Escalations
How tickets get escalated to a human, what the bot does when it happens, and how to work the Escalations queue
An escalation is TicketCord's way of saying "a person needs to look at this ticket". It is raised when the AI cannot answer confidently, when a user asks for a human or presses Talk to Staff, or when an SLA target is missed. Each escalation appears in a queue at Dashboard → Escalations, where a staff member claims it, handles the ticket, and resolves it. This page covers the triggers, the settings that control them, and the queue. Escalations are for servers using the AI features or SLA Management; a server with neither never sees one.
AI-driven escalations (low confidence and human requests) need the Pro plan or higher, because they come from the knowledge base and ModMail AI. SLA breach escalations need Enterprise. The Escalations page itself is visible on every plan.
What triggers an escalation
| Trigger | Shown in the queue as | When it fires |
|---|---|---|
| Low confidence | Low Confidence | The knowledge-base AI (in a ticket or a ModMail DM) could not find a good answer and Auto-Escalate to Staff is on |
| Explicit request | Human Requested | The user pressed the Talk to Staff button under an AI reply, the AI detected the user asking for a person, or a staff member escalated on the user's behalf |
| SLA breach | SLA Breach | A first-response or resolution target from SLA Management was missed |
The queue's Reason filter also lists Negative Sentiment, High Priority, and No Response. Those reasons exist as categories but no escalations are currently created with them; sentiment and priority detection annotate the ticket instead. See Sentiment Detection and Priority Detection.
What happens in the ticket
- The bot posts a card in the ticket: Staff Assistance Requested when the user or the AI escalated, or Escalated by Staff when a staff member did. Depending on the ping setting below, the staff role is mentioned.
- The AI stops replying in that ticket so staff and the user are not talking over an assistant. It stays out for the Ticket Escalation Duration you configure, and also resumes earlier if it later answers a question successfully from the knowledge base.
- The escalation is added to Dashboard → Escalations with status Pending.
- When the ticket is closed, its escalation is resolved automatically.
Pressing Talk to Staff a second time returns "This ticket has already been escalated to staff." (TC015). Only the ticket creator or a staff member can press it; anyone else gets "Only the ticket creator or staff members can escalate." (TC002).
Settings that control escalation
AI escalation (Knowledge Base tab)
Go to Dashboard → Bots, pick your bot, choose the server, open Knowledge Base under AI & Knowledge, and switch to the Learning tab. The relevant settings live under Feedback & Learning Settings:
| Setting | Allowed values | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto-Escalate to Staff | on or off | on | Raise a Low Confidence escalation when the AI has insufficient knowledge to answer |
| Ping Staff on Escalation | on or off | off | Mention staff when escalating. If the ticket's button has its own ping role, only that role is pinged; otherwise all staff roles from the Staff tab. Off means the card is posted without a mention |
| Ticket Escalation Duration | Permanent, 1, 3, 7, 14, or 30 days | 7 days | How long the AI stays silent in an escalated ticket before it resumes if staff have not answered. Permanent means the AI never resumes in that ticket |
| Human Request Detection | 10% to 100% | recommended value shown on the slider | For ModMail: how confident the AI must be that the user is asking for a person before it escalates immediately. Higher values mean fewer false escalations |
SLA escalation (SLA Management tab)
SLA breaches always create an escalation when SLA tracking is on. The Warning alert and Critical alert thresholds, Auto-escalation, and the notification channel on the SLA tab control the alerts your team receives before the breach. See SLA Management.
The Escalations queue
Dashboard → Escalations lists every escalation across the bots you own or manage. The header shows how many are pending and assigned, and a Refresh button with a short cooldown.
Filters: a search box ("Search by reason, source, question, or status..."), Status (All statuses, Pending, Assigned, In Progress, Resolved), Bot, Reason, and Sort (Latest First, Oldest First, Recently Updated, Least Updated). Up to 100 characters of search text are accepted.
