Configuration

Business Settings

In Settings, configure:

• Company name and description — Used by the AI to understand your business
• Industry — Helps the AI use the right terminology and context
• Website URL — Pounce can reference your site for accurate responses
• Response language — Default language for AI replies

AI Tone

Control how Pounce sounds:

• Professional — Formal, concise, business-appropriate
• Friendly — Warm, conversational, approachable
• Casual — Relaxed, informal, startup-friendly
• Custom — Write your own tone instructions (e.g., “Use sailing metaphors. Keep it under 3 sentences.”)

You can also add knowledge base entries — key facts the AI should reference in responses (pricing, hours, policies, etc.).

Response Rules

• Max AI messages per conversation — Default: 10. After this many exchanges, the lead is flagged for human review.
• Daily send cap — Default: 100 emails/day. Prevents runaway AI responses.
• Escalation triggers — Keywords that flag a lead as “hot” (e.g., “urgent”, “complaint”, “cancel”, “lawyer”). Triggered leads get a notification.

Inbox Settings

Configure inbound lead capture:

• Inbox provider — Gmail, Outlook, Resend (webhooks), or none (forms only)
• Resend — Enter your API key and the email address to monitor. Set up an inbound route in your Resend dashboard pointing to Pounce’s webhook URL
• Gmail / Outlook — OAuth-based connections. Click Connect and grant read permissions
• Monitoring mode — Real-time (push/webhooks) or polling (check every 5 minutes)

See Inbox Setup for connection steps.

Booking Settings

• Booking provider — Cal.com or Calendly
• Calendar link — Your scheduling page URL
• Auto-suggest booking — When to offer a meeting (after 2nd AI message, 3rd message, etc.)
• Booking CTA text — Customize the scheduling prompt

See Booking Integration for webhook setup.

Base Rules

Every AI response is governed by base rules — a set of mandatory instructions that apply regardless of your tone or form settings. These cover:

• Intent filtering — Automatically ignore spam, newsletters, and cold outreach
• Identity disclosure — AI identifies itself and the business
• Response boundaries — No fabricated info, no legal advice, no internal details
• Escalation rules — Immediate handoff when a customer asks for a human
• Compliance — Unsubscribe links, opt-out respect, follow-up limits

Base rules are loaded from src/config/base-rules.md at runtime. Self-hosted users can edit this file directly — changes take effect on restart. See AI Responses for the full details.