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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://setup.cevro.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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What Is Shadow Mode?

Shadow Mode lets AI observe human-handled support tickets and post draft replies as internal notes instead of sending real messages to players. Human agents see what the AI would have said — without any impact on the actual conversation. This enables:
  • Safe onboarding — see AI quality on real conversations before going live
  • Copilot workflow — agents get AI-drafted replies they can review and copy-paste
  • Instruction tuning — spot where AIP instructions need improvement using real tickets
  • Gradual rollout — enable shadow on specific AIPs to validate quality before full automation
Shadow Mode is available on all workspaces using a supported helpdesk channel. Navigate to Settings > Agent Configuration > Shadow Mode to get started.

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How It Works

  1. A customer sends a message on the helpdesk
  2. The ticket is assigned to a human agent (auto-escalated with Shadow Mode type)
  3. AI pipeline runs normally — classification, AIP routing, response generation
  4. Instead of sending to the customer, the response is posted as an internal note on the helpdesk
  5. All AI actions (escalate, resolve, transfer) also become notes instead of real actions

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What the Player Experiences

Nothing changes. The player only interacts with the human agent. AI never sends a message to the player.

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What the Agent Sees

  • Normal ticket in their helpdesk queue
  • Internal notes from Cevro prefixed with [Shadow] showing what the AI would have replied
  • If the AI would escalate, a note explains why (e.g., “Cevro would escalate here. Reason: player requesting account closure”)
  • If the AI would send an external message (email, Slack), a note describes what would have been sent

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Setting Up Shadow Mode

1

Navigate to Shadow Mode settings

Go to Settings > Agent Configuration > Shadow Mode.
2

Enable Shadow Mode

Toggle Shadow Mode on.
3

Choose AIP scope

Select which AIPs should run in shadow mode:
  • All responses — shadow mode applies to every AIP in the workspace. The greeting is suppressed and the ticket is immediately escalated to a human agent. No AI messages reach the player.
  • Only select AIPs — pick specific AIPs from the list. The AI handles the entire opening flow normally — greeting, player identification, verification, and classification all send real messages to the player. Once the ticket is classified into a selected AIP, all subsequent AI responses become shadow notes instead of real messages. AIPs not in the list continue to operate fully.
When using “Only select AIPs”, click Select AIPs and check the procedures you want to shadow.
4

Choose brand scope (optional)

If your workspace has multiple brands, you can limit shadow mode to specific brands:
  • All brands (default) — shadow mode applies to tickets from any brand in the workspace.
  • Only select brands — click Select brands and choose at least one. Shadow mode only activates for tickets that belong to the selected brands; tickets from other brands are handled normally.
5

Save

Click Save. New incoming tickets on supported channels will now generate shadow notes instead of real responses.
Shadow Mode applies to new tickets only. Existing tickets that were created before enabling shadow mode will continue to behave normally.

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Supported Channels

ChannelSupportedNotes
IntercomYesInternal notes via Intercom API
LiveChatYesNotes posted via agent visibility events
ZendeskYesUses Zendesk Support API for internal comments
Cevro WidgetYesShadow messages appear directly in the admin inbox — no external helpdesk needed
ZohoNo
Respond.ioNoNo internal notes API available
If your helpdesk doesn’t support Shadow Mode, you can use the Cevro Widget instead. The widget works independently of your helpdesk — shadow AI responses appear directly in the Cevro admin inbox, giving you full copilot functionality without needing internal notes support from a third-party platform.

