> Routing Rules are now Legacy. Build new behaviour with Workflows — they handle every event Rules can handle, plus journey-style flows that span pre-chat → conversation → post-chat in a single canvas. Rules keep working forever, but Workflows take priority when both match an event. See workflows-guide.md for the recommended approach.

How Routing Works — The Full Stack

When a new conversation arrives, Velaro evaluates routing in this order:

1. IVR pre-check (phone calls only) — if the dialed number has an explicitly assigned workflow that is enabled, use it. If disabled, fall through.
2. Dynamic workflow lookup — all enabled conversation_opened workflows for the site are loaded, filtered by channel, sorted by Routing Priority (then by ID), and evaluated in order. First workflow whose conditions match wins and runs.
3. Automation rules (described below) — only evaluated if no workflow matched.
4. Default team queue — if nothing else matches, the conversation goes to the site's default team.

Workflows always take priority over automation rules. Rules are the fallback layer.

When do rules run after a workflow?

Rules only run after a workflow finishes if the workflow did NOT explicitly route the conversation to a team. Specifically:

• Workflow ends with a Transfer to Team or Transfer to Agent node → rules never run, the explicit destination wins
• Workflow ends with a Transfer to AI (bot-only experience) → the "Stay with bot" toggle on the trigger node MUST be turned ON, otherwise the rules engine will run after the bot takes over and may assign a human agent on top of the bot conversation — which is almost never what you want
• Workflow ends with no routing node at all → rules run as normal fallback

The one rule every account should have:

Add a catch-all "Route to [Default Team]" rule with no conditions and the lowest priority (e.g. 999). This ensures that any conversation not matched by a workflow — and not matched by any other rule — still lands somewhere visible instead of disappearing into the default queue silently. New accounts get this rule by default and can remove it if they want fully workflow-driven routing.

What are rules?

Rules (also called automation rules) automatically route incoming conversations based on conditions you define. They run only when no workflow matched, or when a workflow finished without explicitly routing anywhere. Rules are simpler than workflows — they have no bot interaction, no data collection, and no node editor. They are configured under Settings → Routing Rules.

Creating a rule

1. Go to Rules in the sidebar.
2. Click New Rule.
3. Select a trigger (what the rule does when it fires).
4. Add one or more conditions (IF — when to fire).
5. Set the rule priority (lower number = higher priority, runs first).
6. Click Save and Activate.

Rule triggers (actions)

Each rule has exactly one trigger — what happens when the conditions match:

Trigger	What it does
Use AI	Routes the conversation to an AI bot configuration
Use Prechat Survey	Shows a survey before the visitor starts chatting. Survey answers become variables for routing rules.
Use Postchat Survey	Shows a satisfaction survey after the chat ends
Use Unavailable Survey	Shows a survey when no agents are available
Route to Team	Assigns the conversation to a specific agent team
Set Conversation Priority (VIP Queue)	Flags conversations as High (1) or Urgent (2) priority — bypasses tier escalation
Resolve Chat	Automatically resolves inactive conversations after N minutes
Use Workflow on Conversation Resolve	Runs a workflow when a conversation is resolved
Use Workflow when Conversation is Unavailable	Runs a workflow when no agents are available
Create CRM Record	Creates a record in NetSuite or Dynamics 365 when a conversation starts
Determine Chat Window	Legacy trigger for selecting a chat window design. Superseded by Determine Experience Bundle (below) on accounts that have Chat Experience Bundles set up — only reached if the site has no bundles configured at all.
Determine Experience Bundle	Selects a named Chat Experience Bundle (chat window + persona + team + AI config, bundled together) for visitors matching this rule's conditions — e.g. an "accountTier = Enterprise" condition routing to a "VIP" bundle. The modern, recommended way to do segment-based chat window/team/persona selection. See workflows-guide.md → "Select Chat Window node" for the full 4-tier resolution order (workflow override > Experience Bundle > this legacy rule > account default).

Rule conditions

You can match on any combination of:

• Channel: web chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Email, RCS, IVR
• Chat Button: specific chat button (deployment) instance
• Time of day / day of week / date: business hours, after hours, weekends, specific dates
• Named Schedule: within a pre-defined shared work schedule
• Contact attribute: any custom field (e.g. accountTier equals Enterprise)
• URL / Domain: page the chat started on
• Survey answer: what the visitor selected in a prechat form (uses Attribute condition)
• Country / Language: visitor's detected location and language
• Tag: conversation or contact has a specific tag
• Team / Team Availability / Team Queue Depth: current team state
• Time Passed: how long since the conversation started

Multiple conditions in a rule are AND by default (all must match).

