Getting started with Sidekick
A 10-minute walkthrough: from new account to your AI agent answering every call. Do these six steps in order and your phone is live by the end.
- Fill in Business Info — name, type, address, your forwarding number.
- Set your Operating Schedule and AI coverage hours.
- Train Riley with a few sentences of knowledge (pricing, policies, FAQ).
- Turn on call summaries to your email and mobile.
- Forward your business line and place a test call.
Tell us about your business
Open Settings › Business Info. This is the foundation — Riley reads from these fields on every single call, so accuracy matters more than detail.
| Business name | As you'd say it on the phone. "Acme Plumbing", not "Acme Plumbing & Drain Co. LLC". |
| Business type | Pick the closest match. We use this to tune Riley's vocabulary and default booking flow. |
| Business phone | The number callers currently dial. We'll forward it to your AI line in Step 6. |
| Website | Optional, but Riley can text the link if a caller asks. |
Set your hours and coverage
There are two schedules to set, and they do different things:
Operating Schedule
Your customer-facing business hours. Riley announces these to callers ("we're open Monday through Friday, 9 to 5") and uses them to decide when to offer same-day appointments.
AI Coverage Hours
When Riley should auto-transfer to you vs. handle the call solo. Most owners pick Scheduled Hours: forward calls during the workday, let Riley take everything else.
Teach Riley about your business
Open Settings › AI Agent Knowledge. Three fields, all optional, all powerful.
Business knowledge base
Free-form. Anything Riley should know — prices, service area, what you don't do, common Q&A. Plain English, in your own voice. Aim for 5–10 short bullet points.
Service call: $85 flat, applied to repair if you book.
Service area: Mohave County only.
Emergencies: Available 24/7, $150 after-hours fee.
No: commercial work, septic systems, pool plumbing.
Payment: All major cards, check, Venmo.
Booking & policy instructions
How Riley should book. "Offer Tuesday or Thursday mornings first." "Quote 90-minute windows." "Never book Mondays — that's office day."
Transfer trigger words
Comma-separated. If a caller uses any of these, Riley immediately offers to call you. Default starters: emergency, lawsuit, talk to the owner.
Turn on call summaries
After every call, Riley sends you a summary: who called, what they wanted, transcript, sentiment, suggested next action. Open Settings › Call Summary Notifications.
- Email summary — full HTML with transcript. On by default.
- SMS recap — 3-line text to your mobile. Requires SMS consent.
- Slack — optional, posts to a channel via incoming webhook.
Forward your business line
From the phone whose number customers dial today, set up call forwarding to your AI phone number (find it in Business Info).
| Unconditional | **21*<AI number># — forwards every call. Use this if Riley is your sole answerer. |
| When busy / no answer | **61*<AI number># — rings your phone first, falls back to Riley after ~25s. |
| Turn off forwarding | ##21# or ##61# |
Codes vary by carrier. Search "<your carrier> call forwarding" if those don't take.
Place a test call
From any phone other than your forwarded line, call your normal business number. Riley should pick up within two rings.
A good test script:
- "Hi, I'd like to book an appointment for [your typical service]."
- Give a fake name and number when asked.
- Hang up — you should get a summary email within 60 seconds.