Replying as an agent

When a visitor asks for a human, the conversation moves into Needs reply and a reply box appears at the bottom of the transcript. Anyone on your team can step in from there.

When can I reply?

As soon as a conversation is waiting for a human. You can spot these in a few places:

• On the chatbot's Conversations tab, under the Needs Reply filter.
• On the chatbot's Handoff tab (shows up when you've turned on the Human Handoff tool). See Handoff dashboard.
• Through the desktop notification + beep described below, if you have ChatbotGen open in a tab.

Once a conversation is closed, the reply box disappears. You can bring it back with Reopen (see below).

Sending a reply

Open the conversation, type into the reply box, and press Enter (or click Send). The visitor sees your message right away:

• Web widget — your reply lands in the chat window in real time. The widget shows your first name (or email, if you haven't set a first name) above the message so the visitor knows they're talking to a person now.
• WhatsApp — your reply is sent to the visitor's WhatsApp number using the connected number. Only works while the WhatsApp integration shows as Connected.
• Telegram — your reply is sent through the connected Telegram bot.

Nothing happens if the conversation isn't waiting for a human. You'll see an error and no message is sent.

The three action buttons

Above the transcript you have up to three buttons depending on the conversation's state:

• Return to AI — hands the conversation back to the chatbot. The visitor sees the AI responding again starting from their next message.
• Close — marks the conversation as resolved. The reply box disappears. The AI does not take over — if the visitor writes again, the conversation stays closed until someone on your team reopens it.
• Reopen — only shows on closed conversations. Brings them back to active so the AI (or you) can respond again.

While you're replying, the AI stays out of the way

Sending a reply does not hand control back to the bot. The conversation stays waiting for a human until you click Return to AI or Close. So if the visitor writes again, you'll see their message and can reply yourself — the chatbot won't jump in.

Getting notified of new handoffs

When a visitor gets transferred to a human while you have ChatbotGen open in any tab, two things can happen, depending on your preferences in Notifications:

1. Desktop notification — a browser notification pops up with the visitor's name and the reason. Click it to jump straight to the conversation. Your browser needs permission to show notifications from ChatbotGen — we ask for it the first time you turn on the Human Handoff tool, or you can turn it on anytime from Settings → Notifications.
2. Beep — a short sound plays. Some browsers block sound until you've clicked somewhere on the page; if that's the case, it's skipped without an error.

These notifications reach everyone on your team who has ChatbotGen open, so if a teammate picks the conversation up first, you'll both know.

Related

• Handoff dashboard — a focused workspace that shows every conversation waiting for a human.
• Conversations overview
• Reading transcripts
• Human handoff — the tool that moves a conversation to waiting for a human.