Handoff & availability - Docs

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.

The app keeps you online only while it's open and you're signed in. A background tab is usually fine; a closed tab, a sleeping laptop or a tab the browser put to sleep to save memory isn't.

Why did a visitor get the offline form?

Open the conversation in the inbox. The system message above the form says why:

Message	Cause	What to do
Outside business hours	Business hours are on and the chat came outside them. This is checked first, so it applies even when you're online.	Adjust the opening times, or turn off Use business hours.
No operators available	Nobody had status Online and the app open in the last 3 minutes.	Check your status toggle and keep the app open.
Nobody accepted in time	Operators were notified, but nobody joined within the wait timeout.	Raise Wait before offering to leave a message, or switch to Assign automatically.

If there's no such message, the form came from your scenario, for example the Otherwise branch of a Condition.

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.