# Pause the agent with /stop

> Send /stop from your own WhatsApp to keep the agent out of one customer's chat until you send /continue, or switch the agent off for a customer for good.

Source: https://docs.amomic.in/channels/whatsapp-pause

---

You're in a customer's chat on your phone and want to handle it yourself. Send **`/stop`** in that chat and the agent stops replying to that customer. It stays stopped until you send **`/continue`** in the same chat, or someone chooses **Resume AI now** in the inbox.

There's no timer and no setting to change, it works in every [reply mode](/channels/whatsapp-reply-modes), and the agent keeps working for every other customer.

To keep the agent away from someone for good, use the contact's **Let the agent reply** switch instead. See [Pause a customer permanently](#pause-a-customer-permanently).

```mock
{"component": "WhatsAppChatMock", "props": {"contact": "Meera", "messages": [{"from": "customer", "text": "The washing machine drum is still making that noise after the visit.", "time": "10:02"}, {"from": "agent", "text": "Sorry to hear that. Could you send a short video of the noise?", "time": "10:02"}, {"from": "owner", "text": "/stop", "time": "10:03"}, {"from": "customer", "text": "Can someone senior call me? This is the second visit.", "time": "10:04"}, {"from": "owner", "text": "Hi Meera, Ananya here. I'll call you in 10 minutes and book a senior technician.", "time": "10:05"}, {"from": "owner", "text": "/continue", "time": "10:41"}], "caption": "After /stop the agent stays quiet and you answer yourself. /continue hands the chat back."}}
```

## Before you start

`/stop` and `/continue` are typed **on your own phone**, in the WhatsApp Business app. That only works when your number is connected to Amomic-AI **and** still used in the WhatsApp Business app: a **Phone + Amomic** number. See [Choose how the number connects](/channels/whatsapp#step-2-choose-how-the-number-connects).

If your team replies from the console, they don't need `/stop`. Taking a conversation over in **Live support** keeps the agent out while the session is open. See [Human handoff](/console/human-handoff).

::: warning /stop typed in the console is sent to the customer
Only your phone recognises `/stop`. Typed in the **Live support** reply box, it's delivered to the customer as an ordinary message and pauses nothing. `/continue` is the opposite: in the Live support reply box it hands the conversation back and is never delivered. See [Hand the chat back](#hand-the-chat-back).
:::

## Pause the agent

::: steps
::: step Open the customer's chat
On your phone, open the chat with the customer you want to handle yourself.
:::
::: step Send /stop
Send a message that is exactly `/stop`. Capitals and spaces around it don't matter.
:::
::: step Reply as normal
The agent won't reply to this customer again until you hand back. Their messages still reach your inbox, so your team can see them too.
:::
:::

## Hand the chat back

Any of these ends the pause:

| Where | How | What the customer sees |
|---|---|---|
| Your phone | Send exactly `/continue` in the same chat. | `/continue`. |
| **Inbox** | Open the conversation and choose **Resume AI now** on the banner. | Nothing. |

The agent picks the conversation back up from the customer's next message. It doesn't reply to messages it skipped while paused, and it doesn't re-introduce itself.

If the conversation is also open in **Live support**, returning it with **Return to AI**, or sending `/continue` in the Live support reply box, ends the pause too. The customer then sees *"{name} returned this conversation to the AI."*

## What happens while it's paused

| | While paused |
| --- | --- |
| Customer's messages | Saved to the inbox as normal, with read receipts if **Mark incoming messages as read** is on. |
| Agent replies | None for this customer, however long the pause lasts. |
| Typing indicator | Not shown, because no reply is coming. |
| Other customers | Not affected. The agent keeps answering them. |
| Inbox | A banner reads *"Paused with /stop — the agent stays quiet until someone sends /continue"*, with a count of the customer's unanswered messages and **Resume AI now**. |
| Transcript | Notes are added when the pause starts (*"Paused from the owner's phone — the agent stays quiet until /continue"*) and when you hand back from the phone (*"Handed back to the agent from the owner's phone"*). |

The pause works the same whichever reply mode the number uses, **Always on** or **Smart**. When the number is **Off**, the agent never replies anyway.

::: warning The customer sees /stop and /continue
Both are ordinary WhatsApp messages sent from your phone. WhatsApp delivers them to the customer before Amomic-AI hears about them, so they can't be hidden. If that matters, send a short line with it, or hand back with **Resume AI now** in the console.
:::

## Things to know

- **The whole message must be the command.** `/stop` on its own pauses the agent. "Please /stop by the shop" is just a reply. A photo whose caption is exactly `/stop` also counts.
- **"STOP" without the slash is different.** It's the customer's opt-out word, and it stops **every** message to them, including your team's. `/stop` comes from you and only pauses the agent.
- **A reply already being written may still arrive.** If the agent was mid-answer when you sent `/stop`, that answer can still be delivered. Nothing after it will be.
- **It's per chat and per number.** Pausing a customer on one of your WhatsApp numbers doesn't pause them on another.
- **It doesn't expire.** Unlike Smart mode's quiet period, a pause lasts until someone hands back. Watch the unanswered count on the inbox banner.

## Pause a customer permanently

Some customers should only ever hear from a person: a key account, someone with a complaint in progress, a family member who uses the business number. For them, switch the agent off on the contact.

::: steps
::: step Open the contact
Go to **Contacts** and open the customer. If they aren't a contact yet, add them with their WhatsApp number first.
:::
::: step Switch off Let the agent reply
Under **Who answers**, turn off **Let the agent reply**. The section reads *"Turn this off for someone on WhatsApp who should only ever hear from a person."*
:::
::: step Check the warning
A warning appears under the switch: *"The agent will never reply to {name} on WhatsApp. Their messages still arrive in your inbox, and your team can still message them. This does not cover web chat or phone calls — the agent answers everyone there."* The contact list shows an **Agent off** badge.
:::
:::

What the switch does and doesn't do:

| | With **Let the agent reply** off |
|---|---|
| Agent replies on WhatsApp | None, on every number in the workspace. |
| Customer's messages | Saved to the inbox as normal. |
| Your team | Can still reply from Live support, Tickets or the phone. |
| Ticket notifications | A tap on one still adds the customer's reply to the ticket. |
| Web chat and phone calls | **Not covered.** The agent answers everyone there. |
| How long | Until someone turns it back on. `/continue` and **Resume AI now** don't change it. |

It matches the customer by phone number, and takes effect within about ten seconds of the change. Only owners and admins can change it; members see the setting but no switch.

The switch is a business decision, not the customer's. It's separate from the customer's own consent (**Allowed / Opted out / Not recorded**): an opt-out stops every message, while this stops only the agent. See [Contacts and customer memory](/console/contact-memory).

## Next

::: cards

::: card Reply modes
[Always on, Smart or Off](/channels/whatsapp-reply-modes): let the agent step back automatically when your team replies.
:::

::: card Human handoff
[Take a conversation over](/console/human-handoff) from the console.
:::

:::