Booking Integration

How Booking Works

Pounce doesn’t include its own calendar — instead, it integrates with dedicated booking tools. When a lead is ready for a meeting, Pounce suggests booking and follows up automatically.

Flow:

1. AI determines the lead is ready for a meeting (based on conversation context)
2. Pounce appends a booking CTA with your scheduling link
3. The lead books through Cal.com or Calendly (their calendar UI)
4. The booking provider sends Pounce a webhook with the booking details
5. Pounce matches the lead by email, transitions status to Scheduled, and logs the booking

Connecting Cal.com

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Booking
2. Select Cal.com as your booking provider
3. Enter your Cal.com scheduling page URL (e.g., https://cal.com/your-team/30min)
4. In your Cal.com dashboard, go to Event Types → Webhooks and create a webhook:
   • Webhook URL: https://your-pounce-domain.com/api/webhook/booking?provider=calcom
   • Events: BOOKING_CREATED
   • Secret: Generate a random secret (see Webhook Security below)
5. Save the integration

Connecting Calendly

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Booking
2. Select Calendly as your booking provider
3. Enter your Calendly scheduling link (e.g., https://calendly.com/your-name/30min)
4. In your Calendly dashboard, create a webhook subscription:
   • Webhook URL: https://your-pounce-domain.com/api/webhook/booking?provider=calendly
   • Events: invitee.created
   • Signing Key: Generate a random secret (see Webhook Security below)
5. Save the integration

Webhook Security

Pounce verifies webhook signatures to ensure incoming booking events are legitimate. This is optional but strongly recommended for production.

Setup

1. Generate a random secret (32+ characters). Example:

   openssl rand -hex 16

2. Add the secret to your booking provider’s webhook settings (Cal.com: “Secret” field, Calendly: “Signing Key” field)
3. In Pounce admin, go to Settings → Integrations and set the Booking Webhook Secret to env:CALCOM_WEBHOOK_SECRET (or env:CALENDLY_WEBHOOK_SECRET)
4. Add the environment variable to your deployment:

   CALCOM_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your_generated_secret_here

Without a secret configured, Pounce accepts all webhook requests without signature verification. This is fine for testing but should be secured before going live.

How Verification Works

• Cal.com: Pounce checks the cal-signature header using HMAC-SHA256 with your webhook secret
• Calendly: Pounce checks the calendly-webhook-signature header using HMAC-SHA256 with timestamp-based signature verification

Booking CTA Timing

Control when Pounce suggests a meeting:

Setting	Description
After Nth message	Offer booking after the AI has exchanged N messages with the lead
On escalation	Offer booking when the lead asks about pricing, timeline, or next steps
Never	Don’t auto-suggest — only mention if the lead asks

Default: after the 2nd AI message.

Custom CTA Text

Edit the booking call-to-action in Settings → Booking CTA:

• Default: “Would you like to schedule a quick call? [Book a time →]”
• Custom: Write anything that fits your tone

What Happens After Booking

When a booking webhook arrives:

1. Pounce matches the lead by email address
2. The lead status transitions to Scheduled
3. A booking confirmation message appears in the conversation (with date, time, and event title)
4. The event is logged with booking details (provider, time, timezone)
5. If no lead exists for that email, Pounce creates one with scheduled status

Closing Leads After Booking

Once a meeting has taken place, you can manually update the lead status:

• Closed Won — the meeting went well and the deal closed
• Closed Lost — the lead didn’t show, declined, or went cold

Use the status dropdown on the lead detail page in your admin dashboard.

No Booking Tool?

If you don’t use Cal.com or Calendly, you can skip booking integration. Pounce still works for lead capture and AI response. You can always add booking later.