Conversation States
This page describes external conversations linked to an inbox under Conversations (/admin/conversations). Internal Hub conversations follow a different flow.
A card does not depend on one state. SquadOS combines:
- lifecycle: active, completed, or technical failure;
- handling: AI or human;
- human owner: one person or no one;
- reply turn: team or customer;
- snoozing and archiving, which remove the item from queues for different reasons.
These fields determine which inbox view contains the conversation.
Inbox views
Section titled “Inbox views”| View | What it contains |
|---|---|
| To reply | Human conversations assigned to you where the customer spoke last. This is a personal queue. |
| Mine | All active conversations assigned to you, regardless of who spoke last. |
| Unassigned | Active human conversations that no one has claimed yet. |
| AI | Active conversations with AI enabled. |
| Snoozed | Active conversations whose scheduled return is in the future. |
| Completed | Completed conversations and terminal technical-failure records. |
| All | Active and completed conversations that are neither snoozed nor archived. |
Channel, inbox, agent, assignee, and tag filters can narrow any of these lists. A conversation must also belong to an inbox you can access.
Active and completed
Section titled “Active and completed”An active conversation can receive new messages and appears in the queues that match its handling, owner, and reply turn.
To end an interaction, open Conversation actions → Complete conversation. The confirmation asks how the conversation should return if it is reactivated:
- AI — the agent takes over when the conversation reopens, provided it is still active and available to the inbox;
- Human handling — the conversation returns to the team and keeps its owner when that person can still handle the inbox.
AI stays off while the conversation is completed in either mode. If you choose AI but no agent is available, SquadOS completes it with human handling and reports that downgrade.
A new customer message automatically reopens a completed conversation. You can also use Conversation actions → Reopen. Reopening applies the mode selected at completion; if the agent or owner is no longer eligible, the conversation returns to human handling without an owner.
Technical failure is terminal. Failed records appear in Completed so they do not remain in active queues. In the current product, the card badge can show a non-terminal label for these records; check the Context panel before trying to continue the interaction.
AI, human handling, and ownership
Section titled “AI, human handling, and ownership”AI enabled means the agent can reply. The conversation belongs in AI, not in a human queue.
When AI is disabled, the conversation moves to human handling:
- with an owner, it appears under Mine for that person;
- without an owner, it appears under Unassigned;
- when it is assigned to you and awaiting your reply, it also appears under To reply.
Claiming or replying to an unassigned conversation assigns it to you and keeps AI off. Transferring to another person changes the owner; transferring to Queue removes the owner; transferring to AI Agent enables AI again. See Human Intervention.
Awaiting team or customer
Section titled “Awaiting team or customer”SquadOS derives the reply turn from the latest message:
- Awaiting team — the customer spoke last;
- Awaiting customer — a person or the agent replied last;
- Completed — the interaction is closed.
When the inbox has a first-response target, a human conversation awaiting the team shows an SLA badge instead of simple elapsed time. The timer starts when the conversation enters the human queue, ends with a human reply, and is canceled when AI takes over, the conversation is completed, or it is snoozed. If it returns from snooze while still awaiting the team, a new cycle starts.
Snoozed
Section titled “Snoozed”Only an active, external, human conversation with AI off can be snoozed. Use Conversation actions → Snooze conversation and choose:
- In 1 hour;
- Tomorrow, at 9:00 AM;
- Next Monday, at 9:00 AM;
- Choose date, with a custom day and time.
The time must be in the future and no more than one year away. The card starts showing Resumes {date}, and the conversation leaves every other view, including All.
It returns when the first of these happens:
- the scheduled time arrives;
- the customer sends a new message;
- someone uses Resume now.
Snoozing does not silence the channel, complete the conversation, or change AI or ownership. When it returns, it reenters the queues that match the preserved fields, and a new SLA cycle may start.
Archived
Section titled “Archived”Archive conversation is different from completing it. The action marks the record as archived and removes it from lists and counts while preserving messages and history in the database.
The current interface has no archived view or restore action. Therefore:
- use Complete conversation when the interaction is over but may need to resume;
- use Snooze conversation when there is a date to return;
- use Archive conversation only when the item should leave circulation.
Archiving is not access control. In the current product, a known direct URL can still open an archived conversation and allow actions on it. Do not use this feature to protect sensitive content or as proof that new messages are blocked.
Quick matrix
Section titled “Quick matrix”| Situation | Lifecycle | AI | Owner | Turn | Main view |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agent handling | active | on | — | any | AI |
| Customer wrote, no one claimed it | active | off | none | team | Unassigned |
| Customer wrote in your conversation | active | off | you | team | To reply and Mine |
| You replied | active | off | you | customer | Mine |
| Scheduled return | active | off | preserved | preserved | Snoozed |
| Interaction ended | completed | off | preserved | — | Completed |
| Terminal technical failure | failed | variable | variable | — | Completed |
| Out of circulation | preserved | preserved | preserved | preserved | no list |
Best practices
Section titled “Best practices”- Work from Unassigned to pick up new interactions and from To reply to follow only work that is already yours.
- Complete finished work and deliberately choose who should handle it when reopened.
- Snooze commitments with a date instead of mixing them into current queues.
- Before repeating an action that reported an error, refresh the conversation and check lifecycle, AI, owner, and timeline; some flows may have applied part of the change.
- Archive only when you no longer need to find the item in the product lists.