Live chat
Handoff & availability
Control when visitors reach a human: business hours, routing, max chats per operator, wait timeout, offline messages, AI handoff summaries and ratings.
Handoff is the moment a conversation moves from the chatbot to a person. All settings are in Settings → Handoff & availability.
What triggers a handoff
- The visitor clicks Talk to a human in the widget (if the button is on).
- The AI decides it can't help, or the visitor is frustrated (if AI can hand off to a human is on).
- A scenario reaches a handoff step, for example a "Connect with support" button. Each AI step can also turn AI handoff off for its part of the conversation (see Scenarios).
What happens next
Handoff requested
├─ Outside business hours, or no operator online → offline form
└─ Otherwise → visitor waits in queue (sees their position)
├─ An operator accepts / gets assigned → live chat
└─ Nobody within the wait timeout → offline form
The offline form asks for the visitor's email and message. Every workspace member gets an email and a push notification, and the conversation appears under Needs follow-up in the inbox.
Business hours
Turn on Use business hours, pick a timezone and set opening times for each day. The default is Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00. Use Copy Monday to weekdays to save time.
With business hours off, visitors can reach a human whenever at least one operator is online.
Routing
| Option | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Notify everyone (default) | Every online operator is notified. The first to accept gets the chat. | Small teams |
| Assign automatically | The chat goes straight to the online operator with the fewest open chats. If everyone is full, the visitor waits in the queue. | Teams of 3+ |
- Max chats per operator (default 5, range 1 to 50): with automatic assignment, an operator at this limit gets no new chats until they close one. The queue moves automatically when a chat closes or an operator comes online.
- Wait before offering to leave a message (default 2 minutes, range 30 seconds to 30 minutes): how long a visitor waits before they get the offline form.
Operator availability
Each operator sets their own status from the toggle in the app:
- Online: gets notified and can be assigned chats.
- Away: still sees requests, but no sounds and no new assignments.
An operator who closes the app (no activity for 3 minutes) is treated as offline. If nobody is online, visitors go straight to the offline form, so they never wait for no one.
Visitor experience
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| "Talk to a human" button | On | Lets visitors ask for an operator at any time. |
| AI can hand off to a human | On | The AI escalates when it can't help. |
| AI handoff summary | On | Operators get a short summary, intent and sentiment before they join. |
| Ask for email when nobody is available | On | Shows the offline form. Customize the Offline message (up to 500 characters). |
| Ask for a rating after the chat | On | After a conversation with an operator is closed, the visitor can rate it 1 to 5 and leave a comment. Customize the question (up to 200 characters). |
Get notified
- In the app and browser: allow notifications when the app asks. You'll get a push for new chat requests, chats assigned to you and offline messages.
- Slack or Discord: get new chat requests in a channel. See Integrations.