Opening hours
Opening hours tells Clarify when your team is available. You describe your hours as one or more schedules — each one covering a set of ticket categories with weekly windows — and pick what happens when someone opens a ticket outside them: the ticket opens with a "we're currently offline" card inside, the customer sees the card and may open anyway, or the category is closed until you are back.
The bot enforces this at every entry point: panel buttons, dropdowns, the input form, and reopening a closed ticket.
How it works
A member opens a ticket
Clarify looks up the schedule for that category: the one that claims it, or your default schedule if none does. A category no schedule covers is always open.
The current time is checked
Windows are evaluated in your team's timezone, to the minute. Closed dates count as closed all day.
Outside the hours, the schedule's mode decides
Open with notice creates the ticket and posts the outside-hours card inside it. Warn first shows the card with an Open anyway button. Closed shows the card and creates nothing.
The card says when you are back
The card carries the next opening as a Discord timestamp, so every reader sees it in their own local time.
Where does your team live?
Europe/Berlin, America/New_York or Asia/Tokyo. Required, default Europe/Berlin. Customers are never shown this timezone — the card uses Discord timestamps rendered in each viewer's local time.When are you open?
- Name — for your own orientation, for example Support hours or Billing team.
- Categories — the ticket categories this schedule covers. Leave it empty to make this the default schedule for every category no other schedule claims. A category can be claimed by one schedule only, and there can be only one default.
- Outside these hours — Open with notice: tickets still open and a closed-hours card is posted inside. Closed: tickets cannot be opened; the customer sees the card instead. Warn first: the customer sees the card and may still open via a button.
- Open when — one or more windows, each with the days it applies to (Mon–Sun) and a start and end time. Times are entered freely:
9becomes 09:00,930becomes 09:30,7 pmbecomes 19:00.
Holidays & the closed message
YYYY-MM-DD dates — public holidays, a team offsite. Press Enter after each date. A window running past midnight into a closed date is closed as well.The card itself is a blueprint named Outside opening hours under Blueprints in the dashboard. Its default reads "Our team is currently offline" followed by a line naming the next opening. Variables you can place in it:
| Variable | Becomes |
|---|---|
%opens_at% | The next opening as a full Discord timestamp (each viewer's local time). |
%opens_at_relative% | The same moment as a relative time — in 14 hours. |
%opens_at_line% | A ready-made sentence: We are back in 14 hours (…) — you can leave your message and we will pick it up then. When no opening is known within the next 14 days it falls back to a neutral line. |
%category_name% | The category the ticket was opened in. |
What members see
| Situation | Open with notice | Warn first | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panel button or dropdown, outside hours | Ticket opens; the card is posted inside it | The card with an Open anyway button | The card; nothing opens |
| Input form submitted after closing time | Ticket opens with the card | Ticket opens with the card | The form is refused |
| Customer reopens a closed ticket | Reopens | Reopens | Refused until you are open |
| Staff (with Staff bypass) | Opens without a card | Opens without a card | Opens without a card |
Every gate is checked again when Open anyway is clicked, so a schedule switched to Closed in the meantime still refuses.
Frequently asked
That depends on the schedule's mode. Open with notice and Warn first always let them through — the first silently with a card inside, the second after a click. Closed refuses new tickets and customer reopens for that category.
Your windows are evaluated in the timezone you set. Members never need to convert anything: the card shows the next opening as a Discord timestamp in their own local time.
Yes to both. Add a window per day pattern inside a schedule (Mon–Fri 09–18, Sat 10–14), and add a schedule per group of categories. Categories you do not list fall back to the default schedule.
No. Escalation is a staff-initiated move between tiers and has no timers; opening hours only govern when tickets are opened and reopened.