---

title: "After-Hours Routing with a Chatbot — How It Works"

slug: "after-hours-bot-routing-v10"

topicId: 171

description: "What happens when a visitor asks your chatbot for a live agent outside of business hours, and how to configure the after-hours message flow."

published: true

botResponse: true

botSummary: "Outside business hours, the chatbot should show your after-hours message instead of transferring to an agent. This requires a schedule in Admin > Scheduling, Enable Scheduling turned on in Site Settings, and either an Unavailable Path on the AssignToGroup action or a CheckGroupAvailability node added before it in your bot flow."

tags: "after-hours,scheduling,business-hours,chatbot,bot,routing,unavailable,live-agent,transfer,check-availability"

---

What Happens When a Visitor Asks for a Live Agent

Your chatbot handles the conversation. At some point — either because the visitor asked, or because your bot flow reaches that step — the system needs to decide: connect this person to an agent, or show the after-hours message?

Here is exactly what happens:

During Business Hours

1. Visitor asks to speak to someone.

2. The system checks: is this group open right now? Are agents available?

3. Yes — the visitor is transferred into the agent queue.

4. An agent picks up the chat.

Outside Business Hours

1. Visitor asks to speak to someone.

2. The system checks: is this group open right now?

3. No — the visitor is not transferred to an agent.

4. Instead, the bot follows your Unavailable Path — the after-hours message or flow you set up.

5. The visitor sees that message. The chat ends or continues in the bot.

---

What You Need to Set Up

Three things must be in place for after-hours routing to work:

1. A Schedule — Admin > Scheduling

Create a schedule, set your days and hours, and assign it to the group your bot transfers to. Without this, the system has nothing to check against.

2. Scheduling Turned On — Admin > Site Settings

Turn on Enable Scheduling. If this is off, your schedule is completely ignored — visitors will be routed to agents at any hour regardless of what the schedule says.

3. An Unavailable Path in Your Bot Flow — Designer

You have two ways to do this. Option B is recommended.

Option A — Set an Unavailable Path on the AssignToGroup action

Open your bot in Designer, find the AssignToGroup action, and set the Unavailable Path field. When the group is closed, the bot follows that path instead of transferring. If you leave this blank, the chat closes with a generic message and the visitor gets no explanation.

Option B — Add a CheckGroupAvailability node before AssignToGroup (recommended)

Add a CheckGroupAvailability node earlier in your bot flow, before the transfer step. This explicitly checks whether the group is open and routes the visitor down one of two paths before a transfer is even attempted:

Visitor asks for an agent
          ↓
 CheckGroupAvailability
   ├── Open → AssignToGroup (transfer to agent)
   └── Closed → After-hours message path

This is cleaner because the visitor is handled entirely within the bot flow — the after-hours experience is fully under your control rather than relying on a fallback.

> Timezone matters. Your schedule runs in the timezone set under Admin > Site Settings > Timezone. Make sure it matches where your agents are. If it is wrong, the system may think you are open when you are closed, or vice versa.

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What Happens If It Isn't Configured

If scheduling is not enabled, or no schedule is assigned to the group, the bot will attempt to transfer every visitor to an agent regardless of time. Since no agent is available after hours, the visitor sits in the queue. After the queue timeout (default 5 minutes) they receive a generic "no one is available" message — not your configured after-hours message.

This is the most common reason customers report that the chatbot is sending visitors to agents after hours.

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What Happens When Agents Are Physically Logged Out

If all agents in the group are logged out or set to Unavailable in the console, the bot treats the group as unavailable and immediately follows the Unavailable Path — even without a schedule. This works correctly on its own.

However this is not reliable as a substitute for a schedule. If even one agent remains logged in past business hours, visitors will be placed in queue and wait until timeout. A configured schedule is the only way to guarantee after-hours routing regardless of which agents are logged in.

---

Quick Checklist

• [ ] Schedule created and assigned to the destination group — Admin > Scheduling
• [ ] Enable Scheduling is on — Admin > Site Settings
• [ ] Site timezone is correct — Admin > Site Settings > Timezone
• [ ] CheckGroupAvailability node added before AssignToGroup in the bot flow, OR Unavailable Path set on the AssignToGroup action — Designer
• [ ] The unavailable path shows a message that makes sense to the visitor

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the difference between CheckGroupAvailability and the Unavailable Path on AssignToGroup?

Both check the same thing. The difference is where the visitor ends up. CheckGroupAvailability lets you build a full after-hours path in your bot flow — you control every message. The Unavailable Path on AssignToGroup is a fallback that kicks in if the transfer is blocked. Using CheckGroupAvailability before AssignToGroup gives you more control and is the recommended approach.

Q: My bot uses AssignToAgent (a specific named agent) instead of AssignToGroup. Does the schedule apply?

No. AssignToAgent goes directly to one person and does not check business hours. If you need after-hours enforcement, switch to AssignToGroup, or add a CheckGroupAvailability node before the AssignToAgent step.

Q: What is the queue timeout and where do I change it?

The queue timeout is how long a visitor waits in queue before being sent to the unavailable action. It defaults to 5 minutes and is set per group under Admin > Groups > [Group Name] > Queue Settings. This is a last-resort fallback — it is not a replacement for configuring after-hours routing in your bot flow.

Q: Does CheckGroupAvailability also check agent availability, or only the schedule?

It checks both — schedule and whether agents are online and available. If either fails, it routes to the unavailable path.