Skip to content

Live chat and human handoff

Live chat where the AI answers first and your team takes over

Chatsy's live chat puts an AI agent in front of your website chat. It answers from your help content and, when it cannot help, moves the conversation to your team's queue with the full transcript. The visitor stays in the same chat window. Live chat is included from the Hobby plan at $40 a month.

Start freeSee pricing

What your team sees in Live chat

MMayaReturns agentTeam handling

The zipper broke after a week. Can someone take a look?

Damage in the first 30 days is covered, so I’ll pass this to the team with our conversation attached.

Moved to live chat with the transcript

Internal note · Delivered 9 days ago, so the 30-day policy covers it.

Sam

Hi, I’m Sam from the team. I can see the whole conversation, so let’s sort this out.

ReplyInternal note
Reply…

What it does

Live chat in Chatsy

  • AI answers first

    The agent replies from the sources you added and cites them, so most repeat questions never reach the queue.

  • Handoff with the transcript

    An Escalate to Human tool moves the chat to Live chat with the reason, a short summary and a priority.

  • Clear triggers

    A request for a person, no answer in the sources, an unsure reply, negative feedback or a repeated question.

  • Claim, release, resolve

    A teammate claims a chat so nobody doubles up, releases it back to the queue, resolves it, or hands it back to the AI.

  • Faster replies for your team

    Saved replies, file attachments up to 10 MB and, with the AI drafts module, a suggested reply to start from.

  • Alerts and follow-up

    Escalations can post to a connected Slack channel. Visitors can leave an email so the owner can follow up.

Setup

Turn on handoff in four steps

Read the handoff guide
  1. 01

    Add knowledge to the agent

    The fewer questions the agent can answer, the more chats land in your queue.

  2. 02

    Switch on the Live chat module

    In Settings → Modules. This adds the Escalate to Human tool to your agents.

  3. 03

    Write your handoff rules

    Tell the agent in its instructions which topics always go to a person, such as refunds or account changes.

  4. 04

    Test the off-hours path

    With nobody in the dashboard, ask for a person and check what the visitor sees and whether your alert arrives.

Human handoff

What happens when the agent hands a chat to your team

A handoff moves the same conversation, not a copy, from the AI agent to a person. Here is each step, from the trigger to the reply.

Set up human handoff
  1. 01

    A trigger fires

    The visitor asks for a person, the sources have no answer, the reply is unsure, the visitor rates it down or says it did not help, the same question comes back, or one of your topic rules applies.

  2. 02

    The chat is escalated

    The agent uses its Escalate to Human tool, or the visitor picks the option to reach a person in the widget. The chat is marked escalated with a reason and a priority from Low to Urgent; the agent also adds a short summary.

  3. 03

    The visitor is told

    A fixed message in English says they are connected to the support queue and a person will be with them shortly. They stay in the same chat window.

  4. 04

    Your team sees it

    The chat appears in the Live chat queue in real time with the transcript. If Slack is connected with alerts on, an escalation alert with the summary or reason is posted to your channel.

  5. 05

    A teammate claims it

    Claiming assigns the chat, so nobody else can pick it up. Replies appear in the visitor’s window and do not use credits.

  6. 06

    The loop closes

    Resolve the chat, release it back to the queue for someone else, or hand it back to the AI agent for the rest of the conversation.

  1. Live chat page with one waiting test conversation marked Next up.
    1. The chat waits in the queueOne visitor waiting, shown as Next up on the Live chat page. Local test workspace with test data, captured November 12, 2026.
  2. Open test conversation on the Live chat page with the transcript, escalation reason and a Claim button.
    2. A teammate opens itThe open conversation shows the transcript and the escalation reason before anyone claims it. Local test workspace with test data, captured November 12, 2026.
  3. Claimed test conversation on the Live chat page with the teammate reply sent in the thread.
    3. Claimed and answeredAfter Claim, the teammate reply appears in the thread and in the visitor’s chat window. Local test workspace with test data, captured November 12, 2026.

There is no online or away status, so the visitor sees the same message when nobody is watching the queue. Put your support hours in the welcome message and let visitors leave an email for a follow-up.

Plans

Live chat on each plan

Teammate replies do not use credits; AI replies do. Seats include the workspace owner. See message credits for how far each allowance goes.

Live chat on each plan
PlanLive chatTeam seatsAI credits / monthAI drafts
Free ($0/mo)140
Hobby ($40/mo)1500
Standard ($150/mo)34,000
Pro ($500/mo)515,000
Enterprise (quote)10100,000

Where it stops

What Chatsy live chat does not do

  • There is no online, away or busy status for teammates. Every handoff joins the queue, and the visitor is told a person will be with them shortly even when nobody is online.
  • Chatsy does not email your team when a chat is escalated. Use a Slack alert or keep the dashboard open during support hours.
  • There is no routing by skill, round-robin assignment or SLA timer. Teammates claim chats from one queue.
  • Chat happens on your website widget or hosted chat link. WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and SMS are not channels.
  • The widget interface is available in English and Spanish only.
  • There are no CSAT surveys or sentiment scores. Analytics show conversations, handoffs, ratings and first-reply time.

Not a fit if

  • You need staffed 24/7 coverage with presence-based routing across many agents.
  • Most of your support happens on social or messaging apps rather than your website.
  • You need more than 10 people in the queue: Enterprise includes 10 seats.
  • You want a free plan with live chat: Free covers the AI agent only.

FAQ

Questions before you turn it on

Hobby ($40/month), Standard, Pro and Enterprise. Free does not include live chat; Free visitors can leave an email for a follow-up instead.

The conversation waits in the Live chat queue and the visitor sees a message that a person will be with them shortly. Chatsy has no presence status, so set expectations in your welcome message, connect a Slack alert, and let visitors leave an email for follow-up.

No. Credits are used when an AI model writes a reply. Replies your team types in Live chat do not use credits.

Each teammate needs a seat, and seats include the owner: 1 on Hobby, 3 on Standard, 5 on Pro and 10 on Enterprise.

Yes. A teammate can hand the conversation back to the AI agent once the part that needed a person is done.

Read next

Guides for this module

Answer the repeat questions. Keep a person for the rest.

Build an agent from your help content on the Free plan, then add live chat on Hobby when you are ready for handoff.

Start freeRead the setup guide

Free plan available. No credit card required.