> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rulebase.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Getting started

> What Rulebase does, how your conversations reach it, what happens once they are scored, where the results appear, and which guide to read first.

Rulebase is an AI-assisted quality assurance tool for customer support teams.
Every ticket your team closes can be scored against the same rubric a QA lead
would apply by hand, so coverage no longer depends on how many hours someone
had that week to read tickets.

The judgement still belongs to people. Rulebase produces a score and the
reasoning behind every part of it; your reviewers correct what it got wrong, and
those corrections shape the evaluations that come after.

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
    A[Help desk or phone system] --> D[Rulebase]
    B[File uploads] --> D
    C[REST API] --> D
    D --> E[QA review on the ticket]
    D --> F[Performance and Insights reporting]
    D --> G[Coaching]
```

## How your conversations reach Rulebase

Conversations reach Rulebase three ways; most teams use the first and never
touch the others.

* **A native connection to your help desk or phone system.**
  [Zendesk](/guides/integrations/zendesk),
  [Intercom](/guides/integrations/intercom), and
  [Freshdesk](/guides/integrations/freshdesk) bring in tickets and chats, and
  [Aircall](/guides/integrations/aircall) attaches call recordings to them. You
  set one up under
  [Settings > Connections](https://app.rulebase.co/settings/connections) once,
  and Rulebase keeps syncing from then on.
* **File uploads.** Recorded calls can be sent to Rulebase as audio files or ZIP
  archives, which is the path for a phone system with no native connection. See
  [Uploading conversations](/guides/uploads/conversations).
* **The REST API.** Push conversations from a help desk we don't connect to
  natively, or file back-office work from your own admin tools as
  [work items](/guides/uploads/work-items). Start at
  [Set up API access](/guides/api-access) for keys and the base URL for your
  region.

Which one you use shapes the rest of your setup. A native connection brings your agents and their help desk groups in
alongside the tickets, so the lists you later scope scorecards and coverage rules
by are already filled in. Records you upload or push carry whatever agent
identity you send with them, which puts more weight on getting that right at the
source. Either way, someone who is not on the QA roster is not evaluated, so check that list
early.

## What happens to a ticket once it is in

**Eligibility decides whether the ticket is considered at all.** Rulebase does
not evaluate everything that closes. Coverage rules sample a share of your
volume, an eligibility window keeps a years-deep help desk backlog from flooding
QA on day one, and plain-language eligibility instructions filter out tickets
where nobody would score anything: spam, a customer who typed "hello?" and
vanished. These live under
[Settings > Evaluations](https://app.rulebase.co/settings/evaluations).

**A scorecard decides how it is judged.** A scorecard is the rubric: sections
like resolution and tone, the criteria under each one, and the specific checks an
evaluator has to make before awarding points. Its scope decides which tickets and
which people it covers. Only a published scorecard evaluates anything, and an
account with no published scorecard produces no scores at all. An empty QA list on a new account usually means no
published scorecard.

**The AI scores, and humans correct.** Rulebase produces one evaluation per
eligible agent per matching scorecard, so a ticket three people touched can carry
three separate scores. Each result comes with the reasoning for every criterion.
When a reviewer disagrees, they can thumbs down the single criterion that went
wrong and explain why, or replace the whole judgement with a manual evaluation.

[How AI QA works](/guides/concepts/how-ai-qa-works)
walks the same path in order, gate by gate, and maps each stage to the setting
that controls it. The [glossary](/guides/concepts/glossary) defines the terms,
including the two meanings of "agent".

## Where the results show up

The same evaluation surfaces in three places:

* **On the ticket**, under its **Review** tab, with the per-criterion breakdown
  and the reasoning behind each score. This is where a reviewer works, and where
  they leave feedback or write a manual evaluation. The **Interactions** list has
  QA and evaluation views for working through them in bulk.
* **In Insights**, where the same numbers roll up into agent and team performance
  pages, the built-in Analytics reports, and any dashboards you build yourself.
  This is the view for spotting that one team's resolution scores have been
  sliding for a month. [Insights overview](/guides/insights/overview) explains
  which of those surfaces answers which question.
* **In coaching**, where a session pulls in specific tickets and their scores as
  evidence for a 1:1, and simulations let an agent rehearse a scenario and get
  scored on the attempt. Coaching is switched on per organization under
  [Settings > Features](https://app.rulebase.co/settings/features), so if it is
  missing from your sidebar that is why.

Scores also leave the product. The Evaluations list exports to an Excel workbook
with criterion scores and written feedback in separate columns, so teams can
pull QA data into whatever they already report from.

## Where to go next

Pick the path that matches what you are here to do.

### You are setting Rulebase up for the first time

Work in this order; each step depends on the one before it.

1. Connect your source under
   [Settings > Connections](https://app.rulebase.co/settings/connections), or
   read [Set up API access](/guides/api-access) if you are pushing data in.
2. Check the people Rulebase will evaluate with
   [Manage the QA agent roster](/guides/quality-assurance/manage-agent-roster).
3. Build your rubric with
   [Create a scorecard](/guides/quality-assurance/create-a-scorecard), and
   publish it.
4. Decide how much volume to cover with
   [Configure evaluation eligibility](/guides/quality-assurance/configure-evaluation-eligibility).
5. Bring in your reviewers and coaches with
   [Invite members](/guides/access-management/invite-members) and
   [Roles and permissions](/guides/roles-and-permissions).

Before you call it done, prove the setup on real tickets. The eligibility tester
in [Settings > Evaluations](https://app.rulebase.co/settings/evaluations) runs
every gate against a ticket you pick and tells you which one blocked it, so try
one ticket you are certain should be scored and one you are certain should not.

### You have a score in front of you and want to understand it

* [Rulebase glossary](/guides/concepts/glossary) — definitions of Rulebase
  terms, including the two kinds of agent
* [How AI QA works](/guides/concepts/how-ai-qa-works) — the full path from ticket
  close to score
* [Give feedback on AI QA](/guides/quality-assurance/give-feedback-on-ai-qa) —
  correcting a criterion the AI got wrong
* [Why wasn't my ticket evaluated?](/guides/troubleshooting/why-wasnt-my-ticket-evaluated)
  — for the score that never appeared

### You are wiring Rulebase into your own systems

* [Set up API access](/guides/api-access) — keys, regional base URLs, and your
  first request
* [Uploading conversations](/guides/uploads/conversations) — recorded calls
* [Uploading work items](/guides/uploads/work-items) — back-office work with no
  customer on the line
* [MCP](/guides/mcp) — connecting an AI client to your Rulebase data