---
title: What do the conversation states mean?
question: what do the conversation states mean
area: support
order: 8
surface: both
audience: beginner
keywords: [status, state, states, chip, queued, open, active, agent, waiting, escalated, resolved, closed, you, human, cloud, what does waiting mean, what does escalated mean, conversation status, labels]
related: [how-do-i-reply-to-and-manage-support-conversations, what-do-my-visitors-see-in-the-chat, how-does-support-answer-when-my-desktop-is-closed, what-is-the-support-floor]
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# What do the conversation states mean?

Every conversation is in one state at a time, shown as a small coloured chip in codus and as a plain-language line to the visitor. The states are **queued/open**, **active** (an agent is on it), **you** (you have taken over), **waiting** (held for a person), **escalated** (raised to the team), and **closed**. This page lists each one, what you see in codus, and what the visitor sees.

## Before you start

The chip you see as the owner and the label the visitor reads are two views of the same state. They are worded differently on purpose: yours is a quick status, theirs is reassurance. Both come from the same underlying conversation.

## The states

**Queued (visitor sees "Open")**
Nobody has picked the conversation up yet. In codus the chip reads **queued**. The visitor's status line reads "Waiting for an agent — usually a few minutes". This is where a brand-new conversation starts.

**Active (visitor sees "Active")**
An agent is handling the conversation. In codus the chip reads **agent**, or **agent · cloud** when the reply came from the cloud while your desktop was offline. The visitor sees "An agent is on this conversation", and "An agent is preparing a reply" with three bouncing dots while an answer is being written.

**You (visitor sees "You are talking to the team")**
You have taken the conversation over, so you are the one answering, not the agent. In codus the chip reads **you**. The visitor's line reads "You are talking to the team". You get here by typing a reply or clicking **take over**; **release to agent** hands it back. See [How do I reply to and manage conversations?](how-do-i-reply-to-and-manage-support-conversations.md).

**Waiting (visitor sees "Waiting")**
The conversation is held for a person to pick up. This happens when the agent could not answer on its own, or when the cloud parked it after hours (no fresh brief, or the daily limit reached). In codus the chip reads **waiting**. The visitor sees "The team has been notified and will reply here". See [Who answers my visitors when codus is closed?](how-does-support-answer-when-my-desktop-is-closed.md).

**Escalated (visitor sees "With the team")**
The conversation has been raised to your team, usually because it needs a decision or a fix. In codus the chip reads **escalated**. The visitor's conversation shows a line like "Escalated to the team: …" and its label reads "With the team".

**Closed (visitor sees "Closed")**
The conversation is resolved and done. In codus the chip reads **closed**, and it moves to the closed list. The visitor sees "Conversation closed — send a message to reopen". A new message from the visitor reopens it, so a returning customer is never turned away.

## Where you see these

- In a conversation's list row, the chip sits on the left, next to the title.
- In the visitor's widget, the label appears in their conversation list as "Active · 5m ago" style text, and the fuller status line appears under the transcript while they have the conversation open.

## How do I know it worked?

When you take a conversation over, its chip changes to **you** and the visitor's line changes to "You are talking to the team". When you resolve one, its chip changes to **closed** and it drops into the closed list. The two sides always move together.

## Common problems

**A conversation is stuck on "waiting".** It is held for a person. Open it in the **chats** tab and reply, which picks it up, or check whether it was parked after hours for a missing brief. See [Who answers my visitors when codus is closed?](how-does-support-answer-when-my-desktop-is-closed.md).

**A closed conversation came back.** That is by design. When a visitor sends a new message to a closed conversation, it reopens so you can help them again.