--- description: Learn how AI Agents assign conversations to agents, teams, or other AI Agents in respond.io, including assignment methods, handoff behavior, and key limitations. title: AI Agent Action: Assign to agent or team image: https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets%2F11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5%2F3f43c48b21b24f4e8b02b100c0c8fab0 --- [NewWe just raised $62.5M in Series B! 🎉 What it means for you![arrow-icon](https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets%2F11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5%2Fe43213a7a9314673bd8d2060c25f9b87)](https://respond.io/blog/respond-io-raises-62-million-series-b) Help me with... ⌘ 1. [All Collections >](/help) 2. [ Product >](/help/product) 3. [ AI Agents >](/help/ai-agents) 4. [ AI Skills >](/help/ai-skills) 5. AI Agent Action: Assign to agent or team # AI Agent Action: Assign to agent or team This skill assigns the right human agent, team, or even another AI Agent once the AI Agent has done its part. This is especially useful for escalating to a human when the AI Agent can't resolve an issue, ensuring customers always get the right level of support. You can also control **how team members get assigned**. There are two methods: * **Round Robin**: Assigns conversations in rotation so workload is shared evenly. * **Least Open Conversation**: Assigns to whoever currently has the fewest active conversations. Note: If no method is specified, AI Agent defaults to round robin. ```plain - If the contact asked about their appointment schedule, assign to @Scheduling Team by round robin. ``` You can also assign to individual agents or even unassign a conversation by instructing, "Unassign the conversation". ## When to use * Use this skill when the conversation needs to move beyond the AI Agent's scope—for example, to a human agent for deeper support, to a specialized team (like Billing or Sales), or even to another AI Agent designed for a different task. ## Assign conversations to online agents AI Agents will check whether agents are **online** when assigning conversations. This allows the AI Agent to prioritize available agents, so your Contacts can receive faster responses. ### Example prompt instructions You can instruct the AI Agent to assign conversations to a **team member**, by **team**, or **any available agent**. Add instructions like the following in the **Assign to agent or team** prompt field: * **Assign to a team member:** `Assign to @user if they’re online.` * **Assign to a specific team:** `Assign to whoever is online in @Team A.` * **Assign to any available agent in a Workspace:** `Assign to anyone who is online.` You can also define fallback behavior. Fallbacks ensure conversations are still assigned to an online agent when the primary agent or team is unavailable. For example: * `Assign to @user if they’re online. If @user is not online, assign to whoever is online in @Team A.` * `Assign to whoever is online in @Team A but if no one is online in @Team A, then assign to someone online in @Team B.` > Learn more about [best practices of writing instructions to trigger actions](https://respond.io/help/ai-agent-actions/using-ai-agent-actions#writing-instructions-to-trigger-actions). ## Best practices * Use these terms in the skill instruction: "Assign to @User/Team Name/AI Agent" to trigger this skill for a scenario. For example, "If {something happened}, assign to @User/Team Name/AI Agent". * Ensure your AI Agent asks relevant qualification questions to determine the right team. * Clearly define conditions in your instructions (e.g., “Assign to Sales if customer mentions pricing or demo”). ## Limitations * **AI Agents cannot schedule assignments for a future time.** Instructions like “Assign to Sales at 5pm” will not work because the AI cannot delay an assignment. However, **immediate assignment logic based on current conditions** (e.g., “Assign to Sales if within business hours”) _will_ work, as the AI evaluates the condition in real time and assigns immediately. * **AI Agents cannot run round robin across multiple teams.** They can only distribute conversations within **one specific team** at a time. * **AI Agents do not choose the assignment method (round robin vs least open).** However, round robin can _only_ be applied **within a team**, not across individual users. This means agents must be part of a team for round robin to work. If you want to use **least open** or any other method, you must explicitly specify it in your instructions; otherwise, the AI will default to round robin at the team level. * **Explicitly instruct AI Agent to stop responding after assignment.