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Claim a conversation

Written by , Founder, AskVault · Reviewed by Aashiq
Last updated: · 3 min read

What claim means

A conversation has three ownership states:

  • Unclaimed. No agent assigned. Lives in the shared inbox.
  • Claimed by you. You're the assigned agent. Appears in your "My conversations" view.
  • Claimed by another agent. Someone else is on it.

Claim prevents collision: two agents typing replies to the same customer in parallel.

How to claim

Three paths.

Click the Claim button. Top-right of the conversation header. One click.

Keyboard shortcut. With a conversation focused, press C.

Auto-claim on first reply. Under Settings > Inbox > Auto-claim, enable "Auto-claim when I send the first reply". The system claims for you when you type and send.

Auto-claim is the recommended setting; reduces forgotten-to-claim collisions.

What happens after claiming

  • The conversation moves from "Unclaimed" to "My conversations".
  • Other agents see you as the assignee. They can still view but not reply (UI shows a warning).
  • Notifications target you. Customer's next reply pings you specifically.
  • SLA clock applies to you (your average response time tracks).

If another agent needs to take over, they can either reassign (with your permission) or you release.

Releasing a claim

Three reasons to release:

  1. Ending your shift. Release so the next agent can pick up.
  2. Realizing you're not the right person. Engineer claimed by mistake; needs to go to a billing agent.
  3. Customer didn't reply. After a long wait, release to free the slot.

To release:

  1. Open the conversation.
  2. Click "Release" (next to your name in the assignee field).
  3. Confirm.
  4. Conversation returns to "Unclaimed".

Or use shortcut Shift+C.

Reassign to another agent

Instead of releasing, assign directly to a teammate:

  1. Click the assignee dropdown.
  2. Pick a team member.
  3. Optionally add a note explaining the handoff context.
  4. Confirm.

The new assignee gets a notification with the conversation link and your handoff note.

Auto-routing on claim

When you claim a conversation:

  • The customer doesn't see who claimed. From their side, the conversation continues without disruption.
  • Bot replies pause if your team uses the "Pause bot on human claim" setting. The bot won't reply until you explicitly hand back.
  • Internal notes still allowed from anyone on the team for context-sharing.

Pause-on-claim is the default. Toggle under Workspace Settings > Bot Behavior.

Bulk claim

For agents handling many conversations:

  1. Filter the inbox (e.g., "Unclaimed + Channel = WhatsApp").
  2. Select up to 50.
  3. Click "Bulk Actions > Claim".

Useful at shift start when there's a backlog. After bulk claim, all 50 appear in your personal queue.

Don't bulk-claim more than you can realistically handle; better to leave some for teammates.

Claim queues per skill or team

For teams with role-specialization:

  • Billing-agent pool. Conversations tagged billing only claimable by billing agents.
  • Senior-agent pool. Urgent or enterprise tagged conversations restricted to senior agents.
  • Per-language pool. Spanish conversations only claimable by Spanish-speaking agents.

Configure team membership and pool rules under Settings > Team > Pools.

Audit and metrics

Per agent:

  • Conversations claimed in the last 7/30 days.
  • Average time-to-claim (from unclaimed-creation to claim).
  • Average response time post-claim.
  • Conversations released vs resolved.

Visible under Dashboard > Analytics > Agent Performance.

Useful for identifying bottlenecks and load-balancing.

API access

For automation or external dashboards:

Terminal window
curl -X POST https://api.askvault.co/v1/conversations/conv_xxx/claim \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ak_xxx"

Claims as the API key's user. Returns the updated conversation.

Terminal window
curl -X POST https://api.askvault.co/v1/conversations/conv_xxx/release \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ak_xxx"

Release on demand.

Conflict resolution

If two agents try to claim at the same time:

  • First request wins (last-write-wins via timestamp).
  • Second agent gets HTTP 409 Conflict with the current assignee.
  • UI shows "Claimed by [other agent]" within 1 second.

Typical race window: under 100 milliseconds. Real-world conflicts are rare.

Stale claim detection

If an agent claims and disappears (closed laptop, took a long break):

  • After 30 minutes of no activity from the agent, the system flags the claim as stale.
  • A team admin can force-release.
  • Or auto-release after 2 hours (configurable; default disabled).

Configure under Workspace Settings > Stale Claim.

Planned features (on the roadmap)

Documented for accuracy:

  • Smart claim routing. Today, manual or pool-based. ML-suggested claim based on agent's history with similar conversations planned.
  • Co-pilot mode. Today, one agent at a time. Multi-agent collaboration (one primary, others observing) planned for Business.
  • Auto-claim by skill match. Today, manual claim. Auto-claim when the conversation's tags match the agent's skill profile planned.

Limits

  • Concurrent claims per agent. Up to 20 (configurable per workspace).
  • Bulk claim cap. 50 conversations per action.
  • Stale claim threshold. 30 minutes warning, 2 hours auto-release.
  • Audit retention. 365 days standard.

Common pitfalls

Customer reply not notifying me. Notification settings off. Check Settings > Notifications > Conversation activity.

Conversation re-appears in unclaimed despite my claim. Auto-release fired (you were inactive). Re-claim and stay active.

Can't claim a conversation I should be able to. Pool restriction. Check Settings > Team > Pools for the right group.

Two agents both think they claimed. First-write wins; the second agent's UI may be stale. Refresh to see current state.

FAQ

Can the bot claim conversations?

No. The bot operates without claim; "claim" is a human-agent concept. The bot handles unclaimed conversations until a skill or rule escalates.

Can I claim while the bot is replying?

Yes. Claim suspends bot replies on the next turn (if pause-on-claim is enabled). The bot's in-flight reply still sends.

What if I claim and the customer doesn't reply for a week?

The conversation sits in your queue until either: customer replies, you release, or auto-resolve fires for stale conversations.

Can I claim from Slack?

Yes if Slack notifications are wired up. Click "Claim" in the Slack notification thread.

Is claim across channels (one customer on widget + WhatsApp)?

Conversations are channel-scoped, but the contact is unified. You claim per conversation, not per contact.

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