> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.birdie.so/birdie-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.birdie.so/birdie-docs/security/recording-scope.md).

# Recording Scope

Recording scope lets you choose which customers your team can request a recording from.

It applies everywhere a request link is created: the Intercom app, every other helpdesk integration, and Birdie itself. Recordings your team **sends** are never affected.

You find it in **Settings › Security ›** [**Recording scope**](https://app.birdie.so/settings/security?highlight=recording-scope). It is part of the Enterprise plan.

#### Allowlist or blocklist?

Pick one of two modes. They are opposites, not variations of each other:

* **Allowlist** — only customers matching your rules can be recorded. Everyone else is refused.
* **Blocklist** — everyone can be recorded, except customers matching your rules.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**An allowlist is far more restrictive than it looks.** It refuses every customer your rules do not explicitly match: a new lead, a colleague testing with a personal address, a customer whose email is not in Intercom yet. With a blocklist, only what you list is refused. With an allowlist, everything you did not list is refused. Choose an allowlist only when you genuinely want to record a known population and nobody else.
{% endhint %}

| The customer…                                   | Allowlist | Blocklist |
| ----------------------------------------------- | --------- | --------- |
| matches at least one rule                       | Allowed   | Refused   |
| matches no rule                                 | Refused   | Allowed   |
| has no record in your Intercom workspace at all | Refused   | Allowed   |

#### Writing rules

A customer only has to match **one** rule. Inside a rule, **every** condition must be true. Add conditions to make a rule narrower, add rules to catch more people.

A condition reads one of:

* the **email** on the request. It accepts a pasted list, so forty domains are one condition rather than forty.
* an Intercom **contact** or **company** attribute: the standard ones, your custom ones, and **Tags**.

Operators follow the attribute type. Text gets *is / is not / contains / does not contain / starts with / ends with / is set / is not set*. Numbers add *is more than / is less than*. Booleans get *is true / is false*. Tags get *includes / does not include / has any / has none*. Matching ignores case.

**These rules read from** names the Intercom workspace every customer is looked up in, whichever helpdesk or workspace the request comes from. If several workspaces are connected, a customer with no record in the chosen one matches no rule. The panel shows a warning when that applies to you.

Just created an attribute or a tag in Intercom? **Refresh attributes** re-reads the list.

#### Test an email

Type any customer address and press **Check** to see the verdict and, rule by rule, why: ✓ matched, ✕ did not match (with the value Birdie found), ? could not be answered because there is no such record. It reads live from Intercom, tests the rules as they are on screen, and saves nothing.

#### What a refused customer sees

* In the Intercom sidebar and composer, **Request a recording** is greyed out with *Not available for this customer*. The agent is not told which rule applied.
* If a link was created before the rule existed, opening it shows a page saying screen recording is turned off for their email address, with a ready-made message to send back to the agent. The customer is not told why either.

#### Good to know

* Rule changes and the on/off switch apply immediately. A change made in Intercom, such as a new tag or an edited attribute, is picked up within a minute.
* If Intercom cannot be reached, Birdie reuses its last answer for that customer for up to 24 hours. A customer it has never answered for is treated as matching no rule, and the table above says what happens next.