> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.theabot.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Confidence scores, thresholds, and escalation

> Set a 0–1 confidence threshold so Thea posts when it is sure and hands off to your team when it is not.

Before Thea posts an answer, it scores how well the retrieved passages match the question. You set the bar. Above it, Thea replies in a thread with citations. Below it, Thea refuses to guess and offers a human.

## What the score measures

The score is a number between **0 and 1**, calculated for this question only. It is not an average of your knowledge base. A high score means the passages strongly support the reply. A low score means the match is weak, the question is ambiguous, or the topic is not in your sources.

Thea never fills a gap with general internet knowledge. See [How it works](/answering/how-it-works).

## Set the threshold

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Handoff">
    Go to **Settings → Handoff → Confidence threshold**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter a value from 0 to 1">
    The field accepts two decimal places. The default is **0.35**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save and test">
    Run questions in the [Playground](/answering/playground). Raise the threshold if Thea is guessing. Lower it if it refuses things your docs actually cover.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The same value is available as `/config set threshold`.

<Tip>
  0.35 is a starting point, not a target. After you have a few dozen real conversations, adjust using [Conversations](/answering/conversations) and Playground diagnostics — not a fixed "best" number.
</Tip>

## Get a human

**Settings → Handoff → Get a human button** adds an escalation button on answers. Members use it when the reply is not enough. Escalations ping the **Support role** on the same page (the role `/setup` sets).

When confidence is below the threshold, Thea does not post a public answer. It tells the member it could not ground a reply and, if the button is on, offers that handoff.

<Note>
  Escalations do **not** consume your monthly answer quota. Only answers Thea posts count. Duplicate-question redirects also do not count. See [Answering settings](/answering/settings).
</Note>

## Verified answers

If a reply was wrong or thin, open the conversation in the dashboard and save a **verified answer** from the correction form. Future questions on that topic prefer the correction over ordinary documentation. See [Conversations](/answering/conversations).

## When answering is paused

If the server hits its monthly answer limit, Thea stops posting new AI answers until the period resets. Escalations still fire so your team can take the question. Knowledge, tickets, and non-AI AutoMod keep running. See [Plans and billing](/plans-and-billing).