# Offloading messages

When supported by your external messaging service, you can implement the `messaging.performOffload` operation as part of
your app definition. Once implemented, the integration will automatically appear as an offloading provider on Chatlayer.

When this operation is invoked, you must transfer the conversation to a live agent and the bot will stop replying to
inbound user messages. Instead, they will be forwarded to your external messaging service via invocations to
the `messaging.performSend` operation. Read more about `messaging.performSend` [here](/docs/chatlayer/messaging/sending).