TG Bot Multi-Agent Distribution Configuration Tutorial: Round Robin, Online First, and Designated Agent Scope

When your Telegram Bot receives hundreds of user inquiries daily, relying on a single account for manual replies quickly becomes overwhelming. Message backlog, delayed responses, and even missed customers—this is the first bottleneck many TG Bot operators encounter when transitioning from a small operation to team collaboration.

The core value of a TG Bot multi-agent system is to enable multiple customer service agents to handle conversations simultaneously, reducing response times from minutes to seconds. This article uses TG-Staff as an example to guide you through configuring conversation distribution rules, covering three modes: round robin, online first, and designated agent scope. It includes complete step-by-step instructions and common issue troubleshooting.

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Why Does a TG Bot Need Multi-Agent Distribution?

Single Agent vs. Multi-Agent: How Big Is the Efficiency Gap?

Dimension	Single Agent	Multi-Agent (with Distribution)
Concurrent conversations handled	Typically 3–5	3–5 per person, team parallel
Average first response time	3–10 minutes	< 30 seconds
Probability of missed messages	High (manual polling prone to misses)	Low (system auto-assignment)
Team collaboration capability	None	Supports conversation transfer, note collaboration

A single agent can handle at most 80–100 messages per day, while a 3-person team with distribution can easily cover 300+ inquiries. More importantly, conversation distribution ensures every message is assigned to a specific person, avoiding the awkward “I thought you replied” situation.

Three Core Distribution Modes

1. Round Robin: New conversations are assigned sequentially to authorized agents in a preset order. Suitable for teams with balanced agent capabilities and equal workload.
2. Online First: Prioritizes online agents for new conversations; falls back to round robin when all agents are offline. Suitable for teams with shifts or across time zones.
3. Designated Agent Scope: Limits the project’s agent scope to “all agents” or “designated agents.” Suitable for distribution by skill group (pre-sales/post-sales/technical) or language.

These three modes are not mutually exclusive—you can configure different rules independently for different projects.

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Preparation: Connect Your Bot to TG-Staff

Before configuring distribution rules, complete the following three steps:

1. Register a TG-Staff account: Visit https://app.tg-staff.com/ to sign up. New users automatically get a 3-day free trial.
2. Create a project and bind your Bot: In the console’s left menu, click “Projects” → “Create Project,” enter a project name, then obtain your Bot Token from @BotFather and paste it into the corresponding field.
3. Confirm your plan: During the free trial, you can experience multi-agent and distribution features. The Standard plan and above support advanced capabilities like distribution links.

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Configuring Multiple Agents: Adding Team Members

Load balancing requires multiple customer service agents. In the TG-Staff console:

1. Go to the “Agent Management” page.
2. Click “Add Agent”, enter the agent’s Telegram username or email (the system will send an invitation link).
3. Set the agent’s project permissions: you can individually select which projects the agent can operate on, or set uniformly to “All Projects”.
4. Set operational scope: for example, whether to allow the agent to create auto-replies, edit Bot profiles, etc.

Plan Agent Limits: The free trial supports the number of agents included in the plan; the Standard plan at approximately 8.99/month (see website for details) supports 3 agents; the Professional plan at about16.99/month supports 20 agents. If your team exceeds 20 members, contact customer service for a custom solution.

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Setting Up Session Routing Rules (Core Step)

Configuration path for routing rules: Console → Project Settings → Session Routing.

Round Robin — Default Mode

Principle: The system maintains an agent queue, and new sessions are assigned to the next agent in the queue sequentially. After all agents have been assigned once, it restarts from the top of the queue.

Use Cases:

• Agents have similar capabilities, and you want an even workload distribution
• Team has fixed shift hours

Configuration Steps:

1. Enable the “Session Routing” toggle in project settings.
2. Select “Round Robin” as the distribution mode.
3. Keep the agent scope as default “All Agents” (or select specific agents as needed).
4. Save settings.

Verification: Send messages to the Bot from two different Telegram accounts and observe if sessions are assigned to different agents in turn.

Online First — Preferred for Peak Hours

Principle: The system detects agents’ online status in real-time (logged into the web console is considered online). New sessions are assigned to agents who are currently online and idle. If all agents are offline, it falls back to Round Robin.

Use Cases:

• Customer service team has shift schedules (e.g., day/night shifts)
• Agents work across time zones (e.g., some in Asia, some in Europe)
• Need dynamic load balancing during peak hours

Configuration Steps:

1. Select “Online First” as the routing mode.
2. Optionally set “Maximum Concurrent Sessions” to limit the number of sessions each agent can handle simultaneously.
3. Save settings.

