Conversation Lifecycle
How conversations flow from creation to resolution.
New Conversation
When a user sends their first message, a new conversation is created with status open and handler bot — the AI drives replies automatically using your knowledge base, custom answers, and product context. status tracks lifecycle (open, snoozed, resolved, archived), while handler tracks who drives the next reply (bot, awaiting_human, teammate, team); escalation flips the handler to awaiting_human and assignment to teammate/team, while status stays open.
Escalation
Escalation happens in three ways: (1) the user clicks the "Talk to human" button in the widget, (2) the user types a phrase like "I need a human" or "позовите оператора", or (3) the AI detects it cannot help and suggests contacting support. Once escalated, the bot stops generating AI answers. Follow-up messages are saved and forwarded to the support team. The widget shows a "Waiting for agent" banner.
Human Support
Support agents reply from the Conversations dashboard. The user sees replies in the widget. Agents can add internal notes visible only to the team. On escalation the conversation lands in the Needs-human queue, is auto-assigned to your support team, and teammates are notified by email.
Resolution & New Session
When an agent clicks "Resolve" (or auto-resolve triggers after inactivity), the conversation moves to resolved. If the user sends a new message after resolution, a follow-up conversation linked to the previous one is automatically opened (shown as "Continued from #N" in your inbox). Context like language carries over, and the visitor sees one continuous chat. If a teammate was handling the resolved conversation, the follow-up is routed back to your team instead of the AI; otherwise the AI picks it up.
Snoozed & Archived
Besides open and resolved, a conversation can be in two more states:
Snoozed
An agent can snooze (park) a conversation via POST /conversations/:id/snooze. It automatically returns to open when the customer sends a new message or when the conversation is reassigned; an agent reply also ends the snooze. Tagging or changing priority does not unsnooze.
Archived
Archived is a terminal read-only state — all mutating endpoints return 409 Conflict. Like resolved, an archived conversation no longer holds the channel session, so a new customer message starts a brand-new conversation.