---
title: "Operator and Fast Line in one chat"
description: "What happens when an operator joins a chat handled by the AI assistant: takeover, required permissions, auto-closing inactive chats."
---

# Operator and Fast Line in one chat

When a scenario hands the conversation to **Fast Line**, a virtual operator joins the chat — an AI assistant that answers instead of a human. This page explains what happens when a live operator enters such a chat, and how to take the conversation away from the AI correctly.

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## Two different ways to enter a chat

| Operator action | What happens to the AI assistant |
|---|---|
| **"Start Dialog"** (regular connect) | The AI **stays** in the chat as a participant |
| **"Takeover"** (takeover in Fast Line monitoring) | The AI is **removed** from the chat, the conversation moves fully to the operator |

This is the key difference. If an operator joined through the regular connect, worked in the chat and then disconnected, **the AI is left alone in the chat again** — and to the client it looks as though the conversation «went back to the bot».

**Recommendation:** if an operator takes the conversation over, they should use **takeover**. The regular connect is not intended for Fast Line chats.

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## Required permissions

The takeover button is only shown to operators whose role has the corresponding permission enabled. It is **off** by default.

In the role settings, check that the required roles (usually supervisors and administrators) have these enabled:

- **Fast Line chat takeover** — without it there is no button, and the chat cannot be taken away from the AI;
- **Fast Line monitoring access** — access to the list of chats handled by the AI;
- **Show Fast Line menu** — the menu item in the panel.

If these permissions are not granted, operators can only enter AI chats through the regular connect — and the AI stays in the room.

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## Auto-closing Fast Line chats

A chat handed to Fast Line is in operator panel mode. This means **you cannot close it from the scenario** — a waiting timer placed in the scenario after the handoff never fires.

Such chats are closed by the general operator panel timer: **Settings → Timers → "Dialog timeout in minutes"**. That value decides after how many minutes of silence an inactive chat closes — not any setting in the scenario.

If chats close after a different interval than you expect, check the [operator panel timers](/en/settings/how-to/configure-timers.md) first.

> **Note:** the timer is instance-wide — it applies to every chat in the project, not only to chats with the AI assistant.

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## Typical situations

**"The chat is stuck with the AI although it should have closed"** — check the dialog timeout value in the settings. If the scenario has its own auto-close timer after the handoff to Fast Line, it does not work and should be removed.

**"The operator joined, but the AI is still in the chat"** — the operator used the regular connect instead of takeover. Check that the takeover permission is granted.

**"We want the operator to prompt the AI and leave, with the AI continuing"** — this mode is not supported. Handing a conversation back from an operator to Fast Line does not exist in the product: after a takeover the chat stays with the operator.

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## Related materials

- [Handing the chat to a live operator](/en/scenariobuilder/explanation/connect-to-operator-node.md) — what happens to the scenario after the handoff to an operator
- [How to configure timers for chats](/en/settings/how-to/configure-timers.md)
- [Fast Line Pro interface](/en/fastlinepro/explanation/fastline-pro-interface.md)