The Handoff to Human action lets your texting AI Agent hand a conversation to your team the moment it detects a situation that needs a person.
When it triggers, the agent posts an internal note with an AI-generated summary so your team has full context right away.
How It Works
You add Handoff to Human directly inside your agent's instructions, wherever you want the agent to escalate. You decide the conditions, for example when a contact asks for a human or when the agent can't resolve a request.
When the condition is met, the agent:
Ends its part of the conversation and sends its final message
Posts an internal note summarizing what happened
Notifies your team, if you've turned that on
The internal note always includes the agent name, the trigger reason (a short explanation like "Customer requested to speak with a human"), and a timestamp.
You can add as many Handoff to Human actions as you need across your instructions. They all share the same notification settings, so updating one updates them all.
Setting It Up
Open your Unified Agent and go to the Instructions section (available in both the Chat and Configure tabs).
Open the actions menu in the prompt area and select Handoff to Human.
Turn on Notify Team Members if you want people alerted when the handoff happens. It's off by default.
Choose who should be notified:
Conversation assignee
Contact owner
All inbox members
Additional users (search by name or email across your organization)
Write the instructions for when the action should trigger.
Save your agent.
Notify Team Members
Notify Team Members controls who gets alerted when a handoff happens. It's off by default, so nothing changes for your team until you turn it on.
When you turn it on, you can notify any combination of:
Conversation assignee
Contact owner
All inbox members
Additional users, searchable by name or email across your organization
You need at least one recipient selected. If you turn the toggle on and try to save without picking anyone, you'll see an inline error: "Please select at least one team member."
Selected recipients get tagged in the internal note and receive a standard mention notification, just like a regular @mention. If someone you selected isn't part of the inbox where the conversation lives, they still show up in the note as a plain text tag, but they won't get a mention notification for it.
If you add more than one Handoff to Human action, they all use the same Notify Team Members setup. Changing it in one place updates it everywhere.
Get Notified When a Call Is Handed Off to a Human
When your AI Calling Agent transfers a call to a human, it posts an internal note on the conversation so your team knows what happened and can follow up without listening to the recording.
The note always includes:
Agent name, the name of the calling agent that handled the call
Trigger reason, a short explanation of why the handoff happened, such as "Customer requested to speak with a human"
Timestamp, the date and time the handoff occurred
Setting Up Notifications
Open your Calling Agent and go to Agent instructions.
Type / and select Handoff to human from the Actions menu.
In the Handoff to human modal, turn on Notify team members. It's off by default.
Choose who should be notified:
Conversation assignee
Contact owner
All inbox members
Additional members, searchable by name or email
Save your changes and publish the agent.
What to Expect
If you turn on Notify Team Members but don't select at least one recipient, you'll see an inline error: "Please select at least one team member."
Selected recipients get tagged in the internal note and receive a standard mention notification.
If a recipient isn't part of the inbox where the conversation lives, they're still added to the note as a plain text tag, but they won't get a mention notification for it.
Adding a second Handoff to Human action applies the same notification settings as your first, unless you change them, in which case all handoff actions update together.
This works for both the newer Unified Agent and legacy agent versions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I have more than one Handoff to Human action in the same agent?
Yes. You can add as many as you need. They all share one Notify Team Members configuration.
What happens if I don't turn on Notify Team Members?
The handoff still happens and the internal note is still posted with the agent name, trigger reason, and timestamp. No one is tagged or notified.
Does the contact see the handoff happen?
No. The internal note is only visible to your team. The contact just sees the agent's final message.
Need Help? âđ»
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