Reference
How business hours and after-hours mode work
Set when you're open. Choose what Milo does outside those hours: take voicemails, politely end calls, or behave normally.
You set a weekly open/close schedule; outside those hours Milo runs one of three after-hours modes — take a voicemail, politely end the call, or behave normally.
Set business hours so Milo behaves correctly outside of them. Configured on the Receptionist page → Business hours card.
What you configure
- Weekly schedule — open / close times per day. Uncheck a day to mark it closed.
- Time zone — defaults to your browser's detected zone; change if your business is elsewhere.
- After-hours mode — one of three choices below.
- After-hours greeting — what Milo says first when a call lands outside hours.
The three after-hours modes
- Take voicemails (recommended). Milo still answers, but only takes structured voicemails — no bookings, no warm transfers (the human isn't there to take them).
- Politely end the call. Milo announces your hours, takes a brief callback message, and ends. Good for businesses that don't want any after-hours commitment.
- Behave the same as during hours. Disables after-hours behaviour entirely. Useful for 24/7 trades like locksmiths.
How it works under the hood
At call.start, Milo checks the current time against your schedule. If you're open, normal behaviour. If you're closed, the greeting swaps to your after-hours greeting and certain tools (book_appointment, transfer_call) are removed from what Milo can do — so even if its judgment slips, it physically can't book over a closed slot.
Frequently asked questions
- What happens to calls outside business hours?
- Milo runs your chosen after-hours mode: take a voicemail, politely end the call, or behave exactly as it does during open hours.
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