# Closing conversations

**Category:** [AI Chat Agent](https://help.totalctrl.app/hc/totalctrl/totalctrl-help-center/en-US/categories/agent)
**Updated:** 2026-10-04

## Why conversations close

An open conversation is one that might still be going. Closing it says the
exchange is finished — which keeps your Conversations list to the things that
still need attention, and makes the Analytics figures mean something.

A conversation closes in one of four ways, and the way is recorded, because
it changes what the number tells you.

### Confirmed resolution

The visitor said the answer worked. This is the strongest signal you can get,
and the only one that comes from the customer rather than from a timer or a
judgement call.

Turn it on with **Ask “Did that answer your question?” after
each reply** in **Settings → Configuration → Closing
conversations**. The visitor sees two buttons under the agent's answer.
“Yes” closes the conversation. “Not quite” always leaves
it open — someone telling you they are still stuck is the last moment to close
on them.

### Natural end

The agent decided the exchange was over: the visitor said thanks and asked
nothing further, or the thing they came for is done and confirmed. The agent is
instructed to send its closing message first, and to leave the conversation
open if the visitor sounds unsatisfied or is still asking things.

### Inactivity

The visitor stopped replying and the idle timer ran out. Set the timer with
**Close conversations that go quiet**; the minimum is 5 minutes,
and it is off until you turn it on.

Two deliberate limits. Inactivity **never** prevents replies,
whatever end action you have chosen — someone who stepped away for an hour has
not asked to be shut out, and a returning visitor should not find a dead box.
And escalated conversations are **never** auto-closed: silence
there means your team has not replied yet, so closing them would hide the
backlog instead of clearing it.

### Closed by a teammate

Someone pressed Close, from the Conversations list or from the conversation
itself.

## End actions

When the agent recognises an end — a confirmed resolution or a natural end —
what happens next is your choice, in **Settings → Configuration →
Closing conversations**:

- **Close conversation** — marks it closed. The visitor can
still start a new conversation whenever they like. This is the default and suits
almost everyone.

- **Close and prevent replies** — closes it and stops the
visitor sending anything further in that thread. Use it where a thread really is
final; it is enforced on our servers, not just hidden in the widget.

- **No action** — leaves it open for a person to close or
pick up. Choose this if you want a human to make every call.

These apply to ends the agent recognised. Inactivity ignores them, as above.

## What happens after a conversation closes

A closed conversation is never reopened by a new message. If the visitor
writes again, they get a *new* conversation. That is deliberate: it keeps
the closed one an accurate record of what was answered and when, instead of
quietly rewriting last week's history.

If the thread was closed *and* locked, the visitor cannot write in it
at all — they see “This conversation has been closed.”

## Closing and reopening by hand

On the Conversations list, every open conversation has a **Close**
button and every closed one has **Reopen**. Inside a conversation
you also get **Close & lock**.

**Reopen** exists because closing is the one action here that can
be wrong — an idle timer fires while someone is still typing, or a teammate
closes the wrong row. Reopening clears the closure and restores the visitor's
ability to reply.

Both closing and reopening are recorded in the workspace Audit Log with who
did it, when, and whether replies were blocked.

---

## Related Articles

- [Reading your agent analytics](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/agent-analytics)
- [AI Support Agent overview](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/ai-support-agent-overview-1)
- [Configuring Your Agent](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/configuring-your-agent)
- [Test your agent before launch](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/test-your-agent-before-launch)
- [Conversations and the Handoff Inbox](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/articles/agent-conversations-inbox)

---
[← Back to TotalCtrl Help Center](https://help.totalctrl.app/en-US/)