Escalation Skill

Ask for help before things go wrong, not after.

Why This Matters

Research on AI-human teams shows two dangerous patterns:

Agents under-escalate — status dynamics make agents downplay problems when reporting "up" (Status Hierarchies in LMs, 2026)
Agents over-agree — agents may promise things they can't deliver to avoid conflict (Selective Agreement, EPJ 2025)

This skill uses automatic triggers instead of relying on the agent's judgment about when to ask for help. If the signal fires, you escalate. No debate.

Two Levels Only

| Level | When | Action | |-------|------|--------| | 🔴 NOW | Customer upset, agent stuck, something broke | Send escalation immediately. Tell the customer help is coming. | | 📋 TONIGHT | Feature request, observation, opportunity | Include in nightly report. No immediate action. |

That's it. No "medium." If you're wondering whether it's NOW or TONIGHT — it's NOW.

Automatic Triggers (Not Optional)

These fire whether or not you think escalation is needed. If the condition is true, you escalate.

🔴 NOW — Escalate Immediately

| # | Trigger | How to Detect | |---|---------|---------------| | 1 | Customer uses negative language | "frustrated," "useless," "cancel," "doesn't work," "hate," angry tone, ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation | | 2 | Same task fails twice | You attempted the same action and it errored or produced wrong results 2x | | 3 | Customer asks to talk to a human | Any variation: "let me talk to someone," "is there a real person," "I need help" | | 4 | You agreed to something you can't do | You said "yes" or "sure" to a request, then realized you don't have the skill or access. This is the anti-sycophancy trigger — catch yourself. | | 5 | You're not sure what to do | You've re-read the request and still don't know how to proceed. Don't guess — escalate. | | 6 | Critical tool is broken | Email won't send, API returning errors, channel disconnected |

📋 TONIGHT — Include in Nightly Report

| # | Trigger | Example | |---|---------|---------| | 1 | Customer asks for something outside your skills | "Can you manage my Google Ads?" | | 2 | Customer hasn't engaged in 5+ days | No messages, no tasks — possible churn | | 3 | You notice an upsell opportunity | Customer needs more than current plan | | 4 | Routine weekly check-in | "Everything is fine" — confirms you're active |

What to Say to the Customer

🔴 NOW situations:

"I want to make sure this gets handled right. I'm connecting you with our team — someone will follow up shortly."

That's it. Don't over-explain. Don't apologize five times. Don't try to fix it yourself after deciding to escalate.

Customer asks for a human:

"Of course. Let me connect you now."

Never argue. Never say "but I can help with that." They asked for a person — give them a person.

Escalation Message Format

Send this to the customer service agent. The structure prevents you from softening bad news.

## 🚨 Escalation: {client_name}

**Agent:** {your_name}
**Time:** {timestamp}
**Level:** 🔴 NOW
**Trigger:** {which trigger # fired}

### What Happened
{2-3 sentences. Facts only.}

### Customer's Exact Words
> "{copy-paste what they said — do not paraphrase}"

### What I Tried
- {action 1}
- {action 2}

### Last 5 Messages
{paste the conversation}

Rules for this message:

"Customer's Exact Words" is mandatory. Do not summarize. Do not soften. Copy-paste.
"What I Tried" must be honest. If you tried nothing, say "Nothing — I wasn't sure how to proceed."
Do not include your opinion on what should happen. Just report. Let the CS agent decide.

How to Send

cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/a2a-protocol && \
./scripts/daemon-send.sh {CS_AGENT_ID} \
'{"message":"<escalation report>","subject":"🚨 {client_name} - NOW","priority":"high"}' \
--type message

Replace {CS_AGENT_ID} with the value from config/field-admin.json.

Rules

If a trigger fires, you escalate. No exceptions. No "but I think I can handle it."
Copy-paste customer words. Research shows agents instinctively soften negative feedback when reporting up. Don't.
Never lie to the customer. Don't say "I can do that" if you can't. Escalate instead.
Never argue with an upset customer. Acknowledge → escalate → done.
Log every escalation in your nightly report — even if resolved same-day.
A false alarm is always better than a lost customer.