# Core concepts

> The nouns Airhug uses, defined once: workspace, line, channel, agent, person, AI token, plan tier and HIPAA compliance.

Source: https://docs.airhug.ai/getting-started/concepts
Last updated: 2026-09-29

Learn these terms and the rest of the docs read easily.

## Workspace

A workspace is one business. It has its own phone numbers, AI persona, knowledge, call-handling rules, team, billing and data. Nothing is shared between workspaces. The person who creates the workspace is its owner.

Each workspace has a **business category** and **subcategory** chosen at setup. The category decides the words the AI and the app use (for example "patient", "customer" or "client") and whether HIPAA compliance is on. See [business type and HIPAA](https://docs.airhug.ai/setup/business-type-and-hipaa.md).

## Line

A line is a phone number attached to a workspace, plus its settings: greeting, voice, when the AI answers, and what happens on transfer. A workspace can have one line on Starter and more on Business.

## Channel

A channel is a way customers reach you. Airhug has five:

| Channel | Direction | Where it lands |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Phone calls | Inbound, plus transfer to your staff | Inbox → Calls |
| Text messages | Inbound and outbound | Inbox → Messages |
| Email | Inbound and outbound | Inbox → Emails |
| Website chat | Inbound, with an optional in-browser call | Inbox → Website |
| Slack and Microsoft Teams | Staff talking to the staff assistant | Slack or Teams |

The AI follows the same rules, knowledge and persona on every channel. See [channels overview](https://docs.airhug.ai/channels/overview.md).

## AI receptionist and staff assistant

- The **receptionist** talks to your customers on every channel.
- The **staff assistant** talks to your team. It answers questions about your workspace, drafts messages and follows up on tasks. It is available on the Business plan. See [staff assistant](https://docs.airhug.ai/product/staff-agent.md).

## People

A person is a customer, patient, client or lead, whichever word your business uses. Airhug creates a person the first time someone calls, texts, emails or chats, and attaches every later contact to them. See [inbox and people](https://docs.airhug.ai/product/inbox-and-people.md).

## AI token

An AI token is the one billing unit for everything the AI says to a customer. Tokens are credits, not language-model tokens. A voice minute costs 10 tokens. A written reply costs 2. Each plan includes a monthly allowance. See [AI tokens](https://docs.airhug.ai/billing/ai-tokens.md).

## Plan tier

- **Starter** and **Business** are the two self-serve plans. **Enterprise** is custom and handled by sales.
- Each plan has a **standard** price and a **healthcare** price. The healthcare price includes HIPAA compliance. See [plans](https://docs.airhug.ai/billing/plans.md).

## HIPAA compliance

A per-workspace setting. When on, everything that can touch patient information (AI, email, storage, telephony) must run under a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA). It turns on automatically when you choose a healthcare category and cannot be switched off from the app. See [security and privacy](https://docs.airhug.ai/help/security-and-privacy.md).

## Soft launch and availability

Some features are live, some are limited, and some are coming. Each page says so at the top when it is not fully available. The full list is in [feature status](https://docs.airhug.ai/help/feature-status.md).