Live chat and handoff
Chat routing and match status
For every new website conversation, Stand builds an eligible set from the matched Site, organization capacity, Available reps, and enabled AI Stand-ins. It routes to an Available rep first; when Stand-in coverage is active, enabled Stand-ins can cover chats when no rep is Available or every eligible rep is at capacity.
- Availability
- All plans
- Configured in
- Automatic at chat start; inspect in Dashboard → Sites → Chat widget status
- Category
- Live chat and handoff
- Reference status
- Current
How a new chat is matched
| Stage | Eligibility check |
|---|---|
| 1. Site | The script’s Site exists, is enabled and installed, and its normalized domain matches the visitor page. |
| 2. Organization | The organization can reserve a new chat from included quota or eligible balance. |
| 3. Humans | Reps must be Available, connected, below their concurrent limit, active members, and personally covering the Site with I chat here. |
| 4. AI Stand-ins | Stand-in coverage must be active, and Stand-ins must be enabled and satisfy their owner, Site, path, and organization eligibility. |
| 5. Assignment | Stand prefers an eligible Available rep; otherwise it selects from the most specific eligible Stand-in coverage. |
Stand-in specificity and probability
- A matching path-specialized Stand-in ranks ahead of a Stand-in that covers the entire Site.
- A Site-specialized Stand-in ranks ahead of a general Stand-in on that Site.
- General Stand-ins can cover other eligible Sites associated with their owner when no narrower specialization displaces them.
- When multiple Stand-ins remain at the same preferred specificity, Stand can split the chance of selection among them.
- Human-first routing is evaluated before AI fallback; Stand-in specificity does not override a valid human assignment.
Read Chat widget status
Open Dashboard → Sites, expand the relevant Site, and inspect Chat widget status. It shows the reps and Stand-ins currently eligible for that Site and, when several Stand-ins can answer, the probability split Stand would use.
Use the status to diagnose missing coverage: an uninstalled or disabled Site, I chat here turned off, a rep who is not Available or is at capacity, inactive Stand-in coverage, a disabled Stand-in, or a nonmatching path can all remove a responder.
Routing outcomes
| Eligible responders | New visitor result |
|---|---|
| Available rep | The conversation is assigned to a human and consumes one of that rep’s concurrent slots. |
| No rep Available; eligible Stand-in | The selected AI Stand-in starts the conversation, and reps can monitor or join later. |
| Several equal Stand-ins | Stand selects using the displayed probability split after applying specialization precedence. |
| No responder or no chat capacity | The widget does not start a normal new conversation; the visitor receives the applicable unavailable or capacity behavior. |
Timing and boundaries
- Routing is decided for a new session. Later availability changes do not automatically move an active conversation.
- Query strings and hash fragments do not create distinct Stand-in path matches.
- Notifications do not make a rep eligible; eligibility exists before an assignment alert is sent.
- I chat here and Stand-in specialization are separate coverage systems and should be diagnosed separately.