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Testing Your Agent

Before your agent talks to real customers, test it in the Playground to make sure it works correctly.

What is the Playground?​

The Playground is a private testing area. You can have conversations with your agent and see exactly how it responds - without any customers seeing it.

How to access it​

  1. Click Agents in the sidebar
  2. Click on your agent
  3. The Playground panel is on the right side of the agent page - you can start testing immediately

The Playground is always visible as a chat panel on the right side of the agent detail page. There's no need to navigate to a separate page.

What to test​

Basic questions​

Start with questions customers commonly ask:

  • "What are your business hours?"
  • "How do I contact support?"
  • "Tell me about your products"

Check: Does it answer correctly based on your training content?

Follow-up questions​

Test if your agent remembers the conversation:

  • Ask a question
  • Ask a related follow-up
  • Does it understand the context?

Example:

  • You: "What payment methods do you accept?"
  • Agent: "We accept Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal."
  • You: "Do you also take American Express?"
  • Agent should understand you're still asking about payment.

Tone check​

Does your agent sound right?

  • If you chose "Friendly," it should feel warm and casual
  • If you chose "Formal," it should feel professional

Try: Ask the same question a few different ways and see if the responses match your brand.

Edge cases​

Test tricky situations:

  • Questions your agent might not know the answer to
  • Strange or unclear messages
  • Very short or very long questions

Good agent behavior:

  • Admits when it doesn't know something
  • Asks for clarification when confused
  • Stays helpful even with unusual input

Restricted topics​

If you set up restricted topics, test them:

  • Ask directly about restricted topics
  • Make sure the agent declines politely
  • Verify it gives your custom message

Example: If "pricing" is restricted:

  • You: "What are your prices?"
  • Agent should politely decline and explain how to get pricing info

A simple testing checklist​

Go through these before launching:

  • Agent greets customers appropriately
  • Answers 5 common questions correctly
  • Handles follow-up questions well
  • Tone matches your brand
  • Restricted topics are handled properly
  • Doesn't give wrong information
  • Knows when to say "I don't know"

What if something's wrong?​

Agent gives wrong answers​

Fix: Go to the Data Sources tab, add or update your FAQs, then click Re-Train.

Agent sounds too formal/casual​

Fix: Go to the Agent Specifications tab and change the tone setting, or update your instructions to include examples of how to speak.

Agent doesn't know things it should​

Fix: Go to the Data Sources tab, add more training content (documents, FAQs) and click Re-Train.

Agent discusses topics it shouldn't​

Fix: Add those topics to your restricted topics list.

When to test​

Test your agent:

  • Before going live for the first time
  • After adding new training content
  • After changing settings
  • After retraining
  • When customers report problems
  • Regularly (monthly check-up)

Tips for better testing​

Think like a customer Ask the kinds of questions real customers would ask, in the way they'd ask them.

Test typos and misspellings See how your agent handles imperfect input.

Try multiple conversation paths Don't just test single questions - have whole conversations.

Get someone else to test Fresh eyes often catch things you miss.

Next steps​

Once testing looks good: