Human Takeover — Chat Channel (Slack)
Overview
Human Takeover is used when a live Chat widget conversation should be handled by a real person instead of the AI Agent.
Human Takeover transfers the active chat session to Slack so sales, support, or operations staff can reply in real time. While staff are handling the conversation, the AI Agent stops responding to prevent duplicate, conflicting, or overlapping messages.
Human Takeover can be configured inside an Agent Journey block or as a general Agent action. It supports staff availability rules, custom user-facing messages, switching control back to AI, and ending the chat from the Chat widget.
When to Use
Use Human Takeover when the AI should not continue the conversation alone.
Human Takeover is useful for high-intent leads who want to speak with sales, sensitive support requests that need human judgment, operations questions that require manual checking, or debugging scenarios where staff need to inspect the conversation in real time.
Human Takeover is also useful when your AI Agent reaches a Journey point where the next best step is human assistance, such as after a lead is qualified or when the user directly asks to speak with a person.
What Human Takeover Does
Human Takeover pauses the AI Agent and routes the Chat widget conversation to Slack.
When Human Takeover starts, MagicBlocks creates a Slack message or thread in the configured Slack channel. Staff can reply in Slack, and their replies are delivered back to the user inside the Chat widget.
Human Takeover protects the user experience by stopping AI replies immediately. This ensures the user does not receive answers from both the AI Agent and a human teammate at the same time.
Scope
Human Takeover currently applies to the Chat Channel, which means conversations happening through the website Chat widget.
Human Takeover supports:
- Transferring a live Chat widget session to Slack
- Human replies from Slack back to the Chat widget
- Staff Availability rules
- Returning control back to AI with Switch to AI
- Ending the chat from the Chat widget
- Blocking Slack message delivery after the chat is closed
Human Takeover does not mean the visitor moves into Slack. The visitor stays inside the Chat widget, while your team replies from Slack.
Connect Slack Before Using Human Takeover
Before using Human Takeover, connect your Slack workspace to MagicBlocks.
- Go to Library from the left sidebar.
- Open Connections.
- Find Slack under Marketing & Communication.
- Click Connect.
- Enter your Slack workspace URL.
- Continue the Slack sign-in and authorization process.
After Slack is connected, return to MagicBlocks and select the connected Slack workspace when configuring Human Takeover.
Configuration
You can configure Human Takeover from either an Agent Journey block or the Agent’s general action settings.
Configuration locations:
Agent → Journey → Block → Action → Human Takeover
Agent → General → Action → Human Takeover
Use Journey-level configuration when Human Takeover should happen at a specific point in the conversation. Use General action configuration when Human Takeover should be available as a broader Agent behavior.
Human Takeover Fields
Field | What it means |
|---|---|
Transfer Channel | Select Slack as the channel where staff will receive the conversation. |
Workspace | Select the Slack workspace connected to MagicBlocks. |
Channel ID | Enter the target Slack channel ID where takeover conversations should be sent. |
Staff Availability | Choose whether takeover is always available or only available during configured working hours. |
Transferred to Staff Message | The message shown to the user when Human Takeover starts. |
Outside Staff Availability Message | The message shown to the user when takeover is triggered outside available hours. |
Staff Availability
Staff Availability controls whether Human Takeover transfers the conversation immediately or waits until staff are available.
Choose Always when your team is always ready to receive live takeover requests in Slack.
Choose an Availability profile when Human Takeover should only transfer conversations during configured working hours.
If Human Takeover is triggered outside the selected availability hours, MagicBlocks shows the Outside Staff Availability Message to the user instead of transferring the conversation as a live takeover.
Chat Channel Flow
- The user starts a conversation with the AI Agent in the Chat widget.
- Human Takeover is triggered from a Journey action, general action, or matching condition.
- The AI Agent stops responding immediately.
- MagicBlocks creates a Slack message or thread in the configured Slack channel.
- Staff reply inside Slack.
- Staff replies are delivered to the user inside the Chat widget.
The user does not need to leave the website. The full experience stays inside the Chat widget.
Switch Back to AI
Staff can use Switch to AI when the human conversation is complete and the AI Agent should continue helping the user.
After staff switch control back to AI, the AI Agent proactively sends an automatic re-engagement message, such as: “Hi, I’m back to assist you. How can I help?”
After control returns to AI, the AI Agent resumes responding to new user messages using the conversation context. Slack replies should no longer be delivered to the user unless a new Human Takeover is triggered.
Use Switch to AI when the user still needs help, but no longer needs a human teammate.
End Chat Behavior
The user can click End Chat in the Chat widget to close the active conversation.
After the user ends the chat, no further Slack replies are delivered to the user. MagicBlocks should notify the Slack thread that the conversation is closed so staff know not to continue replying.
Any human replies sent in Slack after the chat is closed are ignored for delivery. This prevents users from receiving messages after they have ended the conversation.
Use End Chat behavior to protect user intent and prevent accidental follow-up messages from Slack.
Example Setup
A sales team wants qualified website leads to be transferred to Slack when they ask to speak with a person.
The team connects Slack from Library → Connections.
Inside the Agent Journey, they open the qualification block and add Action → Human Takeover.
They set Transfer Channel to Slack, select their connected workspace, and enter the sales Slack channel ID.
They set Staff Availability to their weekday working hours.
They add this Transferred to Staff Message:
I’m connecting you with someone from our team now. They’ll reply here in the chat shortly.
They add this Outside Staff Availability Message:
Our team is currently offline, but I can still help here. If you leave your details, someone will follow up during working hours.
When a visitor asks for sales help during working hours, the AI stops replying and the conversation is sent to Slack.
Watch the full tutorial below 👇
Best Practices
Use a dedicated Slack channel for Human Takeover conversations. A dedicated channel keeps live customer conversations separate from internal team discussions.
Write clear transfer messages. The user should know when they are being connected to a person and what to expect next.
Set accurate staff availability hours. If your team is not available 24/7, use an Availability profile instead of Always.
Use Switch to AI when the human teammate has answered the sensitive or complex part of the conversation, but the AI can continue with general support or next steps.
Do not keep replying in Slack after the user ends the chat. Once the Chat widget session is closed, Slack replies are ignored for delivery.
FAQs
What happens when Human Takeover starts?
When Human Takeover starts, the AI Agent stops responding immediately and the conversation is routed to the configured Slack channel. Staff can then reply from Slack, and those replies appear in the user’s Chat widget.
Does the user need to open Slack?
No. The user stays in the Chat widget. Slack is only used by your internal team to manage and reply to the conversation.
Can the AI start replying again after a human takes over?
Yes. Staff can use Switch to AI to return control to the AI Agent. After switching back, the AI sends a re-engagement message and resumes responding to new user messages.
What happens if staff reply in Slack after switching back to AI?
After Switch to AI, Slack replies should no longer be delivered to the user unless a new Human Takeover is triggered. This prevents staff and AI from responding at the same time.
What happens if the user clicks End Chat?
When the user clicks End Chat, the Chat widget session is closed. No further Slack replies are delivered to the user, and any later human replies in Slack are ignored for delivery.
What happens outside staff availability hours?
If Human Takeover is triggered outside the selected availability profile, MagicBlocks shows the configured Outside Staff Availability Message instead of transferring the conversation as a live takeover.