# Live Support

The AI answers chats on the website widget, WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger, and Instagram. When a visitor asks for a person, the agent offers the **same thread** to a teammate. The teammate accepts and keeps chatting in **Live Support** (sidebar). The visitor does not start over, and the AI stops writing.

It needs three things: a chat channel on the agent, **Transfer** on that agent, and teammates with **Provide chat support** on. Email is not a Live Support channel yet.

  <ShotPlaceholder
    src="/assets/telephony/live-support.png"
    name="live-support"
    alt="Live Support chat list, open chat and contact panel"
    capture="Sidebar Live Support with one open chat."
  />

## First setup

1. **Connect a chat channel to the agent**

   Open the agent → **Channels** → [**Website Widget**](https://docs.voicelogica.ai/agent-configuration/website-widget/), **WhatsApp**, **Viber**, **Messenger**, or **Instagram**. Prove that the AI already answers there before you add people.

2. **Turn on Transfer for that agent**

   Same agent → **Call handling → Transfer** → **Enable call transfer** On. This is the switch for chat handoffs too. Off means the AI never offers a person. The rest of the tab is on [Transfer](https://docs.voicelogica.ai/telephony/transfer/).

3. **Pick who can take chats**

   - **Allow the AI to transfer to any enabled destination**: every company user with **Provide chat support** on.
   - **Specific destinations**: only the **Users** and **User groups** on the list. **AI agent** and **External number** rows are skipped for chats.

   For a group, the offer goes to every member. The first person to accept owns the chat, and the offer is cancelled for the others.

4. **Turn on Provide chat support for each person**

   **Telephony → [Active directory](https://docs.voicelogica.ai/telephony/active-directory/)** → edit the user's seat → **Provide chat support**. It is on by default for new seats and invited users. Turn it off for people who should never get chats.

   This is per **user**, not per website. The website, or any other channel, comes from the agent in step 1.

5. **Go online**

   The teammate signs in to the web app, the [Windows app](https://docs.voicelogica.ai/telephony/setup-windows-app/), or the [mobile app](https://docs.voicelogica.ai/telephony/setup-mobile-app/). Offers go only to people who are online at that moment. If nobody is online, the AI tells the visitor and keeps the chat.

6. **Prove it**

   Open your website widget, or write to your WhatsApp, and ask: *"Can I talk to a person?"* The teammate sees **Live support chat** with **Accept** and **Decline**. **Accept** opens **Live Support** with the transcript, the contact, CRM links, and the last summaries. Their reply goes back on the same channel.

## Billing

Each new conversation uses **one chat session** from the plan. That includes the AI part and a handoff in the same thread. When no sessions are left, new chats are refused, the account owner gets an email, and **Live Support** shows **No chat sessions left**. Buy a chat-sessions pack to continue.

## When it does not work

**The AI says nobody is available, or it never offers a person**

Check **Enable call transfer** on that agent first. Then check that at least one allowed user has **Provide chat support** on and that their seat is enabled. With **Specific destinations**, only Users and User groups count. If the Transfer tab blocks transfers while the company is closed, chats are not handed off outside office hours either.

**The teammate never sees the offer**

They must be signed in and online in the app when the visitor asks. Offline people are skipped. The offer lasts about 30 seconds. After that, the AI keeps the chat and can take a message.

**Can the chat show a form when nobody is available?**

There is no form inside the chat. If nobody takes the chat, the AI says so and takes the message in the same chat: it asks for the name, an email or phone, and what it is about, one question at a time. To have every such message reach your team as a task, turn on **Auto-create tasks** in [Call results](https://docs.voicelogica.ai/agent-configuration/call-results/).

**The visitor sees “Chat is temporarily unavailable”**

The plan has no chat sessions left. Buy a chat-sessions pack.

**Can email threads go to Live Support?**

Not yet. The email channel is coming soon.