# Reply management

> Reply collects replies into one team Inbox, classifies each thread by AI into intent categories, pauses out-of-office contacts, and drafts or sends responses with Jason AI.

**Yes. Reply gathers replies into one Inbox shared across the team, where AI assigns one category per thread — Interested, Not interested, Do not contact, Not now, Forwarded, plus a Meeting intent subcategory. Out-of-office contacts pause and resume automatically, triggers act on categories, and Jason AI drafts or sends grounded responses.**

_Status: Reviewed — human-edited, facts not yet confirmed against the product._

## At a glance

| | |
| --- | --- |
| **What it does** | One consolidated Inbox for reply threads, AI intent classification per thread, out-of-office handling, category-driven triggers, and AI-drafted or auto-sent responses |
| **Required objects** | A conversation (a contact's reply), the contact, and the originating sequence; a knowledge base for grounded AI answers |
| **Surfaces** | UI · REST API · MCP · CLI |
| **Key limit** | One inbox category per thread (Meeting intent is the only subcategory); AI responds only to the most recent message in a burst |
| **Stops on** | A reply stops or continues follow-ups per sequence settings; the Do not contact category never gets an AI response |
| **Does not** | Detect the return date inside an out-of-office email (uses one fixed resume delay for all); reply to teammates' threads by default; consolidate SMS into the email Inbox (SMS has its own inbox) |
| **Plans** | All plans; AI reply features are part of Jason AI |

## Summary

Every reply lands in the consolidated [Inbox](/specifications/inbox) — one place for all
threads from all sequences and team members. AI classifies each thread's tone into an
intent category, out-of-office answers pause the contact automatically, triggers automate
what happens next per category, and Jason AI can draft or send the response itself,
grounded in your [knowledge base](/specifications/knowledge-bases) and reply handlers.

## Problems it solves

- Replies scattered across mailboxes and sequence tabs — one Inbox for the whole team
- Finding the signal: interested and meeting-ready threads surfaced by classification, not by reading everything
- Out-of-office noise pausing and resuming contacts by hand
- Response speed: AI drafts waiting in the thread when you open it, or sent automatically for routine questions

## What Reply can do

- Consolidate reply threads from all sequences and team members into one Inbox, with unread counters, search, filters by sequence, sending email, category, time, and team member, and bulk read/unread and categorization actions
- Classify replies automatically by tone into inbox categories — Interested, Not interested, Do not contact, Not now, Forwarded — plus the Meeting intent subcategory; classification covers email, LinkedIn, and LinkedIn voice message replies
- Support custom categories and manual assign, reassign, or clear per thread or in bulk
- Assign the Out-of-office status automatically and resume those contacts after a set number of days (on by default), or let you resume them manually
- Fire triggers when a category is set — move the contact to another sequence or list, pause them, and other follow-on actions
- Generate AI replies with Jason AI: categorize, draft from the reply, prior conversation, and your context, then save as an AI Draft for review or send automatically — with a Mixed mode that routes each question type per its reply handler
- Define reply handlers per common question with delivery mode Auto, Draft, or Stop and notify, plus instructions, sample answer, tone of voice, response length, resource links, and media
- Book meetings on Meeting intent replies — check availability via a connected meeting tool or booking link, book the slot, or propose the next available time
- Let you edit, regenerate, re-instruct, re-tone, or translate an AI draft before sending, and rate drafts to improve future output
- Speed up manual replies with canned responses inserted from the note icon, a "/" shortcut, or a keyboard shortcut

## What Reply cannot do

- Assign more than one category per thread — Meeting intent is the only subcategory that stacks with a category
- Read the return date in an out-of-office email — the automatic resume uses one fixed day count for every contact
- Generate an AI response for threads categorized Do not contact
- Answer every message in a burst — when a prospect sends several replies, only the most recent gets a generated response, and a newer reply discards the previous draft
- Reply to a teammate's thread by default — replying on behalf of teammates is enabled by support on request
- Show SMS threads in the email Inbox — SMS replies live in the dedicated SMS inbox and the contact activity log

## Required inputs

Running outreach that produces replies; for AI responses: the Handle replies toggle (on by
default), optionally a knowledge base, reply handlers, and a meeting tool or booking link;
for automation: triggers configured per category.

