How to Connect Your AI Receptionist to Cliniko
A step-by-step guide to connecting Grounded Scribe's AI Receptionist to your Cliniko account. Real-time availability, patient matching, appointment booking, and note pushing — all in under five minutes.
Summary
Connecting Grounded Scribe's AI Receptionist to Cliniko takes under five minutes. Once linked via API key, the AI checks your real-time Cliniko calendar, matches callers to existing patient records, and captures appointment requests against genuinely open slots. Every booking comes to you to approve before it's written to Cliniko — human-in-the-loop, so AI never touches your calendar or patient records without a clinician's sign-off. You can also push clinical notes to patient files. The integration is included free on every plan, and there are no per-API-call charges on either side.
This guide walks through connecting Cliniko and explains exactly what the integration does. One prerequisite for availability: the AI can only offer times once you've switched on online bookings in Cliniko — see Set up Cliniko availability for your AI receptionist.
What the Cliniko Integration Does
When a caller rings your AI Receptionist (or uses the chat widget on your website), the integration enables four key capabilities:
1. Real-time availability checking
The AI reads your Cliniko calendar to determine which appointment slots are genuinely available. It accounts for existing bookings, blocked time, and practitioner schedules. Callers are only offered slots that are actually open — no double-bookings.
2. Patient matching
When a caller provides their name and contact details, the AI searches your Cliniko patient database to find matching records. If the caller is an existing patient, their record is linked to the call automatically. If they're new, the AI collects their details and can create a new patient record.
3. Approve-then-book (human-in-the-loop)
The AI never books on its own. When a caller asks for a time, it captures the request and surfaces it in your review console with the caller's details and reason for calling. You approve, adjust, or decline — and only when you approve is the appointment written into Cliniko (with the correct practitioner, type, and duration) and the patient created there if they're new. It's the safety net clinicians want: AI does the legwork, a human signs off.
4. Clinical note pushing
After a recording session, you can push the generated clinical note directly to the patient's Cliniko record. Notes appear as patient letters in Cliniko, linked to the correct patient file.
How to Connect Cliniko
Step 1: Generate your Cliniko API key
- Log in to your Cliniko account
- Go to Settings (the gear icon)
- Select Integrations from the sidebar
- Under API Keys, click Generate New Key
- Give the key a descriptive name (e.g. "Grounded Scribe")
- Copy the API key — you'll need it in the next step
Your Cliniko API key looks like a long string of letters and numbers. Keep it secure — it provides access to your Cliniko data.
Step 2: Add the API key to Grounded Scribe
- Log in to Grounded Scribe
- Go to Settings → Integrations
- Find the Cliniko section
- Paste your API key into the field
- Enter your Cliniko region (typically "au" for Australian accounts)
- Click Connect
Grounded Scribe will verify the connection by fetching your practitioner and location details from Cliniko. If the key is valid, you'll see a green "Connected" status.
Step 3: Map your practitioners and locations
If your Cliniko account has multiple practitioners or locations, you can map each one to the correct Grounded Scribe user. This ensures the AI checks the right practitioner's schedule when answering calls.
For solo practitioners, this mapping is done automatically.
Step 4: Test the integration
The easiest way to test is to use the free browser test call:
- Go to Settings → Receptionist Setup
- Click Test in Browser
- Ask the AI about your availability for a specific date
- Verify that the slots it offers match your actual Cliniko calendar
If the slots are correct, the integration is working. You can also check that existing patients are recognised by calling in as a known patient.
What Syncs and When
| Data | Direction | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Cliniko → Grounded Scribe | Real-time (on each call/chat) |
| Patient records | Cliniko → Grounded Scribe | On demand (during patient matching) |
| Approved appointments | Grounded Scribe → Cliniko | When you approve them in your review console |
| New patients | Grounded Scribe → Cliniko | On approval, if no match was found |
| Clinical notes | Grounded Scribe → Cliniko | On demand (when you push a note) |
Pricing
The Cliniko integration is included at no extra cost on every Grounded Scribe plan — including the free tier. There are no per-API-call charges on the Grounded Scribe side.
On the Cliniko side, API access is included in all Cliniko plans at no additional cost.
Troubleshooting
"Connection failed" error: Double-check that you've copied the full API key (no trailing spaces) and that the region is correct. Australian accounts typically use "au".
Availability doesn't match: Make sure the practitioner mapping is correct. If your Cliniko account has multiple practitioners, the AI needs to know which practitioner's calendar to check.
Notes not appearing in Cliniko: Note pushing requires a linked patient record. Make sure the patient has been matched or created in Cliniko before pushing notes.
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The Cliniko integration is one of the fastest ways to get your AI Receptionist fully operational. With real-time availability and patient matching, callers get accurate information and approved appointments are written into Cliniko the moment you sign off — no manual data entry, and a clinician always in the loop.
Get started free and connect your Cliniko account in Settings → Integrations.
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