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Archive an Agent

Archiving takes an agent you no longer use out of the Agents list while keeping it — and all of its sessions — in your tenant. Use it for finished pilots, seasonal agents, and test agents that clutter the list but whose history you still need in Sessions and Analytics.

Archiving is also the first step of deleting an agent. An agent has to be archived before it can be deleted permanently, so the archive doubles as a holding area: you retire the agent, confirm nothing broke, and only then decide whether to remove it for good.

How archiving differs from stopping​

StopArchiveDelete
Agent answers customersNoNo—
Appears in the Agents listYesNoNo
Configuration can be editedYesNo, read-only—
Channels stay attachedYesNo, detached—
Sessions and analytics keptYesYesNo, purged
ReversibleYes, start it againYes, restore itNo

Stop an agent when you're pausing it for a while. Archive it when it's out of daily rotation and you want the list to reflect that.

What archiving changes​

When you archive an agent, the portal does the following for you:

  • Stops the agent, if it was running.
  • Closes open sessions. Each one is finished with the Canceled status and its billing is finalized. The sessions stay in Sessions — they aren't deleted. See Session Statuses.
  • Detaches the agent's channels. The channel connections themselves stay in Settings > Channels, but they're no longer bound to this agent, so the agent stops receiving traffic from them.
  • Stops the campaigns that use the agent. The agent's own inbound campaign is archived with it. A Python campaign that was running moves to Created — not Configured — because its stage still points at an agent that's no longer available; it can't be started again until you pick a channel with an active agent, or a channel with no agent. In Flows, every active flow that references the agent is deactivated, and the campaign moves to Inactive only if it has no other active flows left.
  • Cancels the agent's recurring session-analytics schedule.
  • Hides the agent from the Agents list and adds it to the Archived agents list.

Knowledge sources and tools attached to the agent aren't detached.

Archiving runs in the background and can take a few minutes, because the portal has to shut the agent's workloads down. While it's in progress the agent's status is Archiving, and neither Archive nor Restore is available until it finishes.

note

If the agent can't be stopped, it isn't archived — it stays in the Agents list with the Error status. Check its logs (see View agent logs), fix the cause, and archive it again.

Archive an agent​

You can archive an agent from the Agents list or from the agent's own page. You need a role that allows deleting agents; if the Archive item is disabled, ask your administrator.

  1. Go to AI Agents > Agents.

  2. Open the three-dot menu in the agent's row — or open the agent and use the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner — and select Archive.

  3. The Archive agent window opens. While it loads it shows "Checking sessions, channels and campaigns connected to this agent…", then lists what archiving will affect, for example:

    • "3 active sessions will be terminated"
    • "1 channel connected to this agent will be disconnected"
    • "2 campaigns using this agent will be stopped"

    If nothing is affected, the window shows "The agent will be moved to the archive. You can restore it later."

  4. Read the list, then click Archive. To back out, click Discard.

Expected result: the portal confirms with "Agent archiving started" and the agent's status changes to Archiving. When the background work finishes, the agent leaves the Agents list and appears in Archived agents with its last settled status, Stopped or Error.

note

Archive is available only when the agent is Running, Stopped, or Error. While an agent is Starting, Stopping, Creating, or Archiving, the item is disabled — wait for the status to settle. An agent marked as protected can't be archived or deleted at all.

Find an archived agent​

Archived agents aren't in the Agents list or in its search, so they have their own window.

  1. Go to AI Agents > Agents.
  2. Click the three-dot menu in the page header, next to the create and import buttons.
  3. Select Archived agents.

The Archived agents window lists every archived agent in your tenant with:

ColumnDescription
NameAgent name. Sortable. Agents still on the earlier agent page also show a Legacy badge, with the tooltip "Uses legacy Workflow and Tool Groups".
ModifiedDate and time of the last change, in your tenant timezone. Sortable.
(actions)A restore button and a three-dot menu containing Delete.

The window shows 10 agents per page.

Double-click a row to open the agent's configuration page. You can read every tab, but the form is read-only and the header's start, stop, and save controls are replaced by a Restore button. On agents still using the earlier agent page, a disabled Save button stays next to Restore.

tip

An archived agent's page keeps the same URL it had before. Links and bookmarks to it still work.

Restore an agent​

Restoring brings the agent back to the Agents list and makes it editable again. It keeps the status it settled at when archived — Stopped, or Error if it was in error.

  1. Open Archived agents as described above.
  2. Click the restore button in the agent's row — or open the agent's page and click Restore in the header.
  3. The Restore agent window opens, naming the agent and noting: "To fully restore agent's functionality, reconnect the channels and launch the campaigns."
  4. Click Restore. To back out, click Discard.

Expected result: the portal confirms with "Agent restored", and the agent reappears in the Agents list with the status it had when it was archived — Stopped or Error.

Finish the restore yourself. Restoring doesn't undo everything archiving did. The portal brings the agent back and re-registers its session-analytics schedule, but you still need to:

  1. Reattach the agent's channels on its Channels tab. See Channels tab.
  2. Relaunch any campaigns or flows that use the agent. See Campaigns.
  3. Start the agent. See Start and stop an agent.

