# Every way a conversation is handed to a person, and what happens next

> Everything that hands a conversation to a person — rules, goals, workflows, built-in checks, the WhatsApp Business app — and how to hand it back.

Source: https://www.linkubit.com/docs/human-escalation-explained  
Section: Linkubit help centre › How the AI agent works  
Updated: 2026-10-09

## In short

A conversation goes to a person when an escalation topic matches, the customer sounds frustrated, a rule requires a person, a goal marked to escalate completes, a workflow runs escalate_conversation, a reply fails verification, the agent hands over itself, or a safety limit trips — and also when someone replies from the WhatsApp Business app. The agent then stops replying on that conversation until somebody presses Return to AI.

## What escalation does

- The conversation switches to human mode. The agent does not reply to it again until somebody presses **Return to AI** in the inbox.
- Live goals are paused, and resume with everything captured when it is returned.
- Follow-ups stop — they only chase conversations the agent owns.
- `conversation.escalated` fires, so workflows and webhooks on it run (assign an owner, create a task).
- Messages the customer sends meanwhile wait in the inbox. Nothing answers them automatically.

## Every trigger

| Trigger | Where it is set | How to recognise it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Escalation topic matched | AI settings › Human escalation | Automatic events show a **Rule** line naming the topic rule. |
| Customer sounds frustrated or upset | Built in; cannot be turned off | Hand-over on an angry or upset message, no rule named. |
| **Require human before tool** rule | AI settings › Agent rules | A **Rule** line naming the rule, on a turn where the agent tried that action. |
| Goal completed with **Escalate to a human when this goal completes** | The goal | Hand-over on the message that filled the goal's last required field; the goal shows as completed. |
| Workflow with **escalate_conversation** | Settings › Workflows | Audit log entry `workflow:<trigger>` listing `escalate_conversation`; often a task created beside it. |
| The agent handed over itself | Its role allows changing the conversation | Typically the customer asked for a person; the hand-over is attributed to the agent. |
| A reply failed verification | Built in | The customer got a holding reply ("let me check and come back to you"); the audit log names the reason. |
| 40+ messages in 10 minutes | Built in | The thread says the agent stopped because of a burst of messages. |
| The person's daily AI-reply limit | Workspace setting | Banner: this person reached today's limit on AI replies. |
| Someone replied from the WhatsApp Business app | Using the number on a phone | No event or rule at all — a person was in the chat, so the agent stepped back. |
| A new email that is a notice, not a customer | Built in | Banner: not answered — this looks like a notice. |
| A website enquiry by email | Built in | These conversations start with a person, never the agent. |

> **The escalation topic check fails closed.** If the topic check itself cannot run on a message, every configured topic is treated as matched and the conversation goes to a person. A rare hand-over with no obvious topic can be this.

## Writing good escalation topics

- Write a full description, not a keyword: "the customer disputes a refund or complains about a payment" rather than "refund".
- A passing mention does not match — the message has to be clearly about the topic.
- Each topic you add is checked on every message, so keep the list to what genuinely needs a person.

## Hand it back

Open the conversation and press **Return to AI**. The agent answers from the customer's next message; it does not reply to messages that arrived while a person had it. See [Take over a conversation from the AI agent](https://www.linkubit.com/docs/take-over-a-conversation).

## Related
- [Why did the agent hand over or stop replying?](https://www.linkubit.com/docs/why-the-agent-handed-over-or-stopped-replying)
- [Take over a conversation from the AI agent](https://www.linkubit.com/docs/take-over-a-conversation)
- [When ai should hand over to a human](https://www.linkubit.com/guides/when-ai-should-hand-over-to-a-human)