> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.callkaro.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Chat Routing
> Every setting in the panel, in the order you meet it
Seven settings decide what happens around your flow — when you are open, who a
handoff reaches, what a visitor is told when nobody does, and what closes a
conversation.
They are set **once for the whole account**, not per agent and not per widget.
Changing any of them takes effect immediately; nothing needs republishing.
Settings → Chat routing. The same panel is on the
[Widgets](https://callkaro.ai/dashboard/widgets) page.
***
## 1. Business Hours
When your team answers.
| | |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **On / off** | Off means handoffs are accepted at any hour |
| **Timezone** | An IANA zone, e.g. `Asia/Kolkata` |
| **Each weekday** | One window, in 15-minute steps. A day switched off is closed. |
| **Said while you are closed** | What a visitor asking for a person is told |
**Only handoffs are gated.** The flow itself replies at all hours, and a chat
already with a person is never cut off at closing time. Business hours are not
an "our bot is asleep" switch.
Switching this on with no days set would mean closed all week and every handoff
refused — a setting that looks enabled and behaves like a blocked queue — so
Monday to Friday, 09:00–18:00 is seeded for you.
**Holidays** are honoured by the runtime, overriding that weekday's hours, but
there is no control for them in the dashboard yet.
***
## 2. When Nobody Is Available
A visitor asks for a person and nobody is marked as taking chats. Rather than
leave them in a queue no one is reading, your ticket code runs, they are told,
and the conversation closes.
| | |
| ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **What the visitor is told** | The away message. Can quote anything your code returns, e.g. `{{ticket_id}}`. |
***
## 3. If Nobody Replies
A chat **was** picked up and then nothing happened.
| | |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| **Minutes** | 0–1440. **0 switches it off.** |
| **What the visitor is told** | Shown only when the timer is on |
Counted from the **visitor's last unanswered message**, so a chat being answered
normally never trips it. When it fires: a ticket is raised, the visitor is told,
and the chat closes.
With this off, an assigned conversation stays open until somebody ends it. There
is no other timer — see
[Human handoff](/widget/chat/human-handoff#ending-it).
***
## 4. When A Chat Ends
Sent when a teammate ends the chat.
If the flow's **Handoff to a person** card has its exit wired, **that card runs
instead** and this message is not used. The flow author has already said what
happens next, and two closing messages is one too many.
So this is the wording for handoffs that hand back to nothing — which is the
common case.
***
## 5. Show Your Hours In The Widget
A line at the top of the chat. You choose **when it appears**; the times come
from section 1.
| Mode | Behaviour |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| **Only when you are closed** | The default |
| **Always** | Shown whether you are open or not |
| **Never** | Nothing is ever shown, even while you are shut |
Leave the text empty for the widget's own wording, which already reads correctly
either way. Write your own and `{{hours}}` becomes *10:00 AM - 7:00 PM* and
`{{day}}` becomes *today*, *tomorrow* or a weekday name.
Full detail, including why the day label exists, in
[Appearance and hours](/widget/chat/appearance#telling-the-visitor).
With business hours switched off nothing is shown, whatever the mode — there are
no hours to state.
***
## 6. Note Above "Start A New Conversation"
One optional line on the home screen. Empty by default, and empty renders
nothing.
Deliberately separate from the hours notice: an account with no business hours
may still want to say something there, and an account showing its hours may not.
***
## 7. Raise A Ticket
The Python that creates the ticket, run in all three cases above. It gets a
`reason` of `away`, `closed` or `unanswered`, so one function can write a
sensible ticket for each.
Contract, worked examples, and what happens when it fails:
[Raise a ticket](/widget/chat/ticket-fallback).
***
## Which Message Is Used
The three ticket messages map to the three reasons. Any one left empty falls
back to the away message.
| Situation | `reason` | Message |
| ------------------------------- | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Nobody marked as taking chats | `away` | When nobody is available |
| Asked for a person while closed | `closed` | Said while you are closed |
| Assigned, then no reply in time | `unanswered` | If nobody replies |
| A teammate ended the chat | — | When a chat ends, **unless** the handoff card's exit is wired |
If your ticket code fails, a message that **quotes a ticket placeholder** is
replaced with a generic sentence — promising a reference that does not exist
reads as *"ticket is open"*. A message that does not quote one is used as you
wrote it. Either way a **ticket failed** event appears on the timeline in
Contacts.
***
## Next Steps
The code, and what it receives
Availability, assignment, ending