Appointments & Booking

MealStack includes a full appointment booking system — define your session types, set your weekly availability, and let clients book directly from their portal. No more WhatsApp back-and-forth to find a time.

Setup overview

Appointment types

Appointment types define the different kinds of sessions you offer. Each type has its own duration, price, and booking rules.

Creating a type

Go to Settings → Appointments → Add Type. Fill in:

Common setup

Most practices create 2-4 types:

Availability schedule

Your availability tells the booking system when clients can book with you.

Weekly schedule

On the Settings → Appointments page, scroll to "Availability Schedule":

• Toggle days on/off — enabled days show time range inputs
• Multiple slots per day — e.g., 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-17:00 (lunch break)
• Click "Add slot" to add another time range on the same day
• Click Save Schedule to persist your changes

Date overrides

For specific dates that differ from your regular schedule:

• Unavailable — mark a day as completely blocked (holiday, personal day)
• Modified hours — override with different start/end times for that specific date
• Reason — add context that shows on the calendar (e.g., "Diwali holiday")

Client self-booking

What clients see

When features.appointments is enabled, clients see a "📅 Book an Appointment" button on their portal home page. Tapping it opens a bottom drawer:

Step 1 — Pick a type: Shows all bookable appointment types with name, duration, price, and description.

Step 2 — Pick a time:

• Week-by-week slot grid with navigation arrows
• Available slots shown as tappable time pills (e.g., "10:00", "10:30", "11:00")
• Days with no slots are omitted
• Mode selector (in-person/video/phone) when the type supports multiple modes

Step 3 — Confirm: Summary card + "Confirm Booking" button.

What happens on booking

When a client confirms a booking:

1. ✅ Booking record created with date, time, type, and mode
2. ✅ Follow-up auto-created — appears on the practitioner calendar
3. ✅ Confirmation card sent in client chat (rich card with "Add to Calendar" CTA)
4. ✅ Push notification sent to client confirming the booking
5. ✅ Practitioner notified — bell notification + email
6. ✅ Reminder sent 2 days before (via existing follow-up reminders cron)

Slot availability rules

The system computes available slots by checking:

• ✅ Practitioner's weekly schedule for that day of week
• ✅ Date overrides (unavailable days, modified hours)
• ✅ Existing bookings (no double-booking)
• ✅ Buffer time between appointments
• ✅ Minimum notice (e.g., can't book less than 24h ahead)
• ✅ Special days with "block follow-ups" enabled

Notifications

When a client books

When practitioner cancels

Reminders

Clients receive a reminder 2 days before their appointment (email + push). This uses the same reminder system as follow-ups — the booking automatically creates a linked follow-up with reminderDaysBefore: 2.

Calendar integration

Bookings appear on the practitioner calendar as a distinct event type:

• Color: Indigo (or the appointment type's custom color)
• Label: "Client Name — Type Name"
• Filter: Use the event type filter to show/hide bookings
• Actions: Confirm, cancel, or mark complete from the event popover

Managing bookings

From the calendar

Click a booking event to see details. Actions available:

• Confirm — change status from pending to confirmed
• Cancel — cancels the booking and notifies the client
• Complete — marks as done (typically after running Start Visit)
• No Show — records the client didn't attend

Client cancellation

Clients can cancel their own bookings from the portal:

1. Their upcoming bookings are listed (via portal.bookings.myBookings)
2. They can cancel with an optional reason
3. The linked follow-up is also marked as skipped
4. An activity log entry is created

Example: Setting up booking for a solo practice