> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.nerovasystems.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.nerovasystems.com/guides/verticals/barber/booking.md).

# Booking and regulars

The barbershop round trip: a booking with no intake and no subject, plus loyalty balance and redemption for the regulars who keep the chairs full.

## The booking

With no intake and no subjects, the create request is the contract at its smallest. The client block and the `Idempotency-Key` header do all the work:

```json
{
  "externalServiceId": "svc_fade",
  "externalStaffId": "staff_011",
  "startTime": "2026-09-06T10:30:00+00:00",
  "client": {
    "name": "Lwazi Dube",
    "phone": "+27870000000",
    "email": null,
    "externalClientId": null
  },
  "externalLocationId": null,
  "notes": null,
  "subject": null,
  "intakeResponses": null,
  "reason": null
}
```

A `null` `externalClientId` with `CreateClients` declared means your platform creates the walk-in on first booking and returns the new client on the appointment. Replaying the same `Idempotency-Key` returns the same appointment. Full field semantics are on the [create appointment reference](https://docs.nerovasystems.com/documentation/provider-api/operations/create-appointment).

Reschedules and cancellations follow the universal flow; a barbershop's short slots make same-day reschedules the common case, and your availability data is what makes the concierge's "he can take you at 11:15 instead" answer accurate.

## Loyalty in the conversation

Declaring `ReadLoyalty` and `RedeemLoyalty` lets the concierge answer "how many points do I have?" from [loyalty balance](https://docs.nerovasystems.com/documentation/provider-api/operations/loyalty-balance) and apply "use my points for the beard trim" through [redeem points](https://docs.nerovasystems.com/documentation/provider-api/operations/loyalty-deduct). Your platform stays the ledger: Nerova never computes balances, it asks and instructs. Redemption rules, expiry, and earn rates are yours.

## Your side of the contract

* **Honour the walk-in.** With `CreateClients` declared, an unknown phone number is a client you create, not an error you return.
* **Keep availability truthful.** Fast turnover means stale schedules bite within the hour; serve real-time slots from `ReadAvailability`.
* **Own the loyalty maths.** Balance reads and deductions must reflect your ledger immediately; the concierge quotes what you return.

## Prove it on a test tenant

On a test tenant on your Live key, book as a brand-new number, confirm the client is created and echoed, reschedule and cancel, then read a loyalty balance and redeem against it. Conformance covers the core nine plus the loyalty checks for the capabilities you declared. From here, go-live is the universal path in [zero-to-live step 10](/guides/zero-to-live/step-11-go-live.md).


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