# Live conversations

Your agent handles hundreds of DMs at once — but some chats need a human touch. This page shows how to step in, take over, hand back control, and find the conversations that actually need your attention.

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### Take over a chat myself

**What you get:** The agent goes quiet in one specific conversation while you reply by hand, for as long as you need.

**When to use it:** A lead is asking something personal, sensitive, or unusual — and you want to respond yourself without the agent jumping in over you. Also works if you messaged the lead first and want the agent to stay out of the way while you're in the thread.

**Just say:**
> Pause my agent in the conversation with [lead's name or handle] for 30 minutes

**What happens:** Claude puts the agent on hold for that one conversation only. During that window it won't send a single message, so anything you type goes straight to the lead. When the time is up the agent comes back on its own — or you can turn it back on early (see the next entry). If you message a lead yourself, you can also ask Claude to pause it automatically whenever that happens.

**Tips:**
- You can set any duration you want — "1 hour", "until tomorrow morning", etc.
- The agent keeps running normally in every other conversation. Only this one chat is paused.
- You can check how long is left by asking: *"Is my agent still paused with [handle]?"*

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### Hand the chat back to the agent

**What you get:** The agent resumes in a conversation you previously took over.

**When to use it:** You finished your personal reply and you're ready for the agent to pick the thread back up — without waiting for the timer to expire.

**Just say:**
> Turn my agent back on for [lead's name or handle]

**What happens:** Claude lifts the hold immediately. The agent is live in that conversation again and will respond to the lead's next message as normal.

**Tips:**
- If you're not sure which conversations you've paused, ask: *"Which chats do I currently have paused?"*

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### Read a specific lead's conversation

**What you get:** The full back-and-forth between your agent and a particular person, pulled up in plain text so you can read exactly what was said.

**When to use it:** Before jumping into a chat yourself, when a lead mentions a conversation and you need context, or any time you want to review what the agent said to someone specific.

**Just say:**
> Show me the full conversation with [lead's name or handle]

**What happens:** Claude retrieves the message thread and displays it in order — who said what, and when. You can read it, then decide whether to take over, leave a note for yourself, or let the agent keep going.

**Tips:**
- You can ask follow-up questions right after: *"Did she ever ask about price?"* or *"What did the agent say after she went quiet?"*
- If you only want the recent part: *"Show me the last 10 messages with [handle]."*

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### Find the conversations worth jumping into

**What you get:** A short list of leads who need a human — specifically the ones who stalled, who seem frustrated, or who are close to buying or booking.

**When to use it:** You have a few minutes to scan your DMs and want to focus on the conversations that actually move the needle, instead of scrolling through everything.

**Just say:**
> Which conversations should I jump into right now? Show me the ones that are stuck, unhappy, or close to buying.

**What happens:** Claude scans your recent conversations and surfaces the ones that match — a lead who went cold after a pricing question, someone who pushed back hard, someone who asked "how do I sign up?" and never got a clear answer. It gives you a short list with a one-line reason for each so you know exactly why it flagged them.

**Tips:**
- You can narrow it down: *"Show me only the ones close to booking a call"* or *"Who seems frustrated?"*
- Once Claude flags a conversation, you can say *"Take over that one"* or *"Show me that conversation"* and it knows which one you mean.
- Do this daily and you'll rarely miss a hot lead again.

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### Automatically pause the agent whenever I reply

**What you get:** a standing rule — the moment you (or a tool like ManyChat) send a message in any conversation, the agent steps back on its own, so it never talks over you.

**When to use it:** you like to jump into chats by hand and don't want to remember to pause the agent each time. Set it once and the agent always yields when a human takes the wheel.

**Just say:**
> "Whenever I send a message in a conversation, pause the agent automatically for 30 minutes."

Or:

> "If I reply to a lead myself, have the agent stay out until I turn it back on."

**What happens:** Claude sets up the auto-pause rule and confirms the mode — pause for a set number of minutes and then resume, or stay paused until you hand it back manually. From then on it applies across all your conversations automatically.

**Tips:**
- This is the always-on version of "take over a chat" above — that pauses one conversation on demand; this pauses automatically every time you step in.
- You can have it ignore the very first message of a conversation, so an opening line from your side doesn't hold the agent back.

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