Why connect Cal.com to your agent
Cal.com is often used to publish a booking page: you have set your hours, the length of your appointments and sometimes an approval step on your side. Yet a customer who writes to you instead of opening that link expects an answer straight away.
Connected to Cal.com, the agent answers that customer in the conversation using those same settings: it only presents what Cal.com returns as free for the configured event type.
What the agent does with Cal.com
- The customer writes to ask for an appointment, from your website chat, WhatsApp or Messenger, and gives a day.
- The agent asks Cal.com for the open slots of your event type for that day, in your time zone, limiting itself to the 9 am-7 pm window.
- It presents the slots returned. Their length is the one Cal.com sets.
- Once a slot is chosen, it takes the first and last name, a phone number if the conversation is on your website, the email address if the customer gives it, and checks availability again at the last moment.
- It creates the booking in Cal.com with those details and any note. If Cal.com accepts it, it is reported as confirmed; otherwise, as awaiting confirmation, with its reference.
What you need to connect Cal.com
- A Cal.com account in your name and an API key generated in that account.
- The ID of the event type the agent will book on: a number, visible in Cal.com.
- Entering these two items in the Bookings section of the Alyas workspace, then “Connect Cal.com”. If either is missing, the connection is refused.
- A chat agent with appointment booking turned on, other than restaurant and PlayPro types.
Limits to be aware of
- One connection corresponds to a single event type: the agent does not choose between several Cal.com services.
- Even if your event type opens early in the morning or in the evening, the agent only searches between 9 am and 7 pm.
- When Cal.com does not return the booking as accepted, the customer is told it is “awaiting confirmation”; the rest is settled in Cal.com.
- The agent does not act on a booking that has already been recorded.
- At most two bookings per chat conversation.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to connect Cal.com?
An API key created in your Cal.com account and the ID of the event type to use. You paste them into the Bookings section of your workspace; without either one, the connection does not go through.
Are the availability settings I made in Cal.com respected?
Yes, since the slots come from Cal.com for your event type. Alyas adds just one constraint: the search is limited to 9 am-7 pm.
Can I offer several services of different lengths?
One connection covers one event type. The agent does not switch from one type to another depending on what the customer asks for.
What does the customer read if I have to approve the booking?
The agent tells them the appointment is recorded and awaiting confirmation, with a reference. You then decide in Cal.com.
How does this differ from the Google Calendar connection?
With Google Calendar, Alyas reads the busy periods of your calendar and works out the slots from them. With Cal.com, Cal.com supplies the slots for your event type. In both cases the appointment is created without any action on your part.
Can the customer change their booking through the agent?
No. The agent records new bookings and does not touch existing ones: the customer goes through you.