Cliniko, Nookal, Gensolve, Halaxy: What Can an AI Booking Assistant Actually Do With Each?
Key Takeaways
- An AI booking assistant can do three different jobs depending on your practice software: send patients to a booking link, show live availability, or book straight into the diary.
- With QuackChat, Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve get the full set: live availability, new patient registration and booking inside the chat, with the patient tapping Confirm before any appointment is written.
- Halaxy is read-only. The assistant shows each practitioner's real open times, then the patient finishes on your Halaxy booking page. It never books, moves or cancels a Halaxy appointment.
- Cancelling and rescheduling work on Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve only, and stay off until the clinic switches on patient notifications for them. A returning patient also has to pass a phone, date of birth and name check first.
- Any other practice software gets the booking-link level. Connecting practice software at any of these levels needs QuackChat's Pro plan or above.
What an AI booking assistant can do depends on which practice software you use. On Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve, QuackChat can check real availability, register a new patient and book the appointment in the chat once the patient confirms. On Halaxy it shows live open times and hands the patient to Halaxy's own booking page. On anything else it answers questions and sends patients to your booking link. This page compares the four systems side by side; each one has its own detailed guide, linked below.
Contents
- What are the three levels of booking assistant?
- What can the assistant do with each system?
- What does full booking look like on Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve?
- How does it recognise a returning patient on each system?
- Why are cancel and reschedule off to begin with?
- What does the Halaxy connection do?
- What if your practice software is not on the list?
- What does each system need for setup?
- Which safety rails apply on every system?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- References
What are the three levels of booking assistant?
"Booking chatbot" covers three quite different products, and it helps to know which one you are buying.
- Booking link. The assistant answers questions from your website, then sends the patient to your existing online booking page to finish. It can't see your diary.
- Read-only. The assistant connects to your practice software's API and reads real availability, so it can say "Thursday at 4pm with Sam" instead of "check our booking page". The patient still completes the booking somewhere else.
- Transactional. The assistant reads availability and also writes to the diary: it registers a new patient from the intake form they fill in, and creates the appointment inside the chat after the patient confirms.
(Some guides, including our booking overview, count an answer-only bot as the first level. Every QuackChat clinic bot does that much, so this page starts at the booking link.)
Each level builds on the one before. A clinic can also choose a lower level than its software supports, for example running Cliniko in read-only mode while the team gets comfortable. In QuackChat, connecting practice software at any of the three levels needs the Pro plan or above.
What can the assistant do with each system?
Here is the whole comparison in one table. Every row reflects what QuackChat's connection for that system does today.
| Cliniko, Nookal, Gensolve | Halaxy | |
|---|---|---|
| Answer questions from your website | Yes | Yes |
| Show live availability in the chat | Yes | Yes |
| Register a new patient | Yes | No |
| Book an appointment in the chat | Yes, after the patient confirms | No, the patient finishes on Halaxy |
| Cancel or reschedule | Only if the clinic turns it on | No |
| Highest level | Transactional | Read-only |
Two things the table can't show. First, the assistant respects how your diary is set up. On Cliniko, for example, it follows your online booking settings, so a practitioner or appointment type you have hidden from online bookings stays hidden. On Halaxy, the openings it shows follow each practitioner's online booking preferences, such as lead time and how far ahead patients can book. Second, any system not in the table still gets the first row plus a link to your booking page.
What does full booking look like on Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve?
On these three systems the whole booking can happen in one conversation on your own website.
- The patient asks a question, such as "do you treat Achilles pain and can I get in this week?"
- The assistant answers from your website, then checks live openings in your diary.
- A new patient fills in a short intake form in the chat, and the assistant registers them in your practice software.
- The assistant shows a confirmation card with the practitioner, time and appointment type. Nothing is booked until the patient taps Confirm.
- The appointment appears in your diary like any other online booking.
Each system has its own details. On Cliniko, QuackChat re-checks that the exact slot is still free just before it writes. On Gensolve, the booking is sent with Gensolve's own clash detection left switched on. On Nookal, the assistant only offers a start time when the whole appointment fits in the open time, not just its first few minutes. The Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve guides cover each one in depth.
How does it recognise a returning patient on each system?
This is where the systems differ most, because each one's API offers different ways to search for a patient.
- Gensolve lets the assistant search by phone number. QuackChat checks both the mobile and the phone fields, because a returning patient's number can sit in either.
- Cliniko has no phone-number search for patients in its API. Returning patients are matched on name and date of birth, then the phone number on file is checked.
- Nookal is the same as Cliniko. Its patient search takes names, date of birth and email, but not a phone number [3], so the assistant asks for name and date of birth.
Before anything changes on an existing booking, the patient fills in a short verification form with their phone, date of birth and full name, which is checked against your records. A miss always gets the same reply ("We couldn't verify those details. Please check and try again, or contact the clinic.") whatever the reason, so the form can't be used to find out whether someone is your patient.
Why are cancel and reschedule off to begin with?
Because moving or cancelling someone's appointment is a bigger step than booking a new one, and the clinic should choose it deliberately.
On Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve, QuackChat removes the cancel and reschedule abilities completely unless the clinic has turned on patient notifications for that action. Both settings are off for a new connection. Switching one on does two things at once: it lets the assistant offer that change, and it turns on the email that tells the patient about it, so a change made through the chat leaves a record the patient can see.
When they are on, the flow is still guarded. The patient must pass the phone, date of birth and name check described above, and must then tap Confirm on a card showing exactly which appointment is changing.
