Blackout Dates

A blackout date is a tenant-wide date on which no routes should be generated or executed. Use blackout dates for holidays, company closures, or any day your business does not operate.

How Blackout Dates Work

When a blackout date is created:

1. The date is recorded in the blackout_date table
2. Cascade to draft routes: Any existing draft routes on that date have their pending stops soft-deleted
3. Generation exclusion: The route generation engine skips blackout dates entirely

When a blackout date is removed:

1. The record is deleted
2. Regeneration: If the date is in the future, the system automatically triggers route generation for that date to restore the stops

Creating a Blackout Date

From the Dashboard

1. Go to Scheduling > Blackout Dates (or Settings > Routes & Scheduling)
2. Click Add Blackout Date
3. Select the date
4. Optionally enter a reason (e.g., "Independence Day", "Company Retreat")
5. Save

From the API

POST https://api.nextroute.app/api/blackout-dates
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "date": "2026-07-04",
  "reason": "Independence Day"
}

Response:

{
  "id": "abc123",
  "tenant_id": "tenant_456",
  "date": "2026-07-04",
  "reason": "Independence Day"
}

Note: Creating a duplicate blackout date returns a 409 Conflict error.

Listing Blackout Dates

GET https://api.nextroute.app/api/blackout-dates
Authorization: Bearer <token>

Returns all blackout dates sorted by date ascending.

Removing a Blackout Date

DELETE https://api.nextroute.app/api/blackout-dates/:id
Authorization: Bearer <token>

If the blackout date is in the future, removing it triggers automatic regeneration for that date.

Holiday Management

For recurring annual holidays, you can create blackout dates for the entire year in advance. Common holidays to consider:

• New Year's Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas Day

Tip: Use the bulk generation approach — create blackout dates for all known holidays at the start of each year.

Impact on Billing

Blackout dates do not reduce customer invoices by default. Since the customer's service plan frequency still applies, a blackout date simply shifts when the service occurs (if rescheduling is configured) or results in one fewer service that month.

If your reschedule policy is set to skip, the missed service may trigger a missed-service credit depending on your threshold settings.

Related

• Route Generation — how blackout dates affect the generation engine
• Vacation Holds — per-customer date exclusions
• Skip & Reschedule — route-level rescheduling on blackout days