      { "field": "subject", "op": "contains", "value": ["invoice", "refund", "billing"] },
      { "field": "customer.plan", "op": "in", "value": ["team", "business"] }
    ]
  },
  "actions": [{ "assign_team": "finance" }, { "add_tag": "billing" }]
}

relaypoint rules import ./rules/billing.yaml --workspace acme-support
relaypoint rules list --format table

Examples#

Good practice#

Start with one rule that saves your team ten minutes a day. Add the next one only when the first has run for a week without surprises.

— The Relaypoint support team

• Give every rule a descriptive name
• Test on past conversations before you turn it on
• Review rule hit counts once a month
• Remove rules nobody remembers creating

Watch it in action#

A short walkthrough of building and sharing a dashboard, recorded with dummy data:

Also good to know#

Inline formatting the editor supports: bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, highlight, H₂O, x², and math such as t_{reply} = t_{first} - t_{created}.

Need a hand?#

Our team reviews rules for Business customers for free. Book a 20-minute session and we'll check your setup.