# AI Triage

AI Triage automatically categorizes, tags, and routes incoming tickets to the right team or person. Instead of manually sorting through your queue, let AI handle the organization so your team can focus on resolving issues.

## How it works

```
 ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
 │ Customer  │────▶│   AI Triage  │────▶│  Sorted & Ready                  │
 │ creates   │     │  reads the   │     │                                  │
 │ ticket    │     │  ticket and: │     │  [billing]     → Finance Team    │
 └──────────┘     │              │     │  [bug-report]  → Engineering     │
                   │  • Tags it   │     │  [how-to]      → Support Tier 1  │
                   │  • Routes it │     │  [urgent]      → Senior Agent    │
                   │  • Prioritizes│     │                                  │
                   └──────────────┘     └──────────────────────────────────┘
```

1. A customer creates a ticket
2. AI Triage reads the content using the **First Customer Message** trigger
3. It automatically tags, categorizes, and assigns the ticket
4. The ticket lands in the right queue, ready for a human agent (or AI Agent)

## Who is it for?

* Teams overwhelmed by manual ticket sorting
* Support organizations with multiple teams or skill-based routing
* Companies that want better reporting through consistent tagging
* Anyone who wants to combine triage with [AI Agent](https://docs.eesel.ai/use-cases/ai-agent) for a two-stage workflow

## What it can do

| Capability               | Description                                                                                |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Tag tickets**          | Automatically add tags based on ticket content (e.g., "billing", "bug", "feature-request") |
| **Assign to agents**     | Route to specific team members based on expertise                                          |
| **Assign to groups**     | Route to team queues (e.g., "Billing Team", "Technical Support")                           |
| **Update fields**        | Set priority, status, or custom fields                                                     |
| **Leave internal notes** | Add context about why the ticket was categorized a certain way                             |

## Setting it up

1. **Create a Help Desk Agent** from your dashboard
2. **Connect your helpdesk** — [Zendesk](https://docs.eesel.ai/connect-your-tools/helpdesks/zendesk), [Freshdesk](https://docs.eesel.ai/connect-your-tools/helpdesks/freshdesk), [Intercom](https://docs.eesel.ai/connect-your-tools/helpdesks/intercom), [Gorgias](https://docs.eesel.ai/connect-your-tools/helpdesks/gorgias), or [Jira](https://docs.eesel.ai/connect-your-tools/helpdesks/jira)
3. **Train on your knowledge** — So it understands your product and support categories
4. **Configure actions:**
   * Add **Tag Ticket** as the primary action
   * Add **Assign Ticket to Group** for routing
   * Optionally add **Update Ticket** for priority/status
   * Optionally add **Leave Internal Note** for context
5. **Set the trigger** — Use **First Customer Message** so it runs before anyone replies
6. **Write triage instructions** — Define your categories, routing rules, and priority levels

## Writing triage instructions

Good triage instructions define clear categories and routing rules. Here's an example:

```
You are a ticket triage agent. When a new ticket comes in, do the following:

1. Read the ticket content carefully.

2. Tag the ticket with ONE of these categories:
   - "billing" — Payment issues, refunds, subscription changes
   - "bug-report" — Something is broken or not working as expected
   - "how-to" — Customer needs help using a feature
   - "feature-request" — Customer wants something new
   - "account" — Login issues, password resets, account changes

3. Assign based on the tag:
   - billing → Billing Team
   - bug-report → Engineering
   - how-to → Support Tier 1
   - feature-request → Product Team
   - account → Support Tier 1

4. Set priority:
   - "urgent" if the customer mentions being unable to use the product
   - "high" for billing issues
   - "normal" for everything else

5. Leave an internal note explaining your categorization.
```

## Combining Triage with AI Agent

A powerful setup is to use AI Triage and AI Agent together:

```
 ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────────┐
 │ Incoming  │────▶│  Triage  │────▶│  Tagged & Routed              │
 │ ticket    │     │  Agent   │     │                               │
 └──────────┘     └──────────┘     │  [how-to] → AI Agent handles  │
                                    │  [billing] → Human agent      │
                                    │  [bug]    → Engineering       │
                                    └──────────────────────────────┘
```

* **Triage Agent** (triggers on first message): Tags and routes every ticket
* **AI Agent** (triggers on specific tags): Handles tickets it's qualified for
* **Human agents** handle everything else

## Related

* [AI Agent](https://docs.eesel.ai/use-cases/ai-agent) — Pair with triage for full automation
* [Actions reference](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/actions) — All available triage actions
* [Triggers reference](https://docs.eesel.ai/configure-your-agent/triggers) — Trigger options for triage