Routing groups to prechat survey vs. bot

The most common routing pattern is to route some visitor groups to a prechat survey (to collect info) and others directly to a bot or team. Use priority ordering:

Example:

1. Rule priority 1: Channel = SMS → Use AI (bots handle all SMS; no prechat needed)
2. Rule priority 2: Attribute accountTier = Enterprise → Use Prechat Survey (VIP form before connecting)
3. Rule priority 3: Team Availability = Unavailable → Use AI (after-hours bot)
4. Rule priority 4: (no conditions) → Route to Team — General Support (catch-all)

The first matching rule wins. Put your most specific rules first (low priority number) and the catch-all last (high number).

To combine prechat + bot:

1. Create a use-prechat-survey rule for the group you want to survey.
2. The survey answers become Attribute variables (e.g. topic, department).
3. Create downstream use-ai or route-to-team rules that match on those survey answer variables.

Rule priority

Rules are evaluated in priority order (1 first). The first rule that matches wins — lower-priority rules are skipped.

Example order:

1. Enterprise accounts → VIP Prechat Survey
2. SMS channel → AI Bot (no survey)
3. After hours → Bot Workflow
4. French language → French Team
5. Catch-all → General Support Team

Business hours routing

Use a Time condition to route differently during business hours:

• Condition: Day is Monday-Friday AND Time is 9:00-17:00
• Trigger: Route to Support Team

Pair with a second rule (no time condition) as the fallback:

• Trigger: Use AI (after-hours bot)

Or use a Named Schedule condition tied to a pre-built work schedule object to avoid specifying days/times manually.

Team tier escalation

If your plan includes Tier Escalation, you can define tiers within a team:

• Tier 1 agents get the conversation first
• If no Tier 1 agent accepts within N minutes, Tier 2 gets it
• And so on

Set up tiers in Teams > [Team Name] > Routing Tiers.

Routing modes

Queue mode: conversation waits in a queue until an agent accepts it. Agents see incoming conversations and click Accept.

AutoRoute mode: conversation is automatically assigned to the agent with the fewest active chats. No manual accept needed.

Set the routing mode per team under Teams > [Team Name] > Settings.

Auto-Resolve rules vs. Team Auto-Resolve settings

There are two separate controls for automatically resolving inactive conversations:

1. Auto-Resolve rule (Rules page, trigger: "Resolve Chat") — site-wide, applies to conversations that match the rule's conditions.
2. Team Auto-Resolve setting (Teams & Routing page) — applies to all conversations on a specific team.

Both run every minute. The shorter timer always fires first — the longer one is never reached because the conversation is already resolved. This is intentional (no double-resolution), but it causes confusion when the two settings disagree.

Example: Team "Support" Auto-Resolve = 30 min. Site-wide Resolve Chat rule = 40 min. The 30-min team setting fires first. The rule never triggers for Support team conversations.

Reverse example: Rule = 20 min, Team = 30 min. The 20-min rule fires first. The team setting is dormant — it will never trigger.

The Routing Rules page shows a conflict panel when competing settings exist, with a table showing exactly which timer wins. The Teams & Routing page shows an inline warning on the Auto-Resolve section — red "Overridden" badge when the rule fires first, amber warning when the team setting fires first and the rule is dormant.

Queue Timeout vs. Auto-Resolve — they don't conflict

• Queue Timeout — fires on unassigned conversations (waiting in queue with no agent). Marks them Missed. Set per team in Teams & Routing.
• Auto-Resolve — fires on assigned conversations where both sides go quiet. Marks them Resolved.

These target completely different conversation states. A conversation waiting in queue (unassigned) will never be touched by Auto-Resolve. They cannot conflict.

How to find and fix competing auto-resolve settings

1. Go to Settings → Routing Rules
2. Look for the amber conflict panel at the top of the page
3. The table shows: rule timer, team timer, which one actually fires (bold/green), which is dormant (strikethrough)
4. Click the rule link to edit it, or the team link to adjust the team setting
5. Set both to the same value, or disable the dormant one

You can also see it inline: expand any team in Teams & Routing → enable Auto-Resolve → the status box shows whether a rule is competing.

Troubleshooting routing

Conversation not being routed: check that at least one rule matches and is Active. Check rule priority — a higher-priority rule may be routing it elsewhere.

Conversations resolving faster than expected: a site-wide Resolve Chat rule may have a shorter timer than the team setting. Check the conflict panel on the Routing Rules page.

Resolve Chat rule appears to have no effect: the team's Auto-Resolve setting may be shorter, firing first and leaving the rule dormant. Check Teams & Routing for an "Overridden" badge on the Auto-Resolve section.

All agents busy: if queue is full, consider adding a Use AI rule that activates when Team Queue Depth exceeds a threshold.

Wrong team getting the conversation: check rule priority order. The most specific rules should have the lowest priority number.

Prechat survey not showing: the use-prechat-survey rule fires only if no workflow matched first. If a workflow is active for the site, it takes priority and the prechat rule is skipped.