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Hand off a live webchat or SMS conversation from your PolyAI agent to a Webex Contact Center agent. PolyAI continues to proxy messages between the end user and the Webex agent for the rest of the session.

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Prerequisites

  • A Webex Contact Center tenant with administrator access to Bring Your Own Channel.
  • A messaging channel created in Webex Contact Center routed to a queue with live agents subscribed.
  • A PolyAI project with at least one Knowledge topic that should escalate to a human.

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1. Configure Webex Contact Center

PolyAI connects to Webex Contact Center through the Bring Your Own Channel capability. At handoff time, PolyAI creates a conversation in Webex on demand and proxies messages between the user and the Webex agent.
  1. Work with your PolyAI contact to configure the integration in the Webex Control Hub under Contact Center.
  2. Configure routing and skills the way you’d handle any other Webex digital channel. The simplest setup routes the new conversation to a queue that has live agents subscribed.
  3. Record the values Webex generates – you’ll paste them into Studio. Your PolyAI contact will confirm the exact fields required.

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2. Connect from Studio

In Agent Studio, open Configure > Integrations and click Connect on the Webex Messaging tile. Paste the values you recorded in step 1.

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3. Write the handoff function

def transfer_to_webex(conv: Conversation):
    return {
        "utterance": "No problem, I'll transfer you to one of our agents now.",
        "handoff": {
            "text_chat": {
                "webex_integration": {}
            }
        }
    }

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4. Assign the function to a topic

Open the Knowledge topic that should escalate, add an Action, and select transfer_to_webex. The same function can be called from any flow step or directly via conv.call_handoff() for dynamic routing.

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5. Verify

  1. Start a session in your webchat widget and steer the conversation into the topic you wired the handoff to.
  2. Confirm a new conversation appears in the Webex Contact Center agent desktop for the queue you configured.
  3. Reply from Webex and confirm the message is delivered back to the user inside the same widget.
  4. End the session from Webex and confirm the widget shows the conversation as closed.
If the conversation never reaches Webex, check the Bring Your Own Channel configuration in Control Hub and confirm the channel is active.

Chat handoff overview

All chat handoff integrations and the shared payload shape.

Managed Topic actions

Wire a function into a Knowledge topic.

Managed services

Scope a custom CCaaS integration if Webex isn’t enough.
Last modified on June 24, 2026