Route an SMS number

Each SMS number assigned to your tenant has its own routing. Inbound texts to that number can drop into the general inbox, go to a specific team, or be handled by an AI agent. Routing is set on a per-number basis from Settings → SMS.

Before you start

• At least one SMS number assigned to your tenant by your account team. Numbers show up in Settings → SMS under Assigned Phone Numbers.
• A team configured if you want to route to one (set up in Settings → Teams).
• An AI agent ready if you want autonomous handling (set up in Settings → Agent Stacks).

Steps

1. Open Settings → SMS.
2. Find the number in the Assigned Phone Numbers table.
3. In the Current Routing column, click the dropdown.
4. Pick the destination:
   General inbox — the conversation lands in the main inbox without team or agent pre-assignment. The default if no other routing is configured.
   Team → [your team] — the conversation is assigned to the chosen team. Agents on that team see it in their team’s queue.
   AI Agent → [your agent] — the conversation is handed to the AI Agent Stack, which handles it autonomously (with escalation to a human when needed).
5. Save.

The next inbound text to that number uses the new routing immediately.

Verify it worked

Text the number from your own phone with a short test message. Confirm the conversation appears in Atender:

• Routing to a team → the conversation should be visible in that team’s inbox view.
• Routing to an AI Agent → the agent should respond automatically within a few seconds.
• General inbox → the conversation appears unassigned in the main inbox.

Routing decision guide

• General inbox — Low-volume numbers, or when you want supervisors to triage and assign manually.
• Team — A dedicated number for one team (sales, support, after-hours). The team owns inbound to that number.
• AI Agent — High-volume numbers where most inbound is FAQ-like and an AI can resolve a meaningful share of it. The agent escalates to a human queue if it can’t resolve.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: The Team dropdown is empty. Fix: No teams have been created yet. Set up at least one team in Settings → Teams, then come back.

• Symptom: The AI Agent dropdown is empty. Fix: No Agent Stack has been published. Build and publish one in Settings → Agent Stacks, then come back.

• Symptom: Routing is set to a team but conversations still appear in the general inbox. Fix: Confirm you saved the change. Routing only takes effect on new incoming messages — conversations already open keep their existing assignment.

See also

• The SMS channel
• Set the default outbound number