If the name was taken​

Archiving frees the agent's name, so someone can create or import a new agent under it while the first one sits in the archive. Agent names have to be unique in a tenant, so if that happened, the restore fails. The portal shows Failed to restore agent. Expand Show detailed info on that notification for the reason:

Agent name "<agent name>" is already in use, so this archived agent cannot be restored under its original name. Rename or remove the conflicting agent first.

To get around it, rename or remove the agent that now holds the name — see Rename an agent — and restore again.

Delete an agent permanently​

Deleting is irreversible: it removes the agent together with its sessions and their analytics records. Export the agent first if there's any chance you'll need it again — see Export and import an agent.

Delete is only in the Archived agents window — there's no delete action on the Agents list or the agent page, so an agent has to be archived before it can be deleted.

Two things block a delete even then:

  • The agent is marked as protected. Archiving a protected agent is blocked too.
  • A Python campaign stage still points at the agent. Archiving doesn't clear those references, so repoint or remove the stage first.
  1. Open Archived agents.
  2. Open the three-dot menu in the agent's row and select Delete.
  3. Confirm in the popup — it asks "Delete the agent <agent name>?" — by clicking Yes.

Expected result: the agent disappears from Archived agents, and its sessions are no longer in Sessions or in analytics.

caution

Deleting an agent purges its session history, which is also its billing history. Archive the agent instead if you only want it out of the way.

Where archived agents still appear​

Archiving hides the agent from the Agents list, not from its history. Its past sessions and analytics stay available, and several screens that still reference the agent mark it [Archived] in red so you can tell it apart from an active one:

ScreenWhat you see
SessionsThe Agent column shows [Archived] <agent name>. Sessions from archived agents are included by default, though the Filters dialog lists agent names without the marker.
Analytics > Deep AnalysisThe agent picker lists archived agents as [Archived] <agent name>, so you can still analyze their history.
360 ViewThe Agent: line of a communication is marked. A campaign in the list is marked when it's the inbound campaign named after the archived agent.
Campaigns > FlowsA communication step that references an agent archived after it was configured shows the agent as [Archived], and the step is flagged as an error in the flow editor.
Campaigns > PythonThe stage list shows Agent: [Archived] <agent name>.

Playground​

Archived agents aren't listed on the Playground screen, so you can't pick one there.

In the Playground panel on the agent's own page, an overlay covers the chat: Agent archived — "The agent is in the archive. Restore the agent to test it in the sandbox." — with a Restore button. While the agent is still being archived, the panel shows "Please wait until the agent is archived" instead.

Audit log​

Archiving and restoring are recorded in the agent's audit trail, alongside create, start, stop, restart, and modify. Open the agent's logs and select the Audit logs tab to see who archived or restored the agent and when — see View agent logs.

The archive entry is written when the archive is requested, so it's there even for an attempt that later fails because the agent couldn't be stopped.

What you can't do with an archived agent​

An archived agent is inert until you restore it. These actions are blocked:

  • Saving changes to its configuration. The agent page's form is read-only, and it doesn't warn about unsaved changes when you leave it. A save is rejected with Agent "<agent name>" is archived and cannot be modified. Restore it first.
  • Starting or restarting it — Agent "<agent name>" is archived. Restore it before starting or stopping. A bulk restart skips archived agents.
  • Renaming it.
  • Testing it in Playground.
  • Running session analytics on it.
  • Attaching it to a channel in Settings > Channels.
  • Choosing it in a campaign stage or a flow step — agent pickers don't offer archived agents. An agent archived after it was configured stays visible in that step, marked [Archived], but starting a campaign whose active flow references it fails with "The campaign is configured with an archived agent; it cannot be started."

Viewing its configuration, exporting it, copying it, restoring it, and deleting it are all available. A copy is created as an ordinary active agent. You can't import into the archive either: an import matches an existing agent by name, and an archived agent's stored name carries an "(archived at …)" marker that an import file won't match.

Common issues​

  • Archive is disabled in the three-dot menu — the agent is in a transitional status (Starting, Stopping, Creating, or Archiving), or your role doesn't allow deleting agents.
  • I can't find a Delete action for an agent — delete lives only in the Archived agents window. Archive the agent first, then delete it from there.
  • Delete fails because the agent is used in a campaign — a Python campaign stage still points at it. Repoint or remove that stage, then delete.
  • The agent didn't appear in Archived agents — archiving runs in the background and can take a few minutes. If the agent went back to Error in the Agents list instead, it couldn't be stopped: check its logs and try again.
  • "Failed to restore agent" — another agent now uses the archived agent's name. Rename or remove that agent and restore again.
  • The restored agent doesn't answer customers — restoring doesn't reconnect channels or relaunch campaigns. Reattach the channels on the Channels tab, relaunch the campaigns, then start the agent.
  • I can't find an archived agent in search — the Agents list search covers active agents only. Open Archived agents from the three-dot menu in the page header.
  • A campaign won't start: "The campaign is configured with an archived agent; it cannot be started." — one of the campaign's active flows references an agent that has been archived. Restore the agent, or point the step at an active one.
  • A flow step is flagged as an error after an agent was archived — the step still references the archived agent. Restore the agent or select a different one in the step's settings.

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