> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.ciarem.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Business hours: when your team takes handoffs > Set the days and hours your team takes conversations from the AI agents, add special hours for holidays and vacations, and make transfer rules follow them. **Business hours** tell Ciarem when your advisors are available to take conversations from the AI agents. You set them once, for the whole organization, in **Settings > General**. Any [transfer rule](https://help.ciarem.ai/ai-agent/human-handoff-and-escalation.md) can then follow them: inside your hours it hands the conversation to a person, and outside them the AI agents keep attending the customer. Admins set them up. ![The Business hours card in Settings > General: the hours for each day of the week, the timezone note, and the Special hours list](https://mintcdn.com/ciaremaai/AI0OGYSedCWxe9-5/images/ciarem-help-business-hours.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=AI0OGYSedCWxe9-5\&q=85\&s=7dc715093a87f41510d4763e0a978728) ## Set your weekly hours **1. Open the Business hours card** Go to **Settings**, then **General**, and find **Business hours**. Until you set them, the card says **You don't have business hours yet**. Click **Set up hours** (**Edit hours** once they exist). **2. Choose the days and the hours** Each day of the week has a switch. A day switched off is a **Day off (closed)**. A day switched on has one or more time ranges: use **Add another time range** for a split shift (9:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 19:00, for example), and **Copy to other days** to reuse a day's hours on other days. The first time, the dialog opens on Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00, with the weekend closed. ![The Business hours dialog: a switch per day, each day's time ranges, and Copy to other days](https://mintcdn.com/ciaremaai/AI0OGYSedCWxe9-5/images/ciarem-help-business-hours-dialog.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=AI0OGYSedCWxe9-5\&q=85\&s=c8fc01a44d4880851cde3cace834f9af) **3. Save** Click **Save hours**. The card lists every day with its hours, or **Closed**. Hours follow your organization's timezone, set in the **Timezone** card on the same page; the dialog and the card both name it. The time ranges of one day can't overlap, and each one must end after it starts. ## Special hours: holidays and vacations Once your weekly hours are saved, the card also shows **Special hours**: dates when your team won't be available, or works different hours than usual. Click **Add special hours** and fill in: * **Name**: for example "Christmas". * **Date**: one day, or a date range (pick a second day to extend it). For a range, **Which days does this apply to?** lets you limit it to some weekdays, for example only the Saturdays of December. * **Business hours**: **Closed all day** (your AI agents won't transfer conversations to advisors on those dates) or **Different hours**, with their own time ranges. * **Repeat every year**: applies the same dates automatically every year. A summary at the bottom of the dialog says what will happen in plain words before you save. Each special date then appears in the list with its dates and hours, and its **⋯** menu lets you edit or delete it. Deleting one sends those dates back to your regular hours. When two special dates cover the same day, the shorter one wins, so a holiday inside a vacation range follows the holiday. ## How transfer rules use them In a transfer rule's **Hours** step, pick **Only during business hours**. From then on, that rule: * transfers only inside your weekly hours, with your special hours applied; * outside them, does not transfer: the AI agents keep attending the conversation. If the rule has custom messages, the agent sends your **Message outside transfer hours** on a working day, or your **Message for non-working days** on a closed day or a closed special date, and keeps helping. A rule set to **Every day, at any time** ignores business hours. Until you set them up, **Only during business hours** can't be picked; the step offers **Set up hours** instead, which opens this page in a new tab. If you never set business hours, your AI agents assume advisors are always available. Rules created before business hours existed keep their own day-by-day schedule until you switch them to one of the two options. See [Create a rule step by step](https://help.ciarem.ai/ai-agent/human-handoff-and-escalation.md#create-a-rule-step-by-step). ## Test it In **AI training**, set **Current time** to a moment outside your hours (a Sunday, or a special date you are closed) and send a message that should transfer. The agent keeps the conversation and, if the rule has one, sends your off-hours message. Set a time inside your hours and the same message transfers. See [The playground](https://help.ciarem.ai/ai-agent/playground.md). ## Good to know * Business hours only decide when transfer rules may hand a conversation to a person. They don't switch the AI on or off, and they don't decide when the agent may book appointments: that is each calendar's own schedule. See [Booking meetings](https://help.ciarem.ai/ai-agent/booking-and-calendars.md). * They don't set anyone's availability in the Inbox either. Keep someone **Active** during your hours. See [After the handoff](https://help.ciarem.ai/using-ciarem/after-the-handoff.md). This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.