## Produced outputs

Categorized threads, updated contact statuses (Replied, Out-of-office, Opted Out — see
[Status transitions](/behavior/status-transitions)), trigger-driven contact moves, AI
drafts or sent responses, booked meetings, and reply statistics feeding
[campaign analytics](/capabilities/campaign-analytics).

## Use Reply when

- The team shares reply duty and needs one queue with intent labels instead of per-rep mailboxes
- You want routine answers handled automatically and judgment calls held for review — delivery mode is set per question type
- Meeting-ready replies should turn into booked meetings without a scheduling ping-pong

## Do not use Reply when

- You need a full customer-support helpdesk with SLAs, ticket assignment, and CSAT — the Inbox is built for outreach conversations
- Your replies arrive in channels Reply does not track — see [Reply detection](/behavior/reply-detection) for what is detected where

## What you still need to build

- The knowledge base content and reply handler instructions that make AI answers accurate — see [Process positive replies](/workflows/process-positive-replies)
- Your escalation rules: which categories a human always reads, which handlers may auto-send

```yaml
capability: reply_management
supported: true
interfaces:
  product_ui: live
  api: live
  mcp: live
  cli: live
required_objects:
  - conversation
  - contact
  - sequence
side_effects:
  - updates_contact_statuses
  - stops_outreach
  - sends_replies_when_configured
human_approval_recommended: true
```

## Limits

- One inbox category per thread, plus the Meeting intent subcategory
- Inbox pages hold up to 50 threads; use filters and search for volume
- LinkedIn replies from the Inbox are limited to 8,000 symbols
- The out-of-office resume delay is one account-wide number of days — not per contact
- AI drafts regenerate on new inbound replies; the older draft is discarded

## FAQ

### Which categories exist and who assigns them?

Interested, Not interested, Do not contact, Not now, and Forwarded, with Meeting intent as
a subcategory (for example Interested + Meeting intent). Reply's AI assigns them from the
tone of the reply; you can reassign manually, in bulk, or add custom categories. See
[Reply classification](/learn/reply-classification).

### Does a reply stop the sequence?

That is a per-sequence setting: mark the contact as finished, or continue the remaining
follow-ups. Replies to direct emails set Replied without stopping the sequence. Details in
[Reply detection](/behavior/reply-detection) and [Sequence stopping](/behavior/sequence-stopping).

### When does Jason AI send without a human?

Only when you choose it: Send automatically applies to the whole sequence, and Mixed mode
follows each reply handler's delivery mode — Auto sends immediately, Draft waits for
review, Stop and notify pauses the contact and alerts the assigned rep instead of
answering. Do not contact threads never get an AI response.

### How are out-of-office replies handled?

Reply detects the auto-reply, sets the Out-of-office status, and pauses the contact. With
automatic handling on (the default), contacts resume after the number of days you set —
the same delay for everyone, since the date inside the email is not parsed. When the
contact later replies for real, sequence reply settings take over.

## Related

- [Process positive replies](/workflows/process-positive-replies) — the full workflow
- [Inbox](/specifications/inbox) · [Conversations](/specifications/conversations) · [Knowledge bases](/specifications/knowledge-bases)
- [Reply detection](/behavior/reply-detection) · [Status transitions](/behavior/status-transitions)
- [Reply classification](/learn/reply-classification)
- [AI SDR](/capabilities/ai-sdr)

## Build with Reply

- REST API: [docs.reply.io](https://docs.reply.io/api-reference/introduction) — inbox, conversations, and reply-handler endpoints
- MCP: [agents.reply.io/mcp](https://agents.reply.io/mcp) — inbox reading, categorization, and reply operations