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What Gets Suppressed

Shadow Mode intercepts all outbound AI behavior. Nothing reaches the player or external systems.
AI ActionNormal BehaviorShadow Mode Behavior
Send messageMessage sent to playerPosted as internal note with [Shadow] prefix
EscalateTicket transferred to human teamNote posted: “Cevro would escalate here” (once per ticket)
ResolveTicket closedNote posted instead of closing the ticket
TransferTicket moved to another groupNote posted instead of transferring
Action toolsTool executes (e.g., issue bonus)Suppressed — returns synthetic result so AI continues, but no mutation happens
Data toolsTool queries data (e.g., get player info)Executes normally — AI works with real player data
External messagesEmail/Slack sent to external targetNote posted: “Cevro would send external message…”

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AI Context in Shadow Mode

Shadow notes are excluded from the AI’s own conversation context. When the AI generates a new response, it only sees:
  • Real player messages
  • Real human agent replies
This prevents the AI from responding to its own shadow drafts, keeping its context clean and aligned with the actual conversation.
Human agent replies are captured via helpdesk webhooks and stored so the AI can see what the human actually said. This gives the AI full conversation context for generating relevant shadow drafts.

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Analytics & Costs

  • Shadow tickets are excluded from all production metrics — they won’t skew your automation rate, CSAT, or resolution stats
  • LLM costs are tracked separately — shadow mode calls are tagged so you can filter them from production costs
  • Escalation events are logged with a distinct Shadow type for easy identification in the timeline

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Key Behaviors

If the AI decides to escalate multiple times during a shadow conversation, only the first escalation posts a note. Subsequent attempts are silently skipped to avoid noise.
If the AI encounters an internal error that would normally trigger an escalation, no shadow note is posted. Only intentional AI decisions produce notes.
When set to All responses, the greeting is suppressed entirely — the ticket is immediately escalated to a human agent. When set to Only select AIPs, the greeting is sent normally because shadow mode activates only after AIP classification.
When set to “Only select AIPs”, shadow mode activates on ticket creation but only generates notes for messages routed to the selected AIPs.
You can combine brand and AIP scoping. For example, set brand scope to a specific brand and AIP scope to selected AIPs — only tickets matching both criteria will produce shadow notes.
Shadow tickets follow the same idle-resolution lifecycle as live tickets when your workspace has auto-close enabled. After the configured check-in delay with no new player message, the AI posts an internal note showing what it would have asked (e.g. “[Shadow] Is there anything else I can help with?”). If the player still doesn’t respond by the close delay, the AI posts a final shadow note showing the resolution it would have sent and marks the shadow ticket complete on Cevro’s side. The next message from the player starts a fresh shadow ticket with clean context — the agent always sees the AI reasoning from the beginning of a new session.

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Common Questions

It depends on the AIP scope:
  • All responses — No. The greeting is suppressed and the ticket is immediately assigned to a human agent. The AI never sends a message to the player.
  • Only select AIPs — Yes. The AI sends the greeting, handles player identification and verification, and classifies the ticket normally — all with real messages to the player. Shadow mode only activates once the ticket is classified into one of the selected AIPs. If the ticket lands on a non-shadowed AIP, the AI handles it fully as usual.
Yes. Set AIP scope to Only select AIPs and choose the ones you want to shadow. All other AIPs will continue to operate normally.
No. Shadow mode only applies to new tickets created after it’s enabled. Existing conversations are unaffected.
Yes. That’s one of the primary use cases. Agents can review the AI’s draft in the internal note and use it as a starting point for their reply.
Shadow Mode requires a supported channel: Intercom, LiveChat, Zendesk, or the Cevro Widget. If your workspace uses a different channel (e.g., Zoho or Respond.io), the toggle will be disabled. Consider adding the Cevro Widget to your workspace — it supports shadow mode independently of your helpdesk.
Zendesk uses the Support API (not Sunshine Conversations) to post internal comments. Shadow notes appear as private comments on the Zendesk ticket. Note: The Zendesk Support ticket ID is fetched asynchronously after ticket creation — there may be a short delay (15-30 seconds) before the first shadow note appears.
The same idle-close behavior that runs on live tickets runs on shadow tickets, with one difference: outbound messages become internal notes instead of being sent to the player. After the workspace’s configured check-in delay with no new inbound, the AI posts a shadow check-in note. After the close delay, the AI posts a closing shadow note and marks the shadow ticket complete. When the player eventually returns, a fresh shadow ticket is created so the AI starts from a clean slate rather than continuing weeks-old context.