Set up your AI receptionist

The AI Receptionist is an optional add-on ($89/month) with one line per workspace. It identifies itself as AI, answers in your office's name, qualifies callers, books verified Noli calendar openings, and takes structured messages. Every call lands in the Phone call inbox, and your Chief of Staff sends the summary through its configured channel when available. Your existing public number stays yours.

Before you start

Create a booking page in Noli CRM first (CRM, then Calendar, then Booking Pages). Setup verifies the calendar before it lets you enable booking. Without a ready Noli calendar, the receptionist can still answer approved questions and take messages.

Step 1: Add it to your team

1. Open your Noli dashboard and click the AI Receptionist tile (or go to Dashboard, then Phone).
2. The workspace owner clicks "Add phone coverage". Checkout is $89/month with one dedicated number, 200 voice minutes, and 200 two-way text exchanges included. Additional voice usage is $0.25/minute and additional texts are $10 per 100 exchanges. Low-volume texting has a separate $25 one-time activation charge; Noli never presents the service as unlimited.

Step 2: Configure the line

Choose the receptionist name and current provider voice, office hours and time zone, after-hours behavior, and a local area code. Then configure these controls:

1. Greeting and disclosure. Your welcome is customizable. The receptionist always says that it is AI.
2. Recording. Recording is off by default. If you opt in, the disclosure is automatic and provider retention is limited to 30 days.
3. Abilities. Booking and approved FAQ answers switch on independently. Structured message-taking is always available.
4. References. Add approved facts and up to five public links. Noli checks each source and shows whether it was available when the agent was prepared.

Click "Create receptionist line." Setup can take about a minute. Retrying setup does not purchase another number; the last working line is preserved if an update fails.

Step 3: Forward your unanswered calls

Your receptionist has its own number, and your cell forwards to it only when you don't pick up. Dial the one-time code shown for your carrier (AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon). After that, calls you don't answer within about four rings go to your receptionist instead of voicemail. The disable code is right next to it whenever you want to turn it off.

You can also publish the receptionist number directly as an office line.

Step 4: Test it

Call the receptionist number from another phone. Say you're thinking about selling and ask for a time. Then check the appointment in Noli CRM, the new contact or note, the Phone call inbox, and the configured Chief of Staff channel. This is a customer-initiated test call; Noli does not place a live call during setup.

Add two-way texting

The workspace owner can prepare a texting playbook from the Phone page, including approved knowledge-base documents, public web references, a response style, and model customer/reply examples. The Preview Lab shows a proposed reply and its sources before anything is sent.

US carriers require a business and messaging-campaign registration before a ten-digit number can send custom two-way texts. Noli validates and pre-fills the carrier packet, opens the carrier's secure review inside Noli, and tracks both reviews. The authorized business owner must still review, verify, and submit the carrier form; Noli cannot legally attest on the business's behalf. After approval, Noli operations connects the already-provisioned number to the approved campaign and verifies the Retell text agent. Customers do not copy credentials, configure webhooks, or file a second application.

Texting remains off until the campaign, number routing, and text-agent binding all pass. Once active, customers can call or text the same public number.

What it will and won't say

It will answer in your office's name, qualify callers, book real appointments, and take detailed messages. It will never quote prices or home values, give legal, tax, or lending advice, characterize neighborhoods or schools, discuss other clients or deals, or pretend to be human.

Managing it day to day

Everything lives on the Phone page: usage and cap warnings, forwarding codes, hours and after-hours rules, greeting and recording controls, abilities, reference health, and the call inbox. Workspace members can view the line; only the workspace owner can buy, configure, pause, or disconnect it.