How availability-based assignment works in chat and voice
Overview
CSM supports three channel modes, each determining who handles the conversation and how incoming conversations are assigned. The core assignment logic — round-robin, per-agent timeout, agent caps, and fallbacks — is consistent across chat, WhatsApp, and voice.
The three modes
1. AI only
The AI agent handles the full conversation with the customer. There are no human agents in the loop.
If the AI cannot resolve the issue, a studio-configured handoff kicks in — for example, sending a closing message, or raising a follow-up request.
2. Support team only
A human support agent handles the full conversation. There is no AI agent involved.
When a conversation comes in, CSM immediately attempts to assign it using round-robin across available agents:
Each agent has 120 seconds to accept or decline the offered conversation.
If an agent accepts, the conversation is routed to them and they handle it end-to-end.
If an agent declines, or does not respond within 120 seconds, the conversation is offered to the next available agent. An agent who doesn't respond is automatically set to Unavailable.
If no agent accepts within a total of 20 minutes, CSM sends the configured fallback message to the customer.
One agent available: if the only available agent declines, the conversation is offered back to them — there's no one else to pass it to.
Agents at conversation cap: if all online agents have reached their limit, the conversation is still accepted and queued for the next available agent — it's not dropped.
No agents online: the conversation cannot be created or assigned, the fallback message is sent.
If the agent cannot resolve the issue, they can manually raise follow-up requests from within the conversation for asynchronous support.
3. AI + support team
The AI agent starts the conversation. If the AI cannot resolve the issue, it attempts to hand off to a human agent.
At the point of handoff, CSM uses the same round-robin assignment logic as support team only mode:
Each agent has 120 seconds to accept or decline.
If an agent accepts, the conversation is routed to them, and the full AI transcript is visible to the agent.
If an agent declines or doesn't respond within 120 seconds, the conversation moves to the next available agent. In the case where the agent does not respond within 120 seconds, that agent is set to Unavailable.
If no agent accepts within a total of 20 minutes, CSM sends the configured fallback message.
No available agents online: the studio-configured handoff kicks in instead — the same as AI only mode.
Key terms
Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
Studio-configured handoff | The handoff action defined in the AI agent configuration in studio — for example, sending a message, closing the conversation, or routing to a queue. Applies to AI only and AI + support team modes. |
Round-robin assignment | CSM cycles through available agents in order, offering each one the conversation in turn. |
Per-agent acceptance window | Each agent has 120 seconds to accept or decline an offered conversation. If they don't respond, they're set to Unavailable and the conversation moves to the next agent. |
Fallback message | A pre-configured message sent to the customer when no human agent accepts the conversation within 20 minutes. |
Conversation cap | The maximum number of active conversations an agent can hold at once. When all agents are at cap, new conversations are queued rather than rejected. |
Follow-up request | A work item a human agent can manually raise on behalf of the customer from within a conversation when an issue requires further action after the conversation ends. |
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