Human-in-the-Loop (HITL)

Request specialist input during AI-handled conversations

Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) lets Cevro pause automation and request input from human specialists when it encounters situations requiring expert judgment. Once the specialist responds, Cevro continues with that context.

HITL must be enabled for your workspace. Contact your account executive to set it up.

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HITL vs Escalation

HITL and escalation are completely different systems with different triggers in the AIP editor:

	HITL (Supervisor Consultation)	Escalation (Human Handoff)
What happens	AI asks a human supervisor a specific question	AI hands the entire ticket to a human agent
Who stays in charge	The AI — it keeps managing the ticket	The human — the AI steps away
Player experience	Waits briefly while AI consults, then gets a resolution	Transferred to a live agent queue
How to trigger in AIP	Type # → select channel and recipient	Type @ → Actions tab → Transfer to Live Agent
When to use	Policy questions, approval decisions, edge cases	Knowledge gaps, complex disputes, responsible gaming
Settings location	Supervisor Consultation (HITL) section	Human Handoff section

These use different trigger characters. HITL uses # (hash) to create a supervisor consultation mention. Escalation uses @ and the “Transfer to Live Agent” action. They look similar as chips in the editor, but they do completely different things.

Escalation settings (the “Human Handoff” section) control what the AI says when it fully transfers a ticket. HITL settings (the “Supervisor Consultation” section) control what happens while the AI temporarily consults a specialist. These are configured independently.

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Using HITL in Instructions

To trigger a HITL request, use the # symbol in your AIP instructions to mention a specialist or channel:

If the player requests a goodwill bonus:
- Check @bonusHistory for recent credits
- #VIP Team: Should we offer a goodwill bonus? Player has been with us for 2 years.

When you type #, a dropdown appears showing your configured HITL recipients (Slack channels, Teams groups, email addresses, or Intercom ticket types).

Including Player Context in HITL Messages

You can include @ mentions for Player Context in your HITL message. This data gets included in the request sent to specialists:

#Payments Team: Player claims deposit not showing.
@depositHistory shows last deposit was $50 on Dec 15.
@playerBalance currently shows $0.
Should we credit manually?

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How It Works

1. Trigger — Cevro encounters a # mention in AIP instructions
2. Request — A message is sent to specialists via the configured channel
3. Wait — The AI keeps the player informed while waiting
4. Continue — Once the specialist responds, Cevro uses that input to continue

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Supported Channels

Channel	How It Works
Slack	Interactive card with inline response form. Supports tagging users and groups — see Slack Mentions
WebEx	Interactive card with inline response form
Microsoft Teams	Web form link
Email	Web form link in email body
Intercom	Creates a Back Office ticket—specialists respond via Intercom

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Request Context

HITL requests automatically include:

• Player information (name, email, tags)
• Conversation transcript
• Link to the ticket in Cevro inbox
• Your HITL message (including any Player Context you referenced)
• Relevant attachments

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Timeout Behavior

When specialists don’t respond in time, Cevro handles it gracefully.

Drip Flow

While waiting, Cevro sends periodic check-in messages to reassure the player:

Time	What Happens
0 min	HITL request sent to specialist
5 min	First check-in: “Still working on this…“
15 min	Second check-in: “We appreciate your patience…“
30 min	Timeout action triggers

Timeout Actions

Option	Behavior
Notify player & send follow-up email (default)	Apologize to player, create email ticket to the brand’s support email for follow-up
Escalate to human agent	Immediately hand off to a specific team in your help desk

You can configure which action occurs in Settings → Ticket Lifecycle → Supervisor Consultation (HITL). If you choose escalation, Intercom workspaces can select which team receives the transfer.

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Configuring Wait Times

You can configure how long Cevro waits for a specialist response, and what check-in messages the player sees while waiting.

The HITL settings section has a channel toggle (“For channel: Chat / Email”) that switches between views. Chat shows the full check-in schedule. Email shows a read-only summary since check-in messages aren’t sent for email tickets.

1. Go to Settings → Ticket Lifecycle

   Navigate to Settings → Ticket Lifecycle in your Cevro dashboard. Scroll to the Supervisor Consultation (HITL) section. Make sure the channel toggle is set to Chat.

2. Configure the expiration time

   Set the initial timeout — how long Cevro waits before the first action. If you have no check-in steps, this is the total time before expiration.

3. Add check-in intervals (optional)

   Click Add check-in to add periodic messages that reassure the player while waiting. Each interval is measured from the previous step. The total wait time (shown below the intervals) is the sum of all intervals before expiration triggers.

4. Choose the expiration action

   Under On Expiration, choose what happens when time runs out. See On Expiration for the available options.

