Key Takeaways
- Yes. Nookal's API lets a website chatbot read live availability, register a new patient and book an appointment, and patients never need to leave your site.
- You create the API key yourself in Nookal, and choose which locations it can reach. Nookal recommends one key per app, disabled when you stop using it.
- Nookal's patient search can't look people up by phone number, so returning patients are found by name and date of birth, then checked against the phone number on file.
- Nookal reports availability as a grid of open and taken times. A good integration only offers a start time when the whole appointment fits, not just the first few minutes of it.
- Nookal's own online bookings already run 24/7. A chatbot adds the conversation before the booking: answering the questions that decide whether a patient books at all.
Yes, a website chatbot can book into Nookal. Nookal publishes an API with calls for locations, practitioners, appointment types, availability, patients and bookings. Connected with a key your practice creates, an assistant can check real openings, register a new patient and book once the patient confirms, all inside the chat on your own website. Here's how it works, and where it differs from Nookal's own online bookings.
Contents
- What does Nookal's API let a chatbot do?
- How do you give a chatbot access safely?
- How does it read Nookal availability?
- How does it recognise patients?
- Can it cancel or reschedule?
- How is it different from Nookal online bookings?
- How to set it up
- Frequently Asked Questions
- References
What does Nookal's API let a chatbot do?
Nookal's API (version 2) covers the whole booking chain. It lists locations, practitioners and appointment types, returns availability for a practitioner at a location over a date range, and adds, updates, cancels and rebooks appointments [1]. It can also search patients and add new ones [2].
That means a connected assistant can do what your front desk does for a straightforward booking:
- Find which practitioners work at which location, and what they offer
- Check real open times for the appointment the patient wants
- Register a first-time patient
- Book the appointment, once the patient says yes
Nookal describes its API as a way to "securely connect to your account" for "custom synchronisation, reporting, analysis, and more" [3]. Booking from your website is one of the most useful things to connect it to.
How do you give a chatbot access safely?
With a key your practice creates and controls. In Nookal, an administrator generates an API key under Setup, then Connections, then API Keys, and chooses which locations the key can access [4].
Nookal's own advice is good practice for any integration [4]:
- One key per app, so you can switch one off without affecting the others
- Only the locations it needs. A clinic taking online bookings at two of three sites should only grant those two
- Disable keys you no longer use
The key goes into the chatbot's settings, not onto your website. QuackChat stores connection credentials encrypted and uses the key only from its servers.
How does it read Nookal availability?
Nookal returns availability as a grid: a practitioner's diary broken into small cells, each marked open or taken [1]. Turning that grid into bookable times takes care.
The size of each cell varies between practices, so QuackChat detects it for your practice rather than assuming 15 minutes. It then joins consecutive open cells and only offers a start time when the whole appointment fits. A 45-minute initial consultation needs 45 open minutes, not just an open first cell. Getting this wrong is how a chatbot offers a slot that clashes with the next patient.
Nookal's booking call also refuses overlapping bookings by default [1], which is a second safety net. QuackChat only offers practitioners who have a diary and are active, so a retired clinician or an admin account never appears as bookable.
For multi-location clinics, QuackChat checks each location and practitioner combination the key allows, within a sensible limit, so patients see openings across your sites.
How does it recognise patients?
Returning patients are matched by name and date of birth. Nookal's patient search accepts email with first name, last name and date of birth, or a general search, but not a phone number [2]. So an assistant can't simply look someone up by mobile. QuackChat asks a returning patient for their name, phone and date of birth in a short form, matches the record, and if there's no match asks the patient to check their details or contact the clinic, rather than guessing.
New patients are registered first. Nookal requires a first name, last name and date of birth to add a patient [2]. QuackChat collects those, plus contact details, in an intake form, creates the patient in Nookal and books in the same conversation.
In both cases, the patient confirms the appointment before it is booked. The assistant shows the practitioner, location, date, time and appointment type and waits for a yes.
Can it cancel or reschedule?
Nookal's API supports it: there are calls to update, cancel and rebook an appointment [1]. Whether you allow it is your decision.
In QuackChat, cancelling and rescheduling are off until the clinic switches on patient notifications for them, so every change emails the patient (when they have an email on file) and leaves a paper trail. Until then, a patient who asks to cancel is told to contact the clinic, rather than being told it's done when it isn't. Once they're on, the assistant verifies the patient first and asks for confirmation before moving or cancelling anything.
