Reply to visitors and take over conversations

Your team answers visitors from Chat History in the dashboard. You can reply, take the conversation from the AI, give it back to the AI, and resolve it. For how these states work together, see Conversations and handoff. You can also reply from ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI assistant. See MCP server.

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Before you start

• Plan: any plan. See Plans and limits.
• Role: any team role, including Agent. See Team members.
• To get alerts for new escalations, set up notifications.

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Find conversations that need you

1. In your chatbot’s sidebar, select Chat History.
2. Select the Attention view. It lists open conversations that are escalated, have an unread visitor message, or have negative feedback.
3. Select a conversation to open it.

Escalated conversations show the Escalated badge. For all views and filters, see Review conversations.

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Reply to the visitor

When you reply, the conversation switches to human mode. The AI stops answering in this conversation. The visitor sees your reply in the chat. Replies from Chat History reach visitors who chat in the website widget or on WhatsApp. On WhatsApp, a reply is delivered only within 24 hours of the visitor’s last message. See WhatsApp. Replies do not reach visitors on Slack, Messenger, and other connected channels. Reply to those visitors in that tool. See Integrations. A reply alone does not lock the conversation. The visitor can still select Continue with AI to go back to the AI. To stop this, take over the conversation before you reply. The dashboard shows Take over the chat only while the AI answers the conversation, or while an escalated conversation waits for your team to answer the visitor’s last message. In human mode it shows Release to AI instead. To lock that conversation, use Lock conversation. See Lock a conversation that your team holds. With API v2, POST /api/v2/chatbots/{chatbotId}/conversations/{threadId}/take-over locks it. A reply from an AI assistant (the SiteGPT MCP server) or from API v2 works differently. If the AI still answers the conversation, or an escalated conversation waits for your team, the reply takes the conversation over first. The visitor sees “A human agent has joined the conversation” and cannot select Continue with AI. See reply_to_conversation in the MCP tool reference.

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Take over the chat

Take over when you want the AI fully out of the conversation.

1. Open the conversation in Chat History.
2. At the top of the conversation, select Take over the chat. It shows while the AI answers the conversation, or while an escalated conversation waits for your team to answer the visitor’s last message.

While you hold the conversation:

• The AI does not reply. If an AI answer is being written when you take over, it stops.
• The visitor sees “A human agent has joined the conversation”.
• The visitor cannot switch back to the AI. The Continue with AI button does not show.
• The visitor’s messages still arrive in the conversation.

Taking over does not send escalation emails and does not mark the conversation as escalated.

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Lock a conversation that your team holds

After a team member replies, or in a conversation that started in human mode, the conversation is in human mode without a lock. The top of the conversation shows Release to AI, and the visitor can still select Continue with AI. To stop this:

1. Open the conversation in Chat History.
2. At the top of the conversation, open the … menu.
3. Select Lock conversation. The menu says “The visitor cannot switch to the AI.”

Lock conversation does the same as Take over the chat. The visitor sees “A human agent has joined the conversation”, and the Continue with AI button does not show. Release to AI still gives the conversation back to the AI in one click. The menu shows Lock conversation only while your team holds the conversation without a lock. It does not show after a take over or in a resolved conversation. It also does not show while the AI answers, or while an escalated conversation waits for your team to answer the visitor’s last message. In these two cases, use Take over the chat.

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Release to AI

When you finish helping and the visitor may have more questions, give the conversation back to the AI.

1. Open the conversation.
2. Select Release to AI.

Release to AI shows at the top of the conversation while your team holds it: after you take over, or while the conversation is in human mode, for example after a team member replied or because it started in human mode. One exception: an escalated conversation that no team member answered since the visitor’s last message shows Take over the chat instead. The visitor sees “Continuing with AI”. The AI answers the visitor’s next message in the same conversation.

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Mark as Resolved

Resolve a conversation when it is finished.

1. Open the conversation.
2. Select Mark as Resolved.

A resolved conversation is closed:

• It leaves the Attention view and moves to Closed. It shows the Resolved badge.
• If an AI answer is being written, it stops.
• The reply box is hidden, and you cannot take over the conversation.
• Lead forms and feedback buttons in that conversation stop working.

What the visitor sees depends on where they chat: A new conversation uses your chatbot’s chat mode. Resolving does not guarantee that the AI answers next. To continue the same conversation with the AI, use Release to AI instead. To act on many conversations, select them in the list and select Mark as Resolved in the bar that appears.

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Mark as Unresolved

Only your team can reopen a resolved conversation. Open it and select Mark as Unresolved. A new message from the visitor never reopens it.

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When SiteGPT emails your reply to the visitor

Visitors often leave before you answer. SiteGPT can email your reply to them. This also applies to replies that you send from ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI assistant through the SiteGPT MCP server, and to replies sent with API v2. SiteGPT sends the email only if all of these are true:

• SiteGPT has the visitor’s email, for example from a lead form.
• The visitor was not active in the chat after your reply.
• The conversation is not resolved.
• The visitor did not mark an earlier SiteGPT email as spam.
• The chatbot owner has an email address.

SiteGPT waits about 2 minutes after your first reply. Replies you send in that time go out in one email. The subject is “New reply from” and your chatbot name. The email contains your reply and an Open the conversation link that opens the chat. When the visitor answers the email, the answer goes to the first of these addresses that is set:

1. The chatbot’s Support Email in Settings > General.
2. The first address in your escalation email list, if Enable Escalation Notifications is on.
3. The chatbot owner’s email.

SiteGPT skips an address that is not a valid email address. If the first address in the escalation email list is not valid, the answer goes to the chatbot owner’s email. On HIPAA workspaces, the email does not include your reply. It only tells the visitor that there is a new response.

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See whether the visitor got the email

The conversation shows a line under your last reply of each email batch: The conversation keeps the 20 most recent results. The line shows only in the dashboard, not in the iPhone app.

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Check that it works

1. In your chatbot preview, ask for a person, then send a message.
2. In Chat History, open the conversation from Attention and select Take over the chat.
3. Send a reply. The preview shows “A human agent has joined the conversation” and your reply. The AI does not answer.
4. Select Release to AI. Send another message in the preview. The AI answers.
5. Select Mark as Resolved. The preview shows “This conversation has been closed.”