# Create a service patients can book

> To create a service in Velarya, open Organization settings > Service Catalog and select Add Service in its category. Enter the Service Name, its variations with a Price and Duration (min), options, add-ons, timing and providers, then select Save. Bookable online by patients, on by default, lists it in the patient app and on your web booking page.

- Source: https://velarya.com/help/create-a-service
- Who can do this: Admins and Location Managers (Service catalog at Edit)
- Plans: Basic, Scale, Branded, Connected
- Time: 10 minutes
- Last verified: 2026-10-01

## Before you begin

- Your team is set up, with working hours: Set your hours and staff schedules.
- For a service that needs a room or a device, its resource category exists: Set up rooms and equipment.

## Create the service

A Velarya service is one treatment patients book, with its prices, lengths, options and the team who perform it. A new service in your **Service Catalog** is offered at every location, unless a location switches it off.

1. Select **Organization settings** in the menu at the bottom of the sidebar, then **Service Catalog**.
2. Select **Add Service** next to the category the treatment belongs in. The new service starts in that category. To add a category first, select **Manage Categories**. With no categories yet, the page shows **Create your first category** instead; create one, then select **Add Service** in it.
3. Under **Basic Information**, enter the **Service Name** patients see and a **Description**. Leave **Status** on **Active**.
4. Under **Pricing & Variations**, fill in the first variation's **Name**, **Price ($)** and **Duration (min)**. It starts as "Standard", 60 minutes.
5. Select **Add Variation** for each other size or length patients choose between, such as a longer session.

![Pricing & Variations: Full face at $180 for 60 minutes, Face and neck at $240 for 75, and Add Variation outlined](https://velarya.com/assets/help/create-a-service/service-variations-3c63fa8d.webp)

Patients pick exactly one variation. Its **Duration (min)** is the whole time the patient is with you, hands-off and finishing time included.

## Add options and add-ons

**Modifiers** are choices inside the service that add price or time, and **Add-Ons** are separate extras patients can attach to it.

1. Under **Modifiers**, select **Add Group** and name the choice, for example "Treatment area".
2. Turn on **Required** when every patient must pick an option from the group.
3. Select **+ Add Option** for each option. Enter its name, then the price it adds and the minutes it adds. Both start at 0, which is fine for an option that changes neither. Patients pick one option from each group.

![Modifiers with a required Treatment area group: Face only adds nothing, Face and chest adds $60 and 15 minutes](https://velarya.com/assets/help/create-a-service/service-modifiers-8f09fba4.webp)

4. Under **Add-Ons**, select **Browse**, select the add-ons patients may attach to this service, then select **Done**.
5. To cap how many they can pick, enter a number in **Max Add-ons Selectable (Optional)**. Leave it empty for no cap.

The add-on list shows the add-on services you have already created, as [Create an add-on](#create-an-add-on) explains.

## Set the timing, providers and rooms

**Scheduling & Providers** in Velarya decides what the visit blocks on your calendar and who can perform it.

1. Enter **Hands-off Time (min)** for a gap when the provider steps away, such as numbing, and **Finishing Time (min)** for when they come back to finish. Both start at 0.
2. Set **Transition Time (min)** for cleanup after the patient leaves. It starts at 15.
3. Select **Allow other bookings during hands-off time** only when the provider can see another patient in the gap. It needs hands-off time above 0.
4. Check the preview under the times: **Active (hands-on) time** and the **Footprint** the calendar reserves.

![Scheduling preview: Active (hands-on) time 30 min, then Hands-off 20m, Finishing 10m, Transition 15m and Footprint 75m](https://velarya.com/assets/help/create-a-service/service-scheduling-afcb1eff.webp)

5. Keep **Bookable online by patients** selected for the app and your web booking page.
6. Under **Providers qualified for this service**, keep the providers who perform it. Every provider on your team starts selected; remove the others with the cross next to their name.
7. Under **Required Resources**, select **Browse**, select the resource categories the treatment needs, such as a laser room, then select **Done**.
8. Select **Save** in the **Unsaved changes** bar at the top of the page. Velarya creates the service and returns to the **Service Catalog**.

Providers also need working hours at a location before patients can book them there, as [Set your hours and staff schedules](https://velarya.com/help/set-hours-and-staff-schedules) shows.

## Create an add-on

An add-on in Velarya is a small service, such as LED light therapy, that patients attach to another service and never book on its own.

1. In the **Service Catalog**, select **Add Service**.
2. Turn on **Is Add-on Service** as you create it, at the top of **Basic Information**. The editor keeps one price and duration row and hides the other sections.

![Basic Information for a new service named LED Light Therapy, with the Is Add-on Service toggle turned on and outlined](https://velarya.com/assets/help/create-a-service/service-addon-toggle-4efc11a4.webp)

3. Enter the **Service Name**, choose its **Category**, and enter its **Price ($)** and **Duration (min)**, from 0 to 120 minutes.
4. Select **Save** in the **Unsaved changes** bar. Velarya creates the add-on and returns to the **Service Catalog**.
5. Open each service it goes with, select the add-on under **Add-Ons**, and select **Save**.