If your assistant books happily but declines to cancel, this setting is the reason. It's working as designed. Halaxy never offers either action, because its connection is read-only.
What does the Halaxy connection do?
It shows real availability and hands the booking to Halaxy.
QuackChat reads each practitioner's open times through Halaxy's API and offers them in the chat on your practice's clock, then sends the patient to your Halaxy booking page to finish. Your Halaxy intake forms, payments and confirmations run exactly as they do today, because the booking itself happens in Halaxy.
That makes it a good fit for practices, often psychology and counselling, that want patients to see "Tuesday 10am or Thursday 2pm" without waiting for a reply, but are happy for Halaxy to own the booking step.
Three practical points. The Halaxy API is a paid add-on: Halaxy's help centre says only the account owner can buy it, it costs 150 credits a month, and new subscribers get a 30-day free trial [4]. QuackChat's connection works with Halaxy's Australian service only. And the connection needs your practice's time zone set, because Halaxy returns times in UTC. The Halaxy guide explains the rest.
What if your practice software is not on the list?
You still get a useful assistant, at the booking-link level.
It answers patients' questions from your website (services, fees you publish, parking, referrals, health fund rebates), helps them work out what they need, and then sends them to your existing booking page to choose a time. It can't see your diary, so it won't promise a slot, and it can't book.
That still closes a real gap. Many patient questions arrive in the evening, when nobody is at the desk, and "do you treat this?" is often the question that decides whether someone books at all. A pre-qualified patient landing on your booking page is better than one who gave up on a contact form.
Like the other levels, a booking-link connection needs the Pro plan or above. For more on the difference between levels, see how live booking works inside the chat.
What does each system need for setup?
Every system needs two things: access to your practice software, and a crawl of your website so the assistant can answer from your own pages.
| System | What you create | Who creates it |
|---|---|---|
| Cliniko | An API key, after allowing yourself to create API keys in your user settings [1] | Any Cliniko user allowed to make keys |
| Nookal | An API key | The practice, in Nookal |
| Gensolve | API access, a secret key and an API user with chosen endpoints, plus a list of allowed IP addresses [2] | Gensolve Support switches access on; the clinic sets up the user |
| Halaxy | A client ID and secret with retrieve access to practitioners, appointments and healthcare services | The account owner buys the add-on; the owner, or a user they give API Key Manager access, creates the key [4] |
Cliniko warns that giving someone your API key gives them access to your Cliniko data, so share it only with software you trust [1]. Step-by-step instructions are in the Cliniko, Nookal, Gensolve and Halaxy setup guides.
Which safety rails apply on every system?
Some rules don't change with the practice software.
- The patient approves every write. Booking, cancelling and rescheduling each need a tap on a confirmation card. Registering a new patient happens through the intake form the patient fills in themselves.
- Identity before changes. Changes to an existing appointment need the phone, date of birth and name check.
- Every action is logged. Each booking action the assistant takes is recorded for the clinic, with the patient details it was given masked in the log.
- No medical advice. The rule against personalised medical advice sits in a part of the assistant's instructions that a clinic's own custom prompt can't remove.
- Answers come from your site. Business facts such as prices, funders or age limits are only stated when your website publishes them.
To see how the assistant fits your clinic, visit the healthcare page, or read what your clinic website should say so its answers are right from day one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which practice software can an AI assistant book into directly?
With QuackChat, Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve. On those three the assistant can register a new patient from an intake form in the chat, and book an appointment once the patient confirms it. Halaxy is read-only, and other systems use your booking link.
Can a chatbot book into Halaxy?
Not with QuackChat. Its Halaxy connection shows live availability in the chat and sends the patient to your Halaxy booking page to finish, so Halaxy's own intake and confirmation steps still apply.
Can patients cancel or reschedule through the chat?
On Cliniko, Nookal and Gensolve, yes, once the clinic turns on patient notifications for that action. Both are off by default. The patient must also pass a phone, date of birth and name check and confirm the change.
Why does the assistant ask for my date of birth?
Cliniko's and Nookal's APIs can't search patients by phone number, so the assistant matches returning patients on name and date of birth. Before any change to an existing booking, a short form checks phone, date of birth and name together.
Which QuackChat plan do I need for live booking?
Practice software connections, from a booking link up to direct booking, need the Pro plan or above. See pricing for current plans.
Will the assistant show practitioners I've hidden from online bookings?
On Cliniko, no: the assistant uses the practitioners and appointment types you have marked for online bookings. On Halaxy, openings follow each practitioner's online booking preferences, so check the times it shows after setup. On Nookal and Gensolve, the practitioners and services are synced from your practice software, so check that list after setup.
References
- Cliniko Help, "Generate a Cliniko API key". https://help.cliniko.com/en/articles/1023957-generate-a-cliniko-api-key (retrieved 8 October 2026)
- Gensolve documentation, how to get started using the GPM API. https://docs.gensolve.com/help/gpm_nz/desktop/Knowledge_Base/GPM_API/How_to_get_started_using_GPM_API.htm (retrieved 8 October 2026)
- Nookal API reference, patients. https://api.nookal.com/dev/reference/patient (retrieved 8 October 2026)
- Halaxy Support, guide to Halaxy API (updated 7 October 2026). https://support.halaxy.com/hc/en-au/articles/13014722009487-Guide-to-Halaxy-API (retrieved 8 October 2026)