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Version: Peki

Business hours

Business hours tell your agents when your team is open. Set them once for the workspace, and every agent can use them: to say "we're closed, we'll call you back tomorrow" after hours, to know the current date and time, and to set the right expectations before handing a customer to a person.

You set them in Settings → Business hours. Only admins and owners can change them; everyone else sees them read-only.

The settings​

SettingWhat it doesDefault
TimezoneThe time zone your hours are in. Also used for the agent's date and time, the {{today}} variable and the Used this month credits count.Europe/Istanbul
One row per day, Monday to SundayA switch to open or close the day, and an opening and closing time.All days Closed (no hours set)

Set your hours​

  1. Go to Settings → Business hours.
  2. Pick your Timezone, for example America/New York for a clinic in New York or Europe/London for a shop in the UK.
  3. Turn on each day you're open. A day you turn on starts at 09:00 to 18:00.
  4. Change the opening and closing times. Times go in 30-minute steps, from 00:00 to 23:30.
  5. Click Save.

Days you leave off show Closed.

Rules​

  • One opening window per day. If you close for lunch, you can't add a second window; pick the hours that matter most to your customers.
  • The opening and closing time must differ.
  • Past midnight: if the closing time is earlier than the opening time, the window runs into the next day and Peki shows (next day). For example, Friday 18:00 to 02:00 means open from Friday 18:00 until Saturday 02:00.

Hours not set​

If no day is turned on, your workspace has no business hours. Then:

  • blocks set to During business hours or Outside business hours are never sent,
  • the agent still knows the date and time, but doesn't say whether you're open.

The instruction editor warns you: "Business hours aren't set yet, so this block is never sent."

How agents use business hours​

Each time a customer writes, Peki checks your hours in your time zone and works out whether you're open right now. The agent uses that in two places.

1. The agent's date and time​

With Current date and time on (it's on by default, under Instructions), the agent knows today's date, the time and whether you're open right now, in your workspace time zone. It reads something like:

It is Monday, 26 October 2026, 19:40 (Europe/London). The business is closed right now.

So the agent can answer "Are you open now?" or "Can someone call me today?" correctly.

2. Conditional instruction blocks​

Any instruction block can be Conditional: Only when… a condition is true. Choose Business hours and then:

  • Outside business hours: the block is sent only when you're closed.
  • During business hours: the block is sent only when you're open.

The block shows "when: outside business hours" or "when: during business hours" in the list.

Example for an online store:

Title: After hours
When: Outside business hours

Our support team is offline right now. Help the customer as far as you can.
If they need a person, take their order number and email, and tell them
the team will reply when we open (Monday to Friday, 09:00–18:00).

Business hours and handoff​

Handoff lets the agent bring in a person from your team (see Human handoff). Business hours don't switch handoff off; the agent can ask for a person at any time, and the conversation waits in the Inbox until someone takes over. Meanwhile the agent keeps helping.

Use your hours to set the right expectation:

  • Tell the agent what to say after hours. Add an Outside business hours block like the one above, so the customer knows when someone will answer.
  • Mention hours in your handoff rule. In Instructions → Handoff, When to ask for a person is your own text. You can write, for example: "When the customer asks for a refund. Outside business hours, first collect their order number and email."
  • During business hours, a block can promise a faster answer: "A team member usually replies within 10 minutes."

Because the agent knows whether you're open, it tells the customer "someone will join" during hours, and "the team will get back to you when we open" after hours, if your instructions say so.

Test it​

In the Test panel, Simulate → Hours lets you try both cases without waiting:

OptionMeaning
Real timeUses your real business hours and the current time.
OpenActs as if you're open now.
ClosedActs as if you're closed now.

The reply shows which blocks were used, so you can check that your after-hours block is sent only when you're closed.