Your cancellation policy stays yours to state. Put it on your website and the assistant will quote it from there.
How is it different from Nookal online bookings?
Nookal's online bookings already let patients book around the clock. Nookal pitches them as keeping your practice "always open", even when the doors are closed [5]. So why add a chatbot?
Because the booking page answers "when?", and patients often need "whether" and "who" first. Healthengine says 43% of online bookings happen when practices are closed [6], and HotDoc found in 2019 that 51% were made between 5pm and 9am [7]. At those hours there's nobody to ask whether you treat their problem, which practitioner suits them, or what the first visit costs. The assistant answers those questions from your website, then offers real times and books.
| Nookal online bookings | Website chatbot (API) | |
|---|---|---|
| Lives | On a booking page | On your own website |
| Answers questions first | No | Yes, from your site content |
| Booking | Patient picks from the calendar | Patient picks from times offered in the chat |
| Best for | Returning patients who know what they want | New patients still deciding |
Many clinics keep both. If your booking page is linked on your site, the chatbot can point people to it when that's the better route.
Nookal also lists AI partners on its integrations page, most of them phone agents or clinical scribes [3]. If you're weighing a phone agent against website chat, see our comparison of website chat and AI phone receptionists.
How to set it up
With QuackChat:
- Create an API key in Nookal and select the locations it should reach.
- Connect Nookal in QuackChat. Choose Nookal, paste the key and test the connection.
- Choose Direct booking or Live availability, and whether to allow cancelling and rescheduling by switching on patient notifications for them. Practitioners, services and locations come from Nookal, so what's bookable follows the key's locations and your Nookal diary.
- Ask your assistant for a slot to check the full flow before you go live.
The full walkthrough is in the Nookal setup guide. Direct booking is on the Pro plan and above, and every paid plan starts with 30 days free on the plan you choose (card required). See pricing, or read how live booking works inside the chat for the bigger picture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Nookal have a built-in chatbot?
Not that we found. Nookal offers online bookings and lists third-party AI partners on its integrations page. Website chatbots such as QuackChat connect through the Nookal API.
Can a chatbot see live Nookal availability?
Yes. Nookal's API returns each practitioner's availability at a location over a date range, and a connected assistant reads it when the patient asks.
Can it book new patients, or only existing ones?
Both. Nookal needs a first name, last name and date of birth to add a patient. QuackChat collects those in a short form, creates the patient and books in the same conversation.
Can the chatbot double-book a practitioner?
It shouldn't. QuackChat only offers a time when the whole appointment fits in the diary, and Nookal's booking call refuses overlapping bookings by default.
Does it work across several clinic locations?
Yes. The key you create in Nookal decides which locations the assistant can see, and it offers openings across those locations, up to a set limit of location and practitioner combinations.
Is it safe to give a chatbot a Nookal API key?
Create a key just for that app, limit it to the locations it needs, and disable it if you stop using the app. QuackChat stores the key encrypted and never puts it on your website.
Do I still need Nookal's online booking page?
Many clinics keep it for returning patients who book the same practitioner regularly. The chatbot is best for new patients with questions, and if your booking page is linked on your site it can point people there when that suits them better.
References
- Nookal API reference, appointments. https://api.nookal.com/dev/reference/appointment (retrieved 30 September 2026)
- Nookal API reference, patients. https://api.nookal.com/dev/reference/patient (retrieved 30 September 2026)
- Nookal, integrations. https://www.nookal.com/au/integrations (retrieved 30 September 2026)
- Nookal Support, "Generating API Keys" (updated 29 June 2026). https://support.nookal.com/hc/en-us/articles/9191502612239-Generating-API-Keys (retrieved 30 September 2026)
- Nookal, online bookings feature page. https://www.nookal.com/au/features/appointment-scheduling/online-bookings (retrieved 30 September 2026)
- Healthengine, online booking system for practices (undated). https://practices.healthengine.com.au/online-appointment-booking-system-practices/ (retrieved 30 September 2026)
- HotDoc, "What 1 Million Bookings a Month Has Taught Us" (23 August 2019). https://practices.hotdoc.com.au/blog/1-million-bookings/ (retrieved 30 September 2026)