A service in Opencals is the thing customers actually book — a haircut, a class, a consultation, a rental. This guide walks through creating one from scratch: the basic details, the two assignments that make it bookable, and the scheduling and booking options that control how it behaves.
Create a service under Products → Add product, give it a Title, Duration and Price, then assign at least one location and one staff member — those two assignments are what make it bookable. Everything else (schedule, gaps, group size, guest and self-service options) is optional fine-tuning you can add now or later.
Before you start
You'll need admin access to your Opencals dashboard, and you should create at least one location and one staff member first — a service can't be booked until it has one of each. If you want the service to follow set hours, create a schedule too. These can also be added afterward, but having them ready lets you finish the service in one pass.
Step 1 — Create the service
Open Products and click Add product. In the General Information card, set the details customers see:
General Information
Upload Image
Click to select an image or drag and drop it here to uploadPricing
Set price for the service
- Enabled / Disabled — the status toggle. Enabled shows the booking button and accepts bookings; Disabled hides it. New services start Enabled.
- Title — the service name, e.g.
Manicure. - Description — what the service includes; shown on the booking page.
- Images — upload one or more images; the first becomes the default. Drag and drop or click to select.
- Slug — the URL-friendly identifier used in the booking link. Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only; it's generated from the title automatically and you can edit it.
Step 2 — Set duration and price
In the Pricing card, set how long the service runs and what it costs:
Duration is the length of one booking
Enter the duration in plain language — 45 min, 1 h 30 min, 2 h. It's the default length of a single
booking and drives how time slots are generated. The minimum is one minute.
- Duration — the booking length, e.g.
45 min. Example format:1 h 30 min. - Price — the amount charged, shown in your store's currency.
- Taxable — the toggle next to the price. Leave it on if tax applies to this service.
Step 3 — Assign a location and staff member
This is the step that makes a service bookable. In the right-hand sidebar, use the comboboxes to assign the service to where it happens and who provides it:
- Locations — where the service is offered. Add at least one. Use Add locations to pick from your existing locations.
- Staff Members — who can provide the service. Add at least one with Add staff members. The service is bookable only when a staff member's availability and the service's schedule overlap.
- Collections — optional grouping to organize products.
- Add-ons — optional extras customers can add to the booking.
No location or no staff = not bookable
A service needs at least one location and at least one staff member assigned before customers can book it. If a service isn't showing available times, this is the first thing to check.
Step 4 — Set the schedule and gaps
Open the Scheduling card to control when the service is available and how much breathing room sits around each booking:
Scheduling
Scheduling and availability settings for the service
- Schedule — assign a schedule to set the hours the service is available. Leave it unset to fall back to system defaults.
- Before Gap / After Gap — unallocated buffer time before and after each booking, for setup and cleanup. If both the service and a staff member define a gap, the larger value wins.
- Advance booking threshold — the minimum notice required before a slot can be booked, e.g.
2 hstops last-minute bookings inside the next two hours. - Product Pool — optional; assign the service to a pool to prevent overlapping bookings across products that share the same availability.
Step 5 — Configure booking options
Still in the Scheduling card, a set of checkboxes controls how customers can book and manage their appointments:
Allow group appointments
Let multiple customers book the same time slot — for classes and workshops. Set Maximum Attendees to the class size. Leave it off for one-on-one services.
Allow custom duration
Let customers choose their own booking length, including multi-hour and multi-day bookings such as rentals or hotel stays. Set a Maximum Duration, and optionally Use fixed start and end times to restrict bookings to specific windows.
Allow customer rescheduling
Let customers reschedule their own appointments. Set a Reschedule Gap — how far ahead of the appointment they can still make the change.
Allow customer cancellation
Let customers cancel their own appointments, with a Cancellation Gap that sets the cut-off before the appointment.
Guests are handled in a separate Guests card: turn on Allow guests to let customers add guest email addresses to a booking, and set an optional Maximum guests (leave empty for unlimited).
Save, then refine
Set the title, duration, price, one location and one staff member, and save — that's a working bookable service. You can come back and add schedules, gaps, group sizes and self-service options at any time from Products.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Keep going
Add staff members
Create the staff who provide your services — required before a service can be booked.
Set up locations
Add the physical, online, or delivery locations where your services are offered.
Manage schedules
Control the hours a service is available with weekly recurring or one-off schedules.
Create add-ons
Offer optional extras customers can add to a booking, like tips or upgrades.
Group appointments
See how classes and workshops let multiple customers book the same slot.
Flexible duration
Support custom, multi-hour, and multi-day bookings for rentals and stays.
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