Availability status
Each agent has an availability status that affects whether they receive new conversations and whether the widget shows visitors as "Agent online".
Status Types
| Status | Symbol | Auto-Assignment | Widget shows "Online" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online | 🟢 | Yes | Yes |
| Busy | 🟡 | No | Yes |
| Offline | 🔴 | No | No |
Change Status
- Dashboard: Click on your avatar/status indicator in the sidebar
- Automatically: The status changes to "Offline" after a configurable inactivity time
Effects
Auto-Assignment
Only agents with status "Online" are considered for auto-assignment (Round Robin, Least Busy).
An agent with status "Busy" receives no new automatic assignments but can be manually assigned conversations.
Widget Display
The widget shows "Agent online" if at least one agent has the status "Online" or "Busy". "Offline" is displayed if all agents are offline.
If require_agent_online is enabled in the widget (default) and all agents are offline, the widget goes offline. If the switch is off, the widget remains accessible regardless of presence. What visitors see in the offline case — form, hidden widget, or a responding chatbot ("AI takes over") — is controlled by the Offline Behavior in the widget.
Notifications
- Online: Receives desktop/push notifications for new conversations
- Busy: Receives notifications (but no auto-assignments)
- Offline: Receives no real-time notifications
Presence Tracking
SilentChat automatically tracks when agents were last active. Under Team, admins see the current status and last activity of each agent.
Best Practices
- Set to "Online" when ready to handle conversations
- Set to "Busy" when working on existing conversations and cannot accept new ones
- Set to "Offline" during breaks, meetings, or after work
- Do not forget: Setting the status to offline prevents visitors from waiting for a response that won't come