Rule operators

Last updated: April 29, 2026

Every operator available in the rule builder — what it does, what kind of value to put on the right side, and a working example for each.

What's covered

This catalogs every operator you can choose in the rule builder when you're creating a policy rule or a form-level condition. It does not cover:

  • The And / Or grouping that combines multiple conditions — see 📄 Understanding policies for that.

  • The facts (left side of a condition) you can build rules against — those depend on your account's standard fields, custom attributes, and connected entities. The rule builder shows what's available as you type.

About the facts in these examples. Most placement-level data on a typical Onboarded account lives under placement.custom_attributes.* rather than as top-level placement fields. The examples below use realistic paths: top-level fields when they exist (client.name, job.name, job.address.state, employee.date_of_birth) and placement.custom_attributes.* for everything else.

The operator dropdown shows every operator regardless of the fact you've selected. The rule builder won't stop you from pairing an operator with a fact type that doesn't make sense (e.g., less than on a text field). The condition will simply never match. Use the table below to pair operators with the right kinds of facts.

Equality

Use these on any single-value fact — text, number, date, or a single-select option.

Operator

What it does

Input

Example

is

Matches when the fact exactly equals the value.

Single value of the same type as the fact.

client.name is "Acme Corp"

is not

Matches when the fact does not equal the value.

Single value of the same type as the fact.

placement.custom_attributes.employment_type is not "Contractor"

Comparison

Use these on facts that are numbers or dates. Comparing strings with these operators is generally not what you want — string comparison is alphabetical, not what most rules need.

Operator

What it does

Input

Example

less than

Matches when the fact is strictly less than the value.

A number or date.

employee.date_of_birth less than 2008-01-01

at most

Matches when the fact is less than or equal to the value.

A number or date.

placement.custom_attributes.pay_rate at most 25.00

greater than

Matches when the fact is strictly greater than the value.

A number or date.

placement.custom_attributes.start_date greater than 2026-01-01

at least

Matches when the fact is greater than or equal to the value.

A number or date.

placement.custom_attributes.pay_rate at least 15.00

Membership

Use these when the fact is a single value and you want to check whether it's one of several acceptable values — for example, "any of these states" or "any of these client names." Enter the values as a comma-separated list.

Operator

What it does

Input

Example

is in

Matches when the fact is one of the listed values.

Comma-separated list of values.

job.address.state is in California, Oregon, Washington

is not in

Matches when the fact is not one of the listed values.

Comma-separated list of values.

client.name is not in "Acme Corp", "Beta Inc"

List membership

Use these when the fact itself is a list — typically a multi-select field — and you want to check whether a particular value sits inside it.

Don't confuse contains with is in. They look similar but flip which side is the list. is in: the value is a list, the fact is a single value. contains: the fact is a list, the value is a single value to look for inside it.

Operator

What it does

Input

Example

contains

Matches when the fact (a list) includes the value.

Single value to look for inside the fact.

placement.custom_attributes.skills contains "Forklift"

does not contain

Matches when the fact (a list) does not include the value.

Single value.

placement.custom_attributes.skills does not contain "Forklift"

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