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Customizing Messages

While a HITL consultation is active, Cevro sends messages to the player at two key moments. You can customize both in Settings → Ticket Lifecycle → Supervisor Consultation (HITL).

Check-in guidance

While waiting for the specialist, Cevro periodically reassures the player. You can customize the tone and content of these check-in messages. This guidance only appears when you have check-in intervals configured.

This is written as guidance for the AI — tell it what to communicate, and it will phrase it naturally in the conversation’s language.

Check-in messages are only sent for chat tickets. Email tickets don’t receive check-in messages — switch to the Email channel view to configure email-specific expiration behavior.

Expiration guidance

When the wait time expires, Cevro needs to let the player know what happens next.

For example: “Let the player know a specialist will follow up via email within 24 hours.”

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Email Behavior

For email-based tickets, the expiration behavior works differently. By default, when a HITL request expires on an email ticket, Cevro transfers the ticket silently — no expiration message is sent to the player.

Silent transfer is the default for email tickets. This avoids sending an unnecessary “we couldn’t help you” message when the ticket is simply being routed to a human queue. Toggle “Send expiration message to player” in the Supervisor Consultation settings if you want the player to receive an explicit notification.

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On Expiration

When the wait time runs out without a specialist response, Cevro takes one of two actions. You choose which one in Settings → Ticket Lifecycle → Supervisor Consultation (HITL).

Option	What Happens
Notify player & send follow-up email (default)	Cevro sends the expiration message to the player and creates a follow-up email ticket to the brand’s support address. The player is told someone will follow up.
Transfer to support group	Cevro hands the conversation off to a specific team in your help desk. You can optionally provide a destination group ID to route to a particular team.

If you choose “Transfer to support group” and don’t specify a group ID, the ticket is transferred to your help desk’s default routing.

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When to Use HITL

Good use cases:

• Bonus or compensation decisions requiring manager approval
• Edge cases where policy interpretation is needed
• Complex disputes requiring human judgment
• VIP-specific handling decisions

Not needed when:

• A simple escalation (@Transfer to Live Agent) would suffice
• The decision can be made from available data
• Standard policy applies without exceptions

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Slack Mentions in HITL Messages

When your HITL request is sent to Slack, you can tag specific people or groups so they get notified. Add the tag syntax directly in the HITL message template (the text field that appears when you create a # mention).

Tagging a user group

Use <!subteam^GROUP_ID> where GROUP_ID is your Slack user group’s ID.

How to find your user group ID:

1. Open Slack user groups

   In Slack, go to People & user groups (click your workspace name → People & user groups).

2. Find your group

   Click on the user group you want to tag (e.g. “Senior Support Operators”).

3. Copy the ID

   The group ID appears in the URL — it starts with S (e.g. S04ABC123). Copy this ID.

4. Add to your HITL message

   In your AIP’s HITL message template, include the tag: VIP player requesting closure — please advise <!subteam^S04ABC123>

Tagging a specific user

Use <@USER_ID> where USER_ID is the person’s Slack member ID.

How to find a user’s ID: Click their name in Slack → click the ••• menu → Copy member ID.

Example: Player needs urgent help — cc <@U09GXBQ6DQ9>

Tagging everyone in the channel

Use <!here> to notify active members, or <!channel> to notify everyone.

Common mistake: Using a channel ID (starts with C) instead of a user group ID (starts with S) in the subteam tag. Channel IDs and user group IDs look similar but are different. The <!subteam^...> syntax only works with user group IDs that start with S.

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Intercom Integration

For Intercom workspaces, HITL creates Back Office tickets that specialists handle asynchronously:

• No timeout—requests stay open until responded to
• Specialists respond on their own schedule
• Responses are automatically synced back to Cevro

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Configuration

Most HITL settings are configurable in Settings → Ticket Lifecycle → Supervisor Consultation (HITL):

Setting	Where to Configure
Check-in intervals and wait times	Chat view — Configuring Wait Times
Check-in and expiration message guidance	Chat view — Customizing Messages
Expiration action	Both views — On Expiration
Email expiration behavior	Email view — Email Behavior
Destination team (Intercom only)	Both views — shown when “Escalate to human agent” is selected

The following settings are managed by your account executive:

• Which channels receive HITL requests (Slack, Teams, Email, etc.)
• Working hours (requests outside hours go directly to email)
• Disabling HITL timers entirely (for async integrations like Intercom)

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Related Documentation

• Player Context, Knowledge & Actions — Using mentions in AIP instructions
• AI Procedures (AIPs) — Where you define when to trigger HITL