> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.recordengine.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rules Engine

> Automate document and case workflows with event-driven rules, scheduled scans, and multi-step approval chains.

## Overview

The Rules Engine lets you define conditions and actions that fire automatically — no code required. Rules can trigger on document events, case status changes, or a recurring schedule.

Navigate to **Rules Engine** in the sidebar to manage your rules.

***

## Trigger Types

### 📥 Document Event

Fires immediately after a document is processed and reaches Ready status.

**Available events:**

* `document_ready` — fires after every successful AI extraction

**Use case:** Flag low-confidence documents, create cases for review, move documents to folders, notify your team.

***

### 📋 Case Event

Fires when a case changes to a specific status.

**Available events:**

| Event              | When it fires              |
| ------------------ | -------------------------- |
| `case_resolved`    | Case marked as Resolved    |
| `case_closed`      | Case marked as Closed      |
| `case_ready`       | Case marked as Ready       |
| `case_in_progress` | Case marked as In Progress |
| `case_new`         | New case created           |
| `case_backlog`     | Case moved to Backlog      |

**Use case:** Auto-approve documents when their linked case is resolved. Trigger webhooks to external systems on case completion.

***

### ⏰ Schedule (Heartbeat)

Scans all documents on a recurring timer.

Configure the interval in minutes (e.g. every 60 minutes). The rule evaluates every document that matches its conditions on each scan.

**Use case:** Alert on documents stalled in Needs Review for more than 3 days. Weekly compliance checks.

***

## Conditions

Each rule supports up to 5 conditions combined with AND logic.

| Field              | Available Operators               |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------- |
| `confidence_score` | greater than, less than, equal to |
| `total_amount`     | greater than, less than, equal to |
| `status`           | equals, contains                  |
| `doc_type`         | equals, contains                  |
| `vendor_name`      | is empty, is not empty, contains  |
| `days_in_status`   | greater than (heartbeat only)     |
| Any custom field   | equals, contains, is empty        |

***

## Actions

| Action        | What it does                              |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| `set_status`  | Changes the document status               |
| `create_case` | Creates a new case linked to the document |
| `move_folder` | Moves the document to a specified folder  |
| `notify`      | Creates an in-app notification            |
| `webhook`     | POSTs a payload to an external URL        |
| `flag_review` | Sets status to Needs Review               |

***

## Multi-Step Approval Workflows

Case-event rules enable chained automation across documents and cases.

**Example: Low confidence → human review → auto-approve**

```
Rule 1 (Document Event):
  Trigger: document_ready
  Condition: confidence_score < 70
  Action: create_case (priority: High)

Rule 2 (Case Event):
  Trigger: case_resolved
  Action: set_status → Approved

Rule 3 (Document Event):
  Trigger: document_ready (status = Approved)
  Action: webhook → QuickBooks endpoint
```

When a document extracts at 65% confidence, Rule 1 creates a High-priority case. An accountant reviews the document, resolves the case. Rule 2 fires and auto-approves the document. Rule 3 fires and exports to QuickBooks.

***

## Loop Protection

The Rules Engine includes automatic loop detection. If a rule chain triggers itself recursively, execution stops after **5 levels of depth**.

Example of a loop that would be caught:

```
case_resolved → set_status Approved → document event → create_case → case_resolved → ...
```

The system logs a warning and stops execution at depth 5. No infinite loops are possible.

***

## Default Rules

Every fresh RecordEngine deployment seeds 3 default rules:

| Rule                            | Condition                                            | Action                |
| ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- |
| Low Confidence Extraction       | confidence\_score \< 70                              | create\_case (High)   |
| Invoice Missing Vendor Name     | doc\_type contains invoice AND vendor\_name is empty | create\_case (Medium) |
| Large Invoice Requires Approval | total\_amount > 10000                                | create\_case (High)   |

These can be edited, disabled, or deleted from the Rules Engine page.

***

## Execution Log

Every rule firing is recorded in the **Rule Execution Log** at the bottom of the Rules Engine page. Each entry shows:

* 📥 Document event / 📋 Case event / ⏰ Heartbeat icon
* Rule name and document/case it fired on
* Action taken and whether it succeeded
* Timestamp

The **Automation Flow** graph in each document's detail view shows the visual chain of events for that specific document.

***

## API

Rules can also be managed via the REST API. See [API Reference → Rules](/api-reference/rules) for full endpoint documentation.