Until a service links it, the add-on's own page reads "This add-on isn't linked to any service yet, so nobody can book it."

## How does a service's time add up?

A Velarya appointment's length is the variation, plus the minutes of the options and add-ons the patient picks. Behind that one number, the calendar splits the visit into parts. This example uses a 60-minute variation with 20 minutes of hands-off time, 10 of finishing time and 15 of transition:

| Part | Minutes | Who is busy |
|---|---|---|
| Active (hands-on) time | 30 | The provider, the patient and the room |
| Hands-off | 20 | The patient and the room. The provider too, unless **Allow other bookings during hands-off time** is selected |
| Finishing | 10 | The provider, the patient and the room |
| Transition | 15 | The provider and the room, after the patient leaves |

The patient sees a 60-minute appointment. The calendar reserves the 75-minute footprint, and the provider's next booking starts after it. A room or device is held for the whole footprint, hands-off time included, so a second patient fits the gap only when they need no room or another free one.

## How do services behave?

A Velarya service applies these rules at every booking.

| Situation | What Velarya does |
|---|---|
| A patient books | Charges the variation's price plus the options and add-ons they chose, and books the time they add |
| A modifier group is **Required** | Asks the patient to pick an option from it before booking |
| The service has **Required Resources** | Reserves a free room or device from each category at the location, automatically |
| A provider has their own **Duration** or **Price** for the service | Books and charges that provider's values at that location |
| **Status** is **Inactive** | Offers the service at no location |
| A location has disabled the service | Leaves it off that location's service list in the app and on the web booking page, and offers no times for it there |

## What do patients see?

Patients book the service in the patient app and on your web booking page. They choose a variation, any options and add-ons, then a provider (**Any professional** in the app, **Any available provider** on the web booking page), then a time. They see one total price and one duration.

![The patient app: Review and confirm, with each treatment's price and one total duration](https://velarya.com/assets/site/app-booking.jpg)

Patients never see hands-off, finishing or transition time, rooms and devices, the **Internal Name (Optional)** or the **SKU (Optional)**. A service with **Bookable online by patients** cleared is left off the service list in the patient app and on your web booking page. A patient who reaches it another way, such as rebooking a past visit in the app, reads "This service cannot be booked online" and is asked to contact you.

## If something goes wrong

**"Select a category".** Choose a **Category** under **Basic Information**. With no categories yet, select **Create your first category** under the field.

**"Duration must exceed hands-off + finishing time (active time must be at least 1 min)".** A variation is no longer than its hands-off and finishing time together. Lengthen the variation or shorten those times.

**"Fix the highlighted fields before saving." with nothing highlighted.** A modifier group has no options. Add one with **+ Add Option**, or remove the group with its trash icon.

**The Allow other bookings during hands-off time box is grayed out.** **Hands-off Time (min)** is 0. Enter the hands-off minutes first.

**"No other add-on services found."** No add-on exists yet. Create one as shown above, then come back to **Add-Ons**.

**Patients read "No one is available for this service yet" in the app, or "No provider for this service here" on your web booking page.** No provider at that location is assigned the service and bookable online. Add them under **Providers qualified for this service** or on their **Services** tab, and check that **Bookable online** is on in their staff profile.

**Patients read "Not bookable at this location", in the app or on your web booking page.** The location has no active room or device in a category the service needs. Add one as [Set up rooms and equipment](https://velarya.com/help/set-up-rooms-and-equipment) shows.

**Patients read "This service cannot be booked online" in the app, or "Not bookable online" on your web booking page.** **Bookable online by patients** is cleared. Open the service, select the box and select **Save**.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can a service cost more or take longer at one location?

Yes. In Manage > Services, select the service to open it for that location. Change each variation's duration and price under Location pricing, and its timing and rooms if they differ there, then select Save changes. The new values apply at that location only, and Reset to org defaults puts back the Service Catalog values. Name, description and category stay the same everywhere.

### Does editing a service change appointments that are already booked?

No. Velarya freezes a service's variation, options, add-ons, timing, price, provider and rooms onto each appointment when it is booked. Changing the service later in the Service Catalog applies to new bookings only. A booked appointment's length changes when staff resize it on the Calendar, and its price and length are recalculated from the current service only when staff edit the services on that appointment.

### Can staff still book a service that patients cannot book online?

Yes. Clear Bookable online by patients on the service, on the create page or when you edit it later, and it leaves the service list in the patient app and on your web booking page. Staff still book it for patients from the Calendar, and you can select the box again at any time to put it back online.

### What happens to a service when I add a new location?

A new location offers the service when Automatically offer at new locations is on, which it is by default. Assign its providers there on each provider's Services tab before patients can book it. Turn it off and each new location starts with the service switched off, until you activate it in that location's Services. Existing locations are not changed by the switch; you activate or disable the service for each of them in Manage > Services.

### How do I take a deposit for one service?

Open the service in the Service Catalog and select Edit booking policy on its Booking Policy card. The deposit, cancellation window and fees you set there apply to this service at every location, and anything you leave inherited follows the location's override, if there is one, then your practice's booking policy. Set up deposits and cancellation fees covers each setting and what patients pay when they book.