** To prevent AI Agent from replying again after handing the conversation to a human, include a clear instruction such as: ```html Do not respond to the Contact when assigning conversations to @Sales Team ``` This helps avoid unexpected AI replies after handoff and ensures a clean transition of ownership to the human agent or team. ## Tip: When you use the instruction "Do not respond to the Contact when assigning conversations to @Sales Team"**,** AI Agent will **not send any message at all** at the point of assignment. This means there will be **no message bubbles** from the AI in the conversation before or after the handoff. If you want the Contact to receive a handoff message (for example, _“Connecting you to a sales representative…”_), we recommend sending it via a **Workflow** instead. Create a Workflow with an **Assigned to** trigger, and add a **Send Message** step. This ensures the customer receives a handoff message while the AI Agent correctly stops responding after assignment. ## FAQ and Troubleshooting ### Can AI Agent assign to another AI Agent? Yes. Conversations can be reassigned between different AI Agents if that fits your setup. Need help with your AI Agent? Our Support team is here for you anytime. [ Get support ](https://rspd.link/contact) Share this article [![Telegram](https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets%2F11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5%2F44daca77a4844f0c8fd29040ddeba057?width=22)](https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=https://respond.io/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-assign-to-agent-or-team)[![Facebook](https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets/11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5/fff57eeb01160bc604392f519b4f3461ca16f0fa1b6a587b20b142cdf1ad0ba7?placeholderIfAbsent=true&width=22)](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://respond.io/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-assign-to-agent-or-team)[![Linkedin](https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets/11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5/7aaf8d87b5410844d83e06a4ed663e4f551b8c5ef51dbb20a8ff064a1eed9a0f?placeholderIfAbsent=true&width=22)](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https://respond.io/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-assign-to-agent-or-team)[![Twitter](https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets%2F11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5%2F4e03e02422a94e8eab9b8b41457c2371?width=22)](http://twitter.com/share?url=https://respond.io/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-assign-to-agent-or-team) ## Related articles 👩‍💻 * [AI Agent Action: Add commentsLearn how AI Agents add internal comments in respond.io to share context, tag teammates, and support smooth handoffs. ](/help/ai-skills/ai-agent-action-add-comments) * [AI Skill: Close conversationsLearn how the Close conversations skill works for AI Agents in respond.io, including how to trigger it, apply closing notes, and handle summaries. ](/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-close-conversations) * [AI Skill: Handle CallsLearn how AI Agents handle inbound calls in respond.io, including voice behavior, setup options, and key limitations. ](/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-handle-calls) * [AI Skill: Make HTTP requestsLearn more about how the make HTTP requests AI skill allows your AI Agent to call external APIs during conversations to retrieve real-time data or trigger actions in third-party systems. ](/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-make-http-requests) * [AI Skill: Trigger WorkflowLearn how AI Agents trigger existing Workflows in respond.io to run advanced automations and integrations. ](/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-trigger-workflow) Can't find what you're looking for? 🔎 [Contact Support](/contact-us) 2026-10-02T10:05:03.141Z help ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","articleBody":"Learn how AI Agents assign conversations to agents, teams, or other AI Agents in respond.io, including assignment methods, handoff behavior, and key limitations.","author":{"@type":"Person","image":"https://assets2-proxy.respond.io/ph8r57dk1q9w/2Y6LIr15mC1nj8MgftMVT5/6ffeea71593277f0fc29dafd1c1de9b9/Serene_Avatar.svg","name":"Shing-Yi Tan","url":"https://respond.io/author"},"dateCreated":"2026-01-12T00:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-02T09:08:56.713Z","datePublished":"2026-01-12T00:00:00.000Z","headline":"AI Agent Action: Assign to agent or team","mainEntityOfPage":"https://respond.io/help/ai-skills","publisher":{"@id":"https://respond.io/#organization"},"url":"https://respond.io/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-assign-to-agent-or-team"},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@id":"https://respond.io/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-assign-to-agent-or-team#breadcrumb","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Help","item":"https://respond.io/help"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Product","item":"https://respond.io/help/product"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AI Agents","item":"https://respond.io/help/ai-agents"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"AI Skills","item":"https://respond.io/help/ai-skills"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"AI Agent Action: Assign to agent or team","item":"https://respond.io/help/ai-skills/ai-skill-assign-to-agent-or-team"}]},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://respond.io/#organization","name":"Respond.io","alternateName":"respond.io","url":"https://respond.io/","image":["https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets%2F11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5%2F3f43c48b21b24f4e8b02b100c0c8fab0"],"logo":"https://assets1-proxy.respond.io/api/v1/image/assets%2F11f7a662b80a4675973850b067c01fa5%2F4045649d540241d398c39ab07b2b62bb","description":"Respond.io is an AI-powered customer conversation platform that helps businesses manage conversations, automate workflows and scale sales, marketing and support operations. 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