When a customer calls your Romulus number, the system doesn't just ring your phone. Instead, it runs through a set of instructions — your inbound rules — that decide exactly what happens to that call. The rules can ring your phone, send the call to voicemail, answer with an AI agent, or play a menu asking the caller what they need. This article explains what inbound rules are, how they work, and what you can build with them.
Why This Matters
Without inbound rules, all calls would work the same way — which doesn't fit most businesses. You probably want calls to behave differently depending on whether it's business hours or after hours. You might want some calls to answer automatically with your AI agent while others ring your team. You might want to ask callers to press 1 for sales and 2 for support. Inbound rules let you design exactly how your phone system responds to every call.
How Inbound Rules Work
Think of inbound rules as a flowchart that the system runs every time someone calls:
A customer dials your Romulus number
The system immediately checks your inbound rules
The rules guide the call through blocks — each block makes a decision or takes an action
The call ends up in one of several places: ringing your phone, your AI agent, voicemail, or back to the caller with a recorded message
The Blocks You'll Use
Your inbound rules are built from blocks — each block does one thing. Here are the main ones:
Business Hours Block — Checks the time. "If it's 9 AM to 5 PM, do this. If it's after hours, do that." This is how you send after-hours calls to voicemail or a specific greeting instead of ringing your team.
Voice Menu Block (IVR) — Plays a menu to the caller. "Press 1 for sales, press 2 for support, press 3 to leave a message." The caller's choice determines where the call goes next.
Ring Block — Sends the call to a phone number, your app, or a specific team member. This is how calls actually reach people.
Voicemail Block — Sends the call straight to voicemail and plays a greeting.
AI Agent Block — Hands the call to your AI agent. The agent answers and handles the conversation based on your prompt and knowledge base.
Queue Block — Holds the call in a virtual queue while it waits for a team member to answer. The caller hears on-hold music instead of ringing.
Each block can trigger different outcomes. For example, a Ring Block might send a call to one team member, and if they don't answer in 30 seconds, the rule can send it somewhere else — like another team member, voicemail, or your AI agent.
A Real Example
Here's what a typical business might set up:
"When a customer calls, check what time it is. If it's during business hours (9 AM to 5 PM), play a voice menu asking them to press 1 for sales or 2 for support. If they press 1, ring my sales team. If they press 2, ring my support team. If they don't answer, send the call to voicemail. If it's after hours, skip the menu and play a message saying 'We're closed' and send them straight to voicemail."
That whole flow is built from a Business Hours block → a Voice Menu block → two Ring blocks → a Voicemail block.
What You'll Learn
In the coming articles, we'll walk through setting up each of these blocks and connecting them into rules that work for your business. You'll learn:
How to set your business hours so calls behave differently outside your normal schedule
How to create a voice menu (IVR) that asks callers what they need
How to ring the right person or team for each situation
How to handle calls that don't get answered with voicemail
How to distribute calls fairly across your team
How to turn on your AI agent so it answers calls automatically
When You're Ready
Once you've finished this article, move to the next one: Setting Your Business Hours. That's where you'll create your first rule and tell Romulus when your business is open.