Conversation Boundaries & Session Lifecycles

Parlot uses a two-level model of conversations and sessions. Boundary rules decide when a session moves from open to closed. Closing a session starts quality evaluations, personally identifiable information (PII) redaction, analytics rollups, and billing calculations.

Conversations vs sessions

• Conversation — The ongoing thread between a user and an agent on a channel. A conversation stays open over time and accumulates sessions.
• Session — A bounded interaction episode with a clear start and end. The session is the primary unit of evaluation, analytics, and observability. Telemetry—including audio, language model responses, tool executions, transcripts, and latency—is grouped under a session.

Conversation (ongoing, channel-scoped thread)
  ├── Voice Channel: 1 conversation ↔ 1 session (typical phone call)
  │     └── Session: Call starts 09:00 → Caller hangs up 09:12 (Closed)
  │
  └── Messaging Channels: 1 conversation ⊃ Multiple sessions over time
        ├── Session 1 (Morning): User asks about billing → 15-minute idle timeout → Session closed & evaluated
        └── Session 2 (Afternoon): Same user follows up on payment → New session opened in same conversation

Voice vs messaging

• Voice — A single session usually makes up the entire conversation. The call connects, the interaction takes place, and the call ends on hangup.
• Messaging (SMS, webchat, WhatsApp) — One conversation can span multiple sessions. When a customer stops responding, Parlot closes that session so it can be analyzed. A later message opens a fresh session in the same conversation.

Session close triggers

Parlot marks an open session closed when any of these conditions are met:

1. Explicit end signal — The agent or telephony gateway signals that the call or interaction has concluded (for example, the caller hangs up or the user closes the chat widget).
2. Idle inactivity timeout — No new user messages, audio packets, or agent responses for the configured duration since the last observed activity.
3. Maximum session duration cap — The session has been open longer than the allowed ceiling since it started, even if activity continues.

Boundary rules close idle sessions so evaluations, PII redaction, and cost rollups can run. A maximum duration cap closes hung voice calls. Balanced idle timeouts keep long pauses on messaging from splitting one inquiry into too many sessions.

Built-in defaults by channel

Configuring boundaries

1. Open Conversation boundaries

In the left sidebar, open Settings, then Conversation boundaries under Agents (or go to /settings/conversations).

2. Review channel settings

The table lists supported channels (voice, webchat, sms, and whatsapp):

• Channel — Canonical channel name
• Idle timeout — Inactivity threshold before an idle session closes (for example 15m, 1h, or Disabled)
• Max duration — Absolute time ceiling (for example 30m, 12h, or 7d)
• Status — Default or Custom

3. Edit a channel

Click the Edit (pencil) icon next to any channel:

1. Idle timeout — Toggle Idle timeout, choose Minutes, Hours, or Days, and enter the duration.
2. Maximum duration — Choose the unit and enter the ceiling.
3. Click Save changes. Updated rules apply to ongoing and future sessions.

4. Reset to defaults

• Revert one channel — Click Revert to default next to a customized channel.
• Reset all — Click Reset to defaults in the page header to restore the original matrix for the organization.

How session cleanup works

Parlot runs a background sweeper that:

1. Scans open sessions across channels
2. Evaluates last activity against that channel’s idle timeout and maximum duration
3. Marks timed-out sessions closed and dispatches post-processing
4. Runs PII redaction, quality evaluation, and metrics aggregation for closed sessions

Recommendations

• Tune webchat to your app flow — If the chat widget preserves history across page navigations, an idle timeout between 15 and 30 minutes keeps inquiries in coherent episodes.
• Match messaging windows — On WhatsApp, a 24-hour idle timeout keeps follow-ups in the same session.
• Always set a maximum duration — A ceiling (such as 12 or 24 hours) closes hung connections when an explicit hangup signal is missing.