When the office is closed, the right reply still goes out.
After-hours calls don't wait. The receptionist demo triages intent, offers real availability, and hands off urgent cases to a real person instead of leaving a voicemail that never gets returned.
Health, real estate and professional-services teams often lose after-hours enquiries to voicemail. This demo shows how an AI-assisted receptionist can acknowledge, triage and either book or hand off — without pretending the office is open when it isn't.
What triggers this workflow
Calls to the main line route to text-back when reception is closed or the line is busy.
Source: Twilio voice / SMS overflow
Workflow steps
- TwilioCall detectedMissed call captured by Twilio with the caller number.
- Twilio + n8nAcknowledge by SMSBrand-consistent SMS sent within seconds with the right next step.
- n8n branchingTriageCustomer picks: book now, callback, emergency or info only.
- n8nBranchEach branch leads to a different end-state — see the sandbox.
- ChatwootHandoffEmergency and callback branches page the right person via Chatwoot.
Tools used
Human handoff
Emergency calls go to a person, not a form
Emergency triage never relies on automation alone — the after-hours partner is named in the message and the on-call team is paged immediately.
- Customer indicates a medical or safety emergency
- Customer asks for a callback from a specific team member
- Two or more missed acknowledgments on the same number
Try it in your browser
Edit the sample inputs, choose a branch, and see what the workflow produces. The sandbox runs offline — no accounts touched, no messages sent.
Try it in your browser
Edit the inputs, pick a branch, and see what the workflow produces. Runs entirely in your browser — no messages are sent, no accounts are touched.
1. Call received (after-hours / overflow)
Caller Priya phoned outside receptionist hours. Intent: Book appointment.
2. Branch handling
Hi Priya, Kangaroo Bay Dental here. We just missed your call. We have these slots this week: Mon 9am, Tue 11:30am, Wed 4pm. Reply with a number and we'll lock it in.
Sample data only. Numbers, names and messages are placeholders for illustration. Wire the live workflow separately using the setup notes below.
Setup for production
Wiring it for production
Live deployment needs telephony, calendar and a clear emergency policy.
- Configure Twilio Studio or a simple n8n Twilio trigger for missed-call detection.
- Define the emergency triage criteria in writing (e.g. medical, fire, structural, gas) and the on-call partner contact.
- Connect Cal.com so book-now messages show real availability.
- Wire Chatwoot as the human-handoff inbox so the on-call team gets a notification with caller context.
- Test the emergency branch thoroughly before going live.
Production prerequisites
- Twilio number with SMS-enabled sending region (AU)
- Emergency triage policy written down and signed off internally
- Cal.com event type with the agreed duration
- On-call rota configured for after-hours escalations
Nothing here runs by default. Configuration has to be in place before any live send, booking or contact write.
Questions
Could the AI send the wrong advice in an emergency?
That's why the emergency branch is the smallest part of the workflow — it routes the caller to a named partner clinic or on-call line and pages the team. The AI never triages the emergency itself.
What if the customer texts back with something the workflow doesn't understand?
Two missed acknowledgments on the same number triggers a callback task — a human takes over without the customer needing to ask.
More demos you can run in your browser
Front-Desk Receptionist — After-Hours across the platform
Want this front-desk receptionist — after-hours workflow running on your stack?
Pick the demo you're curious about or describe your own. We'll come back with what a real deployment looks like for your business — the workflow, the prerequisites, the people involved.