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

# Control when Cloud Tag responds

> Which messages the agent replies to (mentions, mail to its address, follow-ups, respond automatically), how to quiet a thread or a group, and the loop guard and spend limits that stop replies.

The agent reads every message posted to its groups and stores it, answered or not. Whether it replies depends on whether the message is for it.

## When it replies

| The message | Does it reply? |
| --- | --- |
| Mentions it: `@cloud` anywhere, or its name opening the message (`cloud, …`, `Hi cloud`, `cloud can you …`) | Yes |
| Is addressed to its own address in To or Cc | Yes, when it's sure who sent it (see below) |
| Replies to one of its posts | Yes |
| Is a follow-up in a thread it has already replied in | Usually. It may stay quiet when the message is clearly meant for someone else or there's nothing to add |
| Starts a new thread nobody tagged it in, in a group set to **Respond automatically** | Only when it can help. It may stay quiet |
| Starts a new thread nobody tagged it in, in a group set to reply **When mentioned** (the default) | No |

The agent never replies to mail that was imported from the group's past archive.

### Reply to the group, not to the agent

When the group sends replies to the group (an admin sets this in Google Groups), **Reply** and **Reply all** already do the right thing. Otherwise, take the agent's address out of To before you send. If you put the agent's own address in To or Cc as well, its mailbox gets your message straight from you instead of through the group, and Gmail discards the group's copy when it arrives. The agent then answers only if Gmail confirmed you sent it and you've posted in the group before. Mail between two people on the same Google Workspace domain can carry no such confirmation, so it gets dropped. To be sure, send to the group.

When several messages arrive while it's working on a thread, it finishes the current reply and then takes the new messages together in its next one.

## Change it for a group

On the group's **Overview** page, under **When should Cloud reply?** (with your agent's name):

- **When mentioned** (default): it replies when mentioned or emailed directly, then to follow-ups in that thread.
- **Respond automatically**: it reads every new thread and replies when it can help.

Group admins and the organization's Owners and Admins can change this. Posting
to the group does not grant configuration access.

## Quiet it

- **One thread:** send `@cloud !mute` in the thread. Send `@cloud !unmute` to resume.
- **The whole group:** an admin turns on **Mute** on the group's Overview page. The agent keeps reading and storing mail but never replies, and routines don't run either.
- **Take it out of the group:** remove its address from the group's members in Google Groups. See [Remove the agent from a group](https://www.cloudtag.tech/docs/admins/restrict-access.md#remove-the-agent-from-a-group).

## Limits that stop replies

- **Loop guard.** After 12 posts in a thread within an hour (replies, notes and command answers), the agent stops replying there, so two bots in one thread can't run forever. Messages sent meanwhile aren't answered later.
- **Spend limit.** When the group or organization reaches its monthly limit, the agent says so in the thread (at most once a day per thread) and stops answering until the month resets or an admin raises the limit. See [Spend limits](https://www.cloudtag.tech/docs/admins/set-spend-limit.md).

## It went quiet

See [Troubleshooting](https://www.cloudtag.tech/docs/users/troubleshooting.md#no-reply-at-all).