Each card shows when it was escalated, who it is assigned to, the user's Original Question, the AI Attempt with its confidence percentage and the number of knowledge-base sources it used, the priority, an SLA Breach marker when relevant, and two buttons: Claim Ticket and View Details.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Nobody has picked it up |
| Assigned | A staff member claimed it |
| In Progress | Being handled |
| Resolved | Closed out, either by hand or because the ticket was closed |
Working an escalation
Claim it
Click Claim Ticket on the card, or Claim Escalation on the details page. Only a Pending escalation can be claimed; a second person sees "Escalation has already been claimed". Claiming assigns it to you.
Handle the ticket
Use Open Ticket on the details page to jump to the ticket on Dashboard → Tickets, or answer in Discord. The details page shows the Original Context, the bot and server, the Trigger Source, the SLA Target when there is one, and a Timeline.
Resolve it
Click Resolve Escalation as the assigned person and say whether the escalation was Correct, a False Positive (the AI could have handled it), or a False Negative, with an optional comment of up to 1,000 characters. Closing the ticket resolves the escalation automatically too.
The accuracy answer you give when resolving feeds the escalation accuracy metrics for your server, so it is worth answering honestly rather than always picking Correct.
Limits and gotchas
- One escalation per ticket at a time. Once escalated, further AI failures in the same ticket do not create more entries.
- An escalation can only be claimed once and only resolved by the person it is assigned to. If that person is unavailable, close the ticket to resolve it, or ask the bot owner.
- The AI pause applies to the ticket where the escalation happened, not to the user's other tickets.
- Ping Staff on Escalation needs at least one staff role on the Staff tab; with none configured the card is posted without a mention even when the switch is on.
- The queue shows escalations from bots you own and bots where you are dashboard staff. Server members who are staff only in Discord cannot see it.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No escalations ever appear | Auto-Escalate to Staff is off, the plan is below Pro, or the knowledge base is empty so the AI never runs | Turn the switch on, check the plan, and add knowledge base sources |
| Staff are not pinged when the AI escalates | Ping Staff on Escalation is off, or no staff role is configured | Turn it on and set a staff role on the Staff tab |
| The AI keeps answering after an escalation | The Ticket Escalation Duration elapsed, or the AI answered a later question successfully | Choose a longer duration or Permanent |
| The AI never comes back to an escalated ticket | Ticket Escalation Duration is set to Permanent | Pick a number of days instead |
| "This ticket has already been escalated to staff." (TC015) | Talk to Staff was pressed on a ticket that is already escalated | Nothing to do; staff have been asked |
| "Only the ticket creator or staff members can escalate." (TC002) | Someone else in the ticket pressed the button | Have the ticket creator or a staff member press it |
| "Escalation has already been claimed" | A colleague claimed it first | Coordinate with them; only the assignee can resolve |
| "Only the assigned agent can resolve this escalation" | You are not the assignee | Ask the assignee to resolve it, or close the ticket |
| The queue is empty but tickets are clearly unanswered | The triggers are AI and SLA based, not inactivity based | Use SLA Management for time-based alerts, or auto-close reminders on the Auto-Close & Reminders tab |
Common questions
How does a user ask for a human? By pressing Talk to Staff under an AI answer, or by simply asking for a person in a ModMail conversation, which the AI detects. Both create a Human Requested escalation and stop the AI in that ticket.
Does an escalation notify staff in Discord? A card is posted in the ticket. Staff are mentioned only when Ping Staff on Escalation is on. SLA breach alerts go to the SLA notification channel instead.
Can I turn AI escalation off? Yes. Turn off Auto-Escalate to Staff on the Knowledge Base Learning tab. Users can still press Talk to Staff under an AI reply.
When does the AI start answering again after an escalation? After Ticket Escalation Duration (default 7 days) if staff have not responded, or as soon as it successfully answers a later question from the knowledge base. Set the duration to Permanent to keep it out of that ticket for good.
Why does an escalation disappear from Pending when I close the ticket? Closing a ticket resolves its escalation automatically. You do not need to resolve it separately.
What do Correct, False Positive, and False Negative mean when resolving? Correct: a human really was needed. False Positive: the AI could have handled it and escalated unnecessarily. False Negative: it should have escalated sooner. Your answers are kept as accuracy metrics for your server.
Do sentiment or priority create escalations? Not at the moment. Those reasons appear in the filter, but sentiment and priority detection mark the ticket rather than raising an escalation. Only low confidence, human requests, and SLA breaches create queue entries.
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