# Teach Rookery with playbooks

Playbooks are your team's rules for replies. Say what each one applies to, mark the few that always apply, and Rookery reads the ones each email needs.

Replies · Updated October 18, 2026 · https://userookery.com/help/playbooks/

A playbook is one of your team's rules, written down: when it applies, what to do, what never to do, and when to ask a person. Rookery follows it when it drafts, and each draft says which playbook it followed.

## Write a playbook

1. Open **Playbooks** in the sidebar, under **Teach and set up**, and click **New playbook**.
2. Fill in **When to use this** in a sentence, like "When a customer wants their money back for an order." Rookery uses it to find the playbook, so say when, not how.
3. Add blocks: **When** (which emails it's for), **Do**, **Don't**, **Ask a person** and **Example**.
4. Click the publish button, like **Publish v1…**, and confirm. Rookery uses it from the next draft.

## Say what it applies to

Under the title, **Applies to** has three choices: **Replies**, **Document checks** and **Sorting**. Pick any. Rookery marks the ones your blocks suggest as **Suggested**, and you decide. Only replies read playbooks today. Document checks and sorting come next.

## Always follow

Tick **Always follow** for a short rule your team never wants missed, like "never promise a date for a refund". Rookery reads it for every email it applies to, whatever the email says.

Always follow playbooks share 4,000 characters between them, so keep them few and short. The box shows how much is used. Past the limit, Rookery won't publish until you shorten one or turn one off.

## How Rookery picks playbooks

- **While your playbooks fit, Rookery reads all of them.** That's about 15 playbooks of normal length.
- **Past that, it reads the ones the email needs.** It always reads your **Always follow** playbooks. Then it searches your playbooks' **When to use this**, When blocks and Examples for the email's words and meaning, in any language. It reads whole playbooks, so a playbook's Don't and Ask blocks always come with it.
- **It takes a second look.** After it drafts, Rookery checks its own reply. If the reply talks about something a playbook it didn't read covers, like money, it drafts once more with that playbook. It can also ask for a playbook by name.
- **If a playbook may apply and Rookery still didn't read it, the draft waits for your yes**, and says which playbook.

Nothing an email says can stop Rookery reading a playbook. The email only helps it find more.

## See why a playbook was used

Hover over **Followed** on a draft, like **Followed Refunds v4**. Under the rules it followed, **Read because** says why Rookery read it: **Always follow**, the words that matched, or the second look.

## Good to know

- Archived playbooks aren't read.
- **Export .md** and **Import** keep **Applies to** and **Always follow** in the file, as `applies: [replies]` and `always: true`.
- Changing **Applies to** or **Always follow** shows in the version's changes, like any edit.
- See [where Rookery got its facts](https://userookery.com/help/where-drafts-come-from/) and [how much Rookery may do](https://userookery.com/help/how-much-rookery-may-do/).