This article goes through the Settings tab of the RIKO dashboard section by section, including which plan each section needs and what each booking integration actually does. Click Save changes at the bottom of the tab after editing; an Unsaved changes badge reminds you.
General: widget switch and contact email
In the RIKO dashboard, open the Settings tab. The General card has four controls:
- Widget - a switch. When off, the chat widget does not appear on your website at all and the Home tab pill reads Widget Off. Use it to take the bot offline without removing the code from your site.
- Contact Email - the address the bot gives visitors when it cannot answer a question, and where captured leads are sent. If no booking notification email is set, booking enquiries come here too. Set this first; it is a step on the Getting started checklist.
- Escalation emails - a switch, on by default. While on, the bot emails you when a visitor asks for a person, raises a complaint or trips a safety alert. Off means no escalation email at all (Slack and webhook alerts are separate).
- Send escalations to - the address for those emails. Blank means your Contact Email, or the email you sign in with if that is blank too. See How RIKO escalates a conversation.
Bot behaviour: personality prompt and response length
The Bot behaviour card controls how the bot talks. It always answers from your knowledge base; these settings shape the wording.
- Personality prompt - describe the tone and role you want, for example "You are the friendly front desk of a physiotherapy clinic in Geelong. Be warm, concise and never give medical advice." Leave it blank to use the default.
- Response length - choose Concise (one or two sentences where possible), Balanced (the default) or Detailed (thorough answers with context).
Knowledge source priority
In the RIKO dashboard, the Settings tab's Bot behaviour card ends with Knowledge source priority: Website content or Uploaded documents. It decides which source the bot leans on when your website and your uploaded documents say different things about the same topic (a fee that changed on the website but not in an old PDF, for example). The preferred source is ranked a little higher when the bot looks for an answer; the other source is still used. If you never touch the control the bot treats both sources equally, exactly as before. Click Save changes after choosing.
Suggested questions
The Suggested questions card fills the clickable chips shown at the top of the chat before the visitor types. Enter up to 4 questions, one per line (each up to 200 characters), for example "What are your opening hours?" and "How do I book an appointment?". Leave the box blank to hide the chips. They disappear once the visitor sends their first message. Available on all plans.
Lead capture
The Lead capture card shows a short form (Your name, Your email) before the chat starts, so you have contact details even if the visitor leaves.
- Enable lead capture - turn the form on or off.
- Form title (optional) - the heading above the fields. The default is "Before we chat...".
When a visitor submits the form, RIKO emails the name and email to your Contact Email and, on Pro, also sends them to your webhook. The form is shown once per browser session; a visitor who has filled it in is not asked again that session. Available on all plans.
Booking (Pro plan)
The Booking card appears on the Pro plan and controls how the bot collects booking enquiries.
- Booking collection - a switch. When off, the bot does not prompt visitors to book.
- Notification email - where booking details are sent. If blank, they go to your Contact Email.
- Information to collect - the list of things the bot asks for, one at a time. Click + Add field, type a label (for example "Preferred practitioner" or "Referral from GP?") and mark it Needed or Optional. The bot will not insist on optional items. You can have up to 15 fields. Labels that look like card or bank details are rejected, because RIKO cannot collect payment information in chat.
If you add no fields, the bot uses its default list: full name, email, phone number, the service or appointment needed, and a preferred date or time. Full details of the booking flow: Booking enquiries in RIKO.
Slack alerts (Pro plan)
The Slack alerts card lets you receive a Slack message whenever a conversation is escalated. Create an Incoming Webhook in your Slack workspace and paste its address into Webhook URL. Slack alerts fire for escalations (including safety alerts); they are not sent for bookings or leads.
Proactive chat triggers (Pro plan)
The Proactive chat triggers card makes the widget pop up a message on its own on chosen pages. Click + Add trigger and fill in:
- Page path - leave blank to trigger on your homepage. To target another page, type part of its address, for example
pricingmatches/pricingand/services/pricing. - Opening message - the text shown in the pop-up (up to 500 characters). If blank, the welcome message is used.
- Delay (s) - seconds after the page loads before the message appears, from 1 to 120.
Add as many triggers as you need; the first trigger whose path matches the page fires, once per page load. The visitor sees a small notification bubble next to the chat button; clicking it opens the chat with that message, and closing it dismisses it.
Webhook (Pro plan)
The Webhook card sends a JSON POST to an address you control every time something happens, so you can connect Zapier, Make or your own system. Paste the address into Endpoint URL. RIKO posts on three events: a completed booking (name, email, phone, preferred date, reason, summary and any custom fields), an escalation (reason, severity and the visitor's message), and a captured lead (name, email). Only public web addresses are accepted.
Booking integrations (Pro plan)
The Booking integrations card connects the bot's booking enquiries to a scheduling or practice-management system. Choose one under Integration: None, Cliniko or Calendly. Calendly and Cliniko are both included on the Pro plan. Zanda is listed as "coming soon" and cannot be selected: RIKO does not connect to Zanda yet, because Zanda has not opened its API to new practices.
Privacy: RIKO only sends new contact and appointment records out to your system. It never reads, retrieves or shows existing patient data, clinical notes or appointment history.
Calendly
Enter your Calendly API key under API key and the Event type URI of the event type you want visitors to book (it looks like https://api.calendly.com/event_types/XXXXXXXX; you can list yours by calling the Calendly API's event types endpoint with your token). When a booking enquiry is complete, RIKO creates a single-use Calendly scheduling link and gives it to the visitor in the chat with "You can pick your time here". The visitor picks the time in Calendly.
Cliniko (Pro)
Enter your Cliniko API key under API key, your Business ID (required; found in Cliniko under Settings > Businesses) and optionally a Default appointment type ID. When a booking enquiry is complete, RIKO creates the patient in your Cliniko account and then creates an appointment for them, with the visitor's preferred date, reason and a summary in the appointment notes. If the visitor gave a date and time the bot could understand, that is used; otherwise the appointment is placed at 9:00 am the next day as a placeholder, and the notes show what the visitor actually asked for. Appointments are created 50 minutes long. Your team should check and adjust the time in Cliniko; RIKO cannot see availability.
Zanda (coming soon)
RIKO does not connect to Zanda yet. Zanda's API is in a closed beta that is not taking new practices, so there is nothing for RIKO to connect to. A Zanda clinic can still use RIKO on any plan: the bot collects the booking enquiry, emails it to you, and your team books the time in Zanda. (RIFT, our other product, works with Zanda today from a data export - see Connect Zanda or Cliniko to RIFT.)
Practitioners (Cliniko, Pro)
Under Practitioners, click + Add practitioner and enter each practitioner's name, their ID in your practice-management system, and optionally an appointment type ID for that practitioner. If you list more than one practitioner, the bot asks the visitor which one they would like to see (or "No preference"). For Cliniko, the chosen practitioner is set on the created appointment. The Default appointment type ID is used when a practitioner has none of their own.
Changing or removing an integration
Choose a different option under Integration and click Save changes. The API key field is blank on later visits; leave it blank to keep the existing key, or paste a new one to replace it. A green "configured" mark shows that a key is stored.