---
title: "After hours and 24/7 replies"
description: "Meta doesn't pause the client's ads at 6 p.m. — leads click at midnight, on Sundays, during lunch."
canonical_url: https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/after-hours-and-24-7-replies
markdown_url: https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/after-hours-and-24-7-replies.md
last_updated: 2026-08-12
lang: en
site: https://chatfuel.com/docs
llms_txt: https://chatfuel.com/llms.txt
---

# After hours and 24/7 replies

Meta doesn't pause the client's ads at 6 p.m. — leads click at midnight, on Sundays, during lunch.

Meta doesn't pause the client's ads at 6 p.m. — leads click at midnight, on Sundays, during lunch. Speed of the first reply is what decides whether that click becomes a conversation: answer within seconds and the lead is still on their phone; answer in the morning and they've messaged three competitors. On Meta channels, [the 24-hour rule](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/the-24-hour-rule-explained) is one more reason that first reply can't wait. The bot always replies instantly — the only real question is *when* it should be the one replying, and when the client's human team takes over.

## The two modes [#the-two-modes]

That question is the **When AI replies** setting, and it exists on every [automation](https://chatfuel.com/docs/ai-features/automations). Two modes:

* **Always.** The bot answers every incoming message, any time. The team picks up qualified leads from the inbox whenever they're online. This is the default recommendation for a lead-gen funnel: qualification happens the moment the lead writes, and nobody has to be awake for it.
* **Outside working hours.** During the client's working hours the bot stays silent and the team answers live; nights, weekends, and holidays the AI takes over. Pick this when the client insists their staff handle daytime chats personally — the bot becomes their night shift.

There is no "never reply" mode. If the client truly wants a channel silent, you don't pick a mode — you turn that source's automation off. In a funnel that's rarely the right call: an unanswered ad click is money already spent.

Because the setting lives per automation, it also doesn't have to be one answer for the whole account. Set it once on **Main bot** and every source inherits it — or override it where one channel differs: the client's WhatsApp ads answering 24/7 while their Instagram DMs, which their staff likes to handle personally, get the AI only after hours.

## Which one to recommend [#which-one-to-recommend]

For most performance-marketing clients: **Always**. The bot's whole value is instant, consistent qualification — and a lead who wrote at 2 p.m. doesn't mind an AI any more than one who wrote at 2 a.m. Reserve "outside working hours" for clients whose daytime sales conversations are genuinely consultative and staffed — say, a clinic whose administrators already answer within a minute. Either way, qualified leads land in the same team inbox, and the [handoff rules](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/lead-qualification-questions-and-logic) work the same in both modes.

**Important:** the trap is picking "outside working hours" with no working hours set. The mode needs to know what the hours *are*. If the client's hours aren't set in Chatfuel, there's no "inside" to stay silent in — the bot effectively answers around the clock anyway. So when you pick this mode, set the weekly schedule first: hours per day, days not listed count as closed. The timezone is taken from the company's own settings — no need to specify it. Working hours live in the Knowledge Base as part of [the client's business info](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/uploading-client-business-info), so a well-run onboarding has them filled already.

## How to set it [#how-to-set-it]

In the dashboard: go to **Fuely AI** → **Automations**, open **Main bot** — or the one source that should behave differently — and set **When AI replies**. [Here's the step-by-step, working hours included](https://chatfuel.com/docs/ai-features/how-to-configure-working-hours).

Or tell the AI Co-Worker what you want:

* *"Make the bot reply 24/7."*
* *"Only reply outside our business hours."*
* *"On Instagram DMs, reply only after hours — keep everything else 24/7."*
* *"Update our business hours: Mon–Fri 9 to 18, Sat 10 to 14."*

Both paths set the same thing — use whichever is faster. The **"Set up WhatsApp"** onboarding also asks this exact question — *"should the bot reply around the clock, or only outside your business hours?"* — so a bot built through onboarding already has the answer configured. And if the bot ever stays silent when you expect it to answer, the reply mode is one of the first suspects — [Troubleshooting the qualification bot](https://chatfuel.com/docs/for-agencies/troubleshooting-the-qualification-bot) has the full checklist.