---
title: "Pause, turn off or delete an agent"
description: "Stop an agent on all its channels, leave a WhatsApp number to your team, pause the AI in one conversation, take the agent off a channel or delete it for good."
---

> Documentation Index
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> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Pause, turn off or delete an agent

Sometimes you need an agent to stop answering: while you fix its instructions, on a holiday, when your team wants to attend in person or because you won't use it anymore. Pick the smallest option that solves what you need: pausing is almost always enough.

## Before you start

- To pause, activate or delete an agent you need a role that can **Create and tune agents**, such as **Agent design**, **Administration** or **Owner**.
- To change how much the AI handles on a number or take the agent off a channel you need a role that can **Connect channels: phone, WhatsApp and web chat**, such as **Administration** or **Owner**.
- To pause the AI in one conversation you need a role that can **Handle conversations and reply on WhatsApp**, such as **Operations**.

## Which option to choose

| You want… | Do this | Can you undo it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The agent not to answer on any channel for a while | **Deactivate** the agent | Yes, with **Activate** |
| Your team to handle a WhatsApp number, without AI | **Configure AI** on that number and set it to 0% | Yes |
| To handle a single conversation yourself | **Pause AI** in that conversation | Yes, with **Resume AI** |
| Another agent to handle a channel | **Release the agent** and assign another | Yes |
| The agent to be gone | **Delete agent** | No |

## Pause an agent on all its channels

1. In the menu, click **Workers** and open the agent.

2. Top right, click **Deactivate**.

3. You'll see "Agent paused" and, under the name, **Inactive**.

While paused, the agent doesn't reply or place calls on any of its channels; messages that arrive are kept for your team. To bring it back, click **Activate**: you'll see "Agent activated".

> **Activate is disabled**
>
> An agent without channels can't go online: hovering **Activate** shows "Connect and enable at least one channel before bringing the agent online." Assign it a channel first (see [Manage your channels](/en/raiz/channels/)).

## Leave a WhatsApp number to your team

Useful when your team wants to handle everything by hand for a few hours or days, without pausing the agent on its other channels.

1. Go to **Settings › Channels**.

2. On the number's row, click **Configure AI · 100%** (the number is the current percentage).

3. In **New conversations handled by AI**, pick **0%**. With values in between, the AI handles that share of new conversations and your team the rest.

4. Click **Save**. You'll see "AI attendance settings saved."

Conversations that were already open keep whoever handles them. To go back, raise the percentage again.

## Pause the AI in one conversation

Open the conversation in **Conversations** and click **Pause AI**. The AI stops replying to that person until the conversation closes or until you click **Resume AI**. Details in [Handle a WhatsApp conversation](/en/raiz/take-over-a-conversation/).

## Take the agent off a channel

1. Go to **Settings › Channels**.

2. On the channel's row, open the three-dot menu and choose **Release the agent**.

3. For the channel to keep answering, use **Assign an agent** on the same row and pick another one.

## Delete an agent

Deleting is for good. If in doubt, deactivate it.

1. First take it off its channels (**Release the agent** on each one) and stop its campaigns.

2. Open the agent and, top right, open the three-dot menu.

3. Choose **Delete agent**.

4. In **Type the name to confirm**, type the agent's exact name.

5. Click **Delete**. You'll see "Agent deleted" and land back on **Workers**.

Its past conversations stay in **Conversations** and in the reports.

## Do's and don'ts

Deleting the agent because it answered badly and creating another: you lose its configuration and start from scratch.

**Deactivate**, adjust its [instructions](/en/raiz/write-instructions/), [test it](/en/raiz/test-an-agent/) and **Activate** again.

Deactivating the agent when you only want your team to handle one WhatsApp number: it also stops answering calls and the web chat.

**Configure AI** at 0% on that number and keep the agent active on the others.

## Common problems

The full message is "This agent still has channels or active campaigns. Unassign them before deleting it." Go to **Settings › Channels**, use **Release the agent** on every channel where it appears and stop its campaigns. Then try again.

The message reminds you of the name: "The name doesn't match. Please type "…" exactly." Type it as is, with capitals, accents and symbols, for example "Valentina · Confirmaciones".

Your role can't create or tune agents: those buttons don't appear. Ask someone with **Agent design**, **Administration** or **Owner**.

That's expected: **Try chat** shows "The agent is paused and does not reply. Activate it to try it." Activate it to test it, or test it before deactivating.

Source: https://docs.getarbol.com/en/raiz/pause-or-delete-an-agent/index.mdx