Human handoff

Every project runs an AI Agent that answers inbound WhatsApp messages automatically with your automations and replies. Handoff is how a human takes over a single conversation: while handoff is on, automated systems are paused for that contact and your team owns the replies.

The two states

A conversation is always in one of two states:

State	Who replies
AI Agent (default)	Automations, external webhooks, and public API outbound sends can run.
Handoff on	Automations, external webhooks, and public API outbound sends are paused. A teammate handles the conversation in the inbox.

Handoff is per-conversation — turning it on for one contact never affects the rest of your inbox.

What handoff pauses

When handoff is on for a conversation, Wabery will not:

Run native automations or auto-replies for new inbound messages.
Forward new inbound messages to an external project webhook.
Queue outbound automated replies through POST /v1/messages; the API returns 409 ai_handoff_active instead.

Manual teammate replies from the dashboard inbox still work. Handoff stays active until someone turns it off, so a human conversation is never taken back by an automation mid-reply.

Turning handoff on

Handoff turns on automatically when either happens:

A teammate replies manually in the inbox (/inbox). Sending a manual message means a human is now handling the thread, so the AI Agent steps back.
An automation runs Pause Replies. Use the Pause Replies action to escalate on a keyword or condition — e.g. keyword refund → Pause Replies, so a teammate takes over.

A teammate can also flip it on directly from the Handoff toggle in the conversation’s details panel.

Turning handoff off

Open the conversation in the inbox and switch Handoff off (or use Turn off handoff in the conversation banner). The AI Agent resumes and answers new inbound messages again.

Handoff stays on until someone turns it off — there is no automatic timeout, so a conversation a human picked up is never taken back mid-reply.

Where you see it

Inbox banner — an open conversation on handoff shows a banner: “Handoff on — you’re handling this,” with a one-click way to hand it back.
Conversation list — threads on handoff are tagged with a Handoff badge so your team can spot what needs a human.
Details panel — the Handoff toggle shows and controls the current state.