Booking turns on with the AI receptionist. We connect Square now; until that is switched on for your line, the receptionist takes a message instead.
Setup steps
- Choose Connect on this page or in the app. If it shows Guided setup, Connect opens a short form and our team connects it with you on a call.
- Sign in to Square as the account owner (or an admin with full access) on the Square page we open, check the permissions and choose Allow.
- Tell us which Square location takes phone orders and bookings.
- For orders: check your Square items have prices, required choices (such as size) set as modifier sets with a minimum of one, and sold out items marked sold out at that location. Give us your base prep time for pickup.
- For bookings: tell us which Square Appointments services the AI may book, and optionally which staff. Booking needs Square Appointments Plus or Premium.
- Reading the menu, open times and customers is on first. Turn on placing orders and booking in the app when you're ready.
- Call your number and place a test order and a test booking, then check them in Square.
Permissions we ask for, and why
- Read your items and menu (ITEMS_READ): So the AI offers only items you sell at your location, with the right sizes, options and prices, and skips items marked sold out.
- Create and read orders (ORDERS_WRITE, ORDERS_READ): So a phone order the caller confirmed is created in Square and priced by Square, including tax.
- Create payment links (PAYMENTS_WRITE): Square requires this to create a payment link. We use it only to make the secure Square link we text to the caller. The AI never takes card numbers and never charges a card.
- Look up and add customers (CUSTOMERS_READ, CUSTOMERS_WRITE): To greet a returning caller by first name, and because Square needs a customer on every appointment: if the caller is new, we add them with their name and phone number.
- Read and change appointments (APPOINTMENTS_READ, APPOINTMENTS_ALL_READ, APPOINTMENTS_WRITE, APPOINTMENTS_ALL_WRITE): Only used if you take Square Appointments: to find open times for the services you allow and to book, move or cancel. The ALL versions are what Square requires for a business account, not only one customer's bookings.
- Read your business profile and locations (MERCHANT_PROFILE_READ): So you can pick which Square location takes phone orders and bookings, and we can show it on the connector page.
What the AI receptionist will do
- Searches your Square menu for what the caller asks for, asks for required choices such as size or crust, and leaves out items you marked sold out.
- Has Square price the order, then reads back the items, the total with tax and the pickup time, and waits for a yes.
- Texts the caller a secure Square payment link. Square sends the order to your kitchen as soon as it is paid, and the AI tells the caller exactly that.
- Finds open times in Square Appointments for the services you allow, reads the time back, and books it only after the caller says yes.
- Moves or cancels an appointment only when the caller is calling from the phone number on that booking.
What it can't do, and limits
- Built from Square's documentation. Your account is among the first connected, so we check the first bookings and orders with you.
- Square only shows orders made by apps on your POS and kitchen display once they are paid. So phone orders use a payment link, and the order reaches the kitchen when the caller pays. Until then the AI says the order is waiting on payment, never that it is in.
- Pay at pickup needs our kitchen printer or kitchen screen as well: the order is saved in Square for your records, but Square will not show it to the kitchen unpaid.
- Booking, moving and cancelling appointments needs Square Appointments Plus or Premium. On the free Appointments plan the AI can still find open times, then takes a message.
- One Square location per connection. Pickup orders only, no delivery.
- Menu changes reach the AI within about five minutes. Items with variable prices are not offered on the phone.
- Square asks to approve the appointment permissions even if you only use ordering. Turned off actions are never used.
- The AI never takes card numbers on the phone.
The AI says something is booked or ordered only when Square confirms it. If Square doesn't answer in time, the AI takes a message instead and tells the caller someone will follow up.
Troubleshooting
A phone order isn't on my POS or kitchen display.
Square shows orders made by apps only once they are paid. Check whether the caller paid the link. Unpaid orders are listed in TimberSwitch with the order reference so nothing is lost.
The AI offered an item we've run out of.
Mark the item sold out at your location in Square. The AI's copy of the menu refreshes about every five minutes and sold out items are left out.
The AI didn't ask for a required choice such as size.
In Square, set the modifier set on that item to require at least one choice, or create the sizes as variations. The AI asks for whatever Square marks as required.
Bookings fail with a permissions or plan error.
Square only accepts bookings from apps on Square Appointments Plus or Premium. Check your plan, then try a test call again.
The connector says it needs attention or reconnecting.
Square refused our sign-in, for example after access was revoked in Square or a password reset. Choose Reconnect and approve again.
The total the AI read out differs from the receipt.
The AI reads the total Square calculated at the time of the call. Discounts or tips added at payment change the final amount.
Disconnecting, and the data we keep
An owner or admin can disconnect at any time from Phone, then Connectors, in the app. Disconnecting stops TimberSwitch using Square straight away.
- An encrypted Square access token and refresh token, the Square merchant id and the location you picked.
- A short lived copy of your menu (refreshed about every five minutes) used to answer callers.
- A log of each order and booking we sent: items, totals, Square references and a masked caller number.
- Open times and draft orders offered on a call are kept in memory for about 30 minutes, then dropped.
- Disconnecting deletes the tokens straight away. You can also revoke access in your Square Developer or account settings.
Still stuck?
Get help: it opens an Integration support ticket. Include the time of the call and what you expected to happen.
Block, Inc. (Square) is a trademark of its owner; TimberSwitch is not affiliated.