AI-to-human handoff
Let customers reach a person: set up contacts and triggers, receive human support requests, take over, and return the chat to the AI.
Some conversations need a person. Handoff lets the assistant recognise this, tell your team, and step aside.
Set it up
- Add contacts. In Assistant settings open Contacts & human support (also reachable from Web Chat settings as Manage contacts in Assistant). For each person or department set What they help with (for example "Sales, support, bookings"). Switch on Assistant can share this contact and Receive human support requests, and choose a Default human support contact.
- Notify teammates. Choose Notify teammates: select teammates who have conversation access. If none are selected, the company owner receives the request. Their notification preferences apply.
- Tell the assistant when to hand off. In Knowledge & Rules choose Add human handoff: add Handoff Triggers and Handoff instructions. You can also set Escalation Keywords and an Escalation Action under Personality and behavior.
- Turn on the notification. In Notification Preferences enable Contacts & human support for the channels you want (in-app, push, email).
When a customer asks for a person
The conversation shows a status bar:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Human support requested · AI is still helping | The request is recorded; the assistant continues until someone acts |
| Human support requested · AI paused | The assistant has stopped replying |
| Teammate has taken over · AI paused | A teammate accepted it |
| Resolved · AI paused | Marked resolved; the AI stays paused |
Available buttons (web): Take over, Resolve, Return to AI.
Step by step: handle a request
- Open the notification or the Inbox.
- Choose Take over. The AI pauses.
- Reply to the customer by typing in the conversation.
- When finished choose Resolve, then Return to AI to let the assistant take over future messages.
Example
A salon sets a handoff trigger "customer wants to change or cancel a booked colour appointment" and names the front desk as default contact. The assistant tells the customer someone will help, and the front desk gets a notification.
Tips
- Keep triggers specific so the assistant does not escalate easy questions.
- Choose at least two teammates to notify so requests are never missed out of hours.
Troubleshooting
- Nobody was notified: check the notification preference Contacts & human support and that the selected teammates have conversation access.
- Could not update the handoff: retry; the status bar shows "Could not update the handoff."
Limitations
- Take over, Resolve and Return to AI are available in the web Console. The mobile app lets you turn the assistant off for a conversation and reply, and shows notifications.
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