Auto-reply and rate limits

You're always in control of when your agent replies. Settings → Security holds the master switch for automatic replies and the AI rate limit, and OrbitBase has clear rules for what happens when the agent can't reply — so a customer's message is never lost.

Pause or resume your agent

The AI agent section has one switch: Reply to customers automatically. It covers every connected channel in the workspace. A badge next to it shows Live when the agent is answering and Paused when it isn't.

1. 1

   Open Security settings

   In the sidebar, click Settings, then Security.

2. 2

   Flip the switch

   Turn Reply to customers automatically off to pause your agent. You'll see "Your agent has stopped replying. New messages will wait in the inbox." Turn it back on to resume: "Your agent is answering customers again."

What happens while the agent is paused

• Messages still arrive. Every new message is saved and appears in your Inbox, as usual. The agent just doesn't answer it.
• Your team answers instead. Paused conversations stay open rather than being escalated, so look for them in the inbox's All view, not only in Queue. When a teammate replies, they take the conversation over and it moves into their Mine view.
• The Playground keeps working, so you can carry on testing while customers are handled by people.
• Nothing is answered retroactively. When you turn the switch back on, the agent answers new messages from then on. Messages that arrived while it was paused are left for your team.

Set the AI rate limit

The AI rate limit caps how often your agent can be asked to answer, so a loop, a bot or someone leaning on the send key can't run up your AI usage. One limit covers the Playground and every channel in the workspace, but it's counted separately for each caller:

• On a channel, it's counted per conversation — one noisy customer can't slow replies for everyone else.
• In the Playground, it's counted per teammate.

1. 1

   Choose the number of messages

   In Messages allowed, enter a whole number between 1 and 1,000.

2. 2

   Choose the time window

   In Per, pick 10 seconds, minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes or hour.

3. 3

   Save

   Click Save limit. The summary updates to show your new limit, such as "20 messages per minute".

The default is 20 messages per minute, which is generous for a real person typing and still stops runaway traffic.

When the rate limit is reached

• On a channel, the customer's message still lands in your inbox, but the agent doesn't answer it. A teammate replies instead.
• In the Playground, you'll see "You're sending messages too quickly. Wait a moment and try again."

Your website widget also has built-in protection against floods of messages from one network or many at once. Visitors who send too quickly see a short message asking them to slow down.

When your agent can't reply

Some situations stop the agent from replying even though auto-reply is on. In each of these, OrbitBase hands the conversation to your team and, where the channel allows it, sends the customer a holding message:

The conversation is escalated into the inbox Queue and your team is notified. This happens when:

• Your plan's AI replies for this billing period are used up. Replies start again when your next billing period begins, or straight away if you upgrade. See Usage.
• Your subscription is no longer active.
• The channel is beyond your plan's channel limit — for example, after moving to a smaller plan. See Plans and limits.
• The platform rejects your channel's connection, such as an expired or revoked sign-in. The channel is also flagged on the Channels page so you can reconnect it. See Connection health.
• The agent fails to reply after several attempts.

Quick reference

Next steps