Handoff and human takeover

Before you start

• Difficulty: Easy
• Time: 10 minutes
• You need: A teammate account that can see the inbox
• You need: Human escalation turned on under AI settings, if the AI should hand off on its own

Steps

1. Know what starts a handoff

   A chat moves to a teammate when the visitor asks for a person and the AI calls its hand-off action; when the AI cannot answer from the knowledge it has, while human escalation is on; when a message contains the text of a routing rule; when the visitor presses the human button in the widget; or when a guardrail decline is set to hand off. The AI also hands over when it is off, temporarily unavailable or not configured, when a visitor sends messages too fast, or when the sentiment of the chat drops.

2. Set a routing rule

   Under Team → Routing, add a rule with a keyword, such as refund. When a visitor message contains the keyword, ignoring capital letters, the chat moves to the human queue. The rule sends the visitor no message.

3. Claim the chat

   Open the conversation in the inbox and choose Claim. The chat is assigned to you and becomes human-owned. Claiming alone keeps the AI quiet only until the grace period below has passed.

4. Reply to take over

   Send a reply in the conversation. Your reply makes the chat human-owned, and the AI stays silent for the rest of the conversation. The AI returns only if the conversation is resolved and the visitor writes again.

5. Know the grace period

   While nobody has replied, the AI waits 5 minutes from the moment the visitor was put in the queue, then answers the visitor's next message. The wait applies when the team is open or the chat is assigned to someone. A claim does not restart the clock. If the team is closed and nobody is assigned, the AI answers the next message at once.

What the visitor sees

• The human button in the widget: The button reads Talk to a human when a teammate is online, and Ask for a human when none is. It appears when human escalation is on and sends the request at once. The status line then reads: A human teammate has been notified. You can keep typing here. The subtitle reads Human handoff active until a teammate is assigned, and then shows the teammate's name.
• The AI hands off on its own: The AI's reply says a teammate will join shortly. The wording is the AI's own.
• A routing rule or another automatic move: The move itself sends the visitor no message. Automatic moves other than a routing rule also leave an internal note for the team.
• Waiting, team open or someone assigned: The AI stays silent until the grace period has passed. The status line keeps saying that a human teammate has been notified.
• Waiting, team closed and nobody assigned: On the next message the AI answers, and its reply begins: No one from the team is available right now, so I'll keep helping — your request for a teammate still stands and they'll join as soon as they can.
• After a teammate has replied: Only the teammate's replies. The AI stays silent.

Good to know

• The handoff request stays in the queue while the AI answers. The AI fills the silence and does not cancel the request.
• A claim does not reset the 5 minute clock, because the clock starts from the handoff request.
• Apart from an approval that expires, the AI speaks to a waiting visitor only when the visitor writes.
• Turning off human escalation stops the AI's own escalation and the human button, but not the hand-off action, which is switched on separately.

What you will see

• A chat waiting for a person in the inbox's pending list, with a Claim button on the conversation.
• The chat stays waiting until a teammate replies, or the conversation is resolved.

Common mistakes

• Counting five minutes from the claim. The clock starts when the visitor was put in the queue, so a chat claimed after that wait gets the AI's answer on the visitor's next message.
• Expecting the AI to return after a teammate has replied. A reply ends the AI's part of the chat until it is resolved and the visitor writes again.
• Writing a routing keyword that is too short. It matches any message that contains it, ignoring capital letters, so ship also matches shipping.
• Expecting a closed team to give a waiting visitor a grace period. With the team closed and nobody assigned, the AI answers at once with the notice.