--- title: "How the AI hands chats to your team" description: "Routing modes, business hours, when the Retily AI brings in a person, the contact questions it asks alongside, and when it offers a ticket." url: https://retily.com/help/ai-handoff language: en last_modified: 2026-10-28T18:11:29Z --- [Help](https://retily.com/help) # How the AI hands chats to your team You decide who answers first, in and out of business hours. The AI brings in a person when one is free, and offers a ticket when nobody is. ## Choose a mode In **Settings › Chat**, under **Chat Routing**, pick one mode for **During business hours** and one for **After hours**. A chat keeps the mode of the hours it started in. **AI first** The AI answers, and brings in a person when one is available. After hours it connects nobody and offers a ticket. **AI only** The AI answers everything. It offers a ticket, never a person. **Human first** Your team is offered the chat first. If nobody is free, or nobody accepts in time, the AI takes over. **Human only** Your team only. If nobody is free, the customer leaves a ticket. A new workspace starts on AI first during business hours and AI only after hours. Set your hours in **Settings › General**, under **Business hours**: a timezone, then **Always open** or a schedule for each day. ## When the AI brings in a person In AI first, and only when someone on your team is online and available: - The customer asks for a person. The AI offers **Connect me now** or **Keep chatting here** (with **Try to help before escalating** on, as it starts). Asking again connects them. - The AI is unsure of a real question, below **Offer a person when the AI is less sure than** (70% to start). It offers a person or a ticket, once per chat. - Before it makes a ticket, it offers a person first. ## How your team gets the chat The **Assignment rule** in **Settings › Chat** decides who gets it: Round Robin and Least Active pick one agent, First Accept offers it to everyone (the first to click **Accept** on “New chat needs an agent” gets it), and Manual puts it in the Queue for your team to take. - While the customer waits, they see “Waiting for a team member to join...”, and can choose **Keep chatting with the AI** (not in Human only). - In Human first and Human only, the wait is **Chat request timeout** times **Max re-notification rounds** (30 seconds, 3 rounds to start), never more than 3 minutes. Then Human first hands the chat to the AI, and Human only opens a ticket. - When the AI hands a chat to a person and nobody accepts, a ticket is created for the customer. - Waiting chats are in **Chat**, on the **Queue** tab. To step into a chat the AI is handling, click **Take over from AI** in its side panel. ## Name and email, asked alongside Switch on **Ask for contact details** in your chat widget’s settings (**Settings › Widget**, then the widget, then **Behavior**). When a chat goes to a person, the widget then asks the visitor’s name, if it doesn’t know it, and their email, one question per message. It never holds the chat back. Every question has **Not now**, and the chat goes to your team either way. With **Name on the contact step** you choose: ask and let visitors skip it (the default), require it, or ask for the email only. ## Tickets from a chat - When the customer agrees to a ticket, the widget shows it to them first: **Approve**, **Edit** or **Not now**. Then it asks for their email (the name is optional) and they click **Create ticket**. - The ticket opens with a summary and the whole chat, and the customer gets a confirmation email. Your team’s replies on the ticket go to them by email. - The ticket card always asks for an email. A ticket that opens because nobody was available waits for the visitor’s email only when **Ask for contact details** is on. With it off, it can open without one. Test it before your customers do: **AI Playground**, then **Test in the real widget** opens your real chat, with these offers and buttons. [Get started](https://retily.com/help/get-started). ## Still stuck? Write to support@retily.com with your support email address and what you tried. Or see [all help pages](https://retily.com/help).