Notes:

• Agents must keep the web console page open and logged in, otherwise they will be considered offline.
• If everyone on the team is online simultaneously, Online First performs similarly to Round Robin.

Specify Agent Scope: Precise Assignment

Principle: Limit the project’s agent scope to “All Agents” or “Specified Agents.” When “Specified Agents” is selected, only those agents will receive sessions routed to this project.

Use Cases:

• Routing by skill group: Pre-sales team handles pre-sales inquiries only, post-sales team handles post-sales inquiries only
• Routing by language: Chinese agents handle Chinese users only, English agents handle English users only
• VIP projects: Only senior agents can handle

Configuration Steps:

1. Select “Specified Agents” under Agent Scope.
2. Choose agents allowed to handle this project from the list (multi-select).
3. Save the settings.

Verification: Agents not selected will see an empty session list for this project after login; only selected agents can view and receive new sessions.

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Verify Routing Effects and Common Issue Troubleshooting

Verification Methods

1. Multi-Account Simulation: Use 3 different Telegram accounts to send messages to the bot and observe whether the console session list assigns them to different agents.
2. Check Assignment Records: In the session details page, you can see records like “Session assigned to agent X by the system.”
3. Agent Online Status: On the agent management page, you can check each agent’s online/offline status to confirm whether the online-first mode is working.

Common Issue Troubleshooting

Issue	Possible Cause	Solution
Agent does not receive new sessions	Agent is not added to the project’s agent scope	Check the agent scope in project settings and ensure the agent is selected
Uneven distribution (one agent receives too many)	That agent is always online in online-first mode	Check if max concurrent sessions is set; or switch to round-robin assignment
Online status not synced	Agent page is not kept active	Advise agents not to close the browser tab; TG-Staff has automatic heartbeat detection
Diversion link not working	Plan does not support it	Confirm the plan is Standard or higher

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Advanced Tips: Combining Diversion Links with Traffic Sources

Diversion Links are a tracking capability provided by TG-Staff. You can generate a short link (e.g., https://app.tg-staff.com/{code}) and place it in ads, social media, or emails. When users click the link:

1. The system captures visitor IP, browser info, and URL parameters (e.g., utm_source).
2. Redirects to your Telegram Bot.
3. After the user sends a message, the system automatically appends the source info to the user profile.
4. Combined with session routing, agents can see which channel the user came from when handling the session.

Typical Funnel: Facebook Ad → Diversion Link → Bot Auto Reply → Human Agent Handoff

This way, you can track inquiry volume and conversion rates from different channels, and even set different routing rules for different channels (e.g., VIP channels prioritized for senior agents).

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FAQ

Q: Can I experience multi-agent routing during the free trial? A: Yes. Register for TG-Staff and enjoy a 3-day free trial. During this period, you can add the number of agents supported by your plan and test routing rules. After the trial ends, you need to renew to restore service.

Q: Which is better for a small team: round-robin or online-first? A: If your team agents work in fixed shifts, round-robin is recommended to ensure each agent handles conversations evenly. If agents have flexible hours (e.g., part-time or across time zones), online-first is more suitable as it automatically assigns messages to currently online agents.

Q: Can I set different routing rules for different projects? A: Yes. TG-Staff supports multi-project management, where each project can independently configure routing mode and agent scope. For example, use online-first for pre-sales projects and assigned-agent routing for after-sales projects.

Q: Can routing links track user source channels? A: Yes. Routing links capture visitor IP, browser information, and URL parameters, which can be used for ad attribution. Combined with session routing, you can analyze the volume of inquiries and conversions from different channels.

Q: Will unselected agents receive messages after specifying the agent scope? A: No. Only selected agents will receive routed conversations for that project. This feature is suitable for assigning by skill group or language to prevent irrelevant agents from receiving unrelated messages.

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Next Steps

• Sign up for a free trial of TG-Staff now: https://app.tg-staff.com/
• Check the official documentation for more detailed routing rules: https://docs.tg-staff.com/
• If you have configuration questions, contact the support bot @tgstaff_robot for real-time assistance

Once you set up the TG Bot multi-agent routing system, you’ll notice an immediate boost in team efficiency. Whether round-robin or online-first, the core is to have the right person handle inquiries at the right time. Give it a try—your customer service team deserves better tools.