How to Test Pippin Before Going Live

Summary

Overview: Test Pippin lets you chat with Pippin the way a customer would, using your real knowledge, guidance rules, mission and brand voice. Pippin's replies are real, but its actions aren't: nothing you do here creates a lead, sends an email or SMS, or books a meeting.

Prerequisites:

• You are the Admin of the workspace.
• You have finished the setup wizard with Go live; AI Studio opens only after that. Going live starts Pippin on Review every reply, so every email reply waits in the Review Queue for your approval while you test and adjust.
• Add some knowledge, a mission and any guidance rules first, so the test reflects your setup.

How Pippin Decides

1. Pippin answers your test message exactly as it would answer a real email customer: same knowledge, same guidance rules for Email, same mission and tone.
2. It remembers the earlier messages in the test chat until you click New chat.
3. Where Pippin would act in real life, for example by offering a booking link, it shows a note under its reply instead of acting.
4. When a free trial has reached its outcome limit, Pippin doesn't draft quotes or offer booking links in the test either, just as in real conversations.

Limits

• The test chat always plays an email customer. Rules ticked only for other channels don't show here.
• Nothing in the test chat reaches a customer, creates a lead or appears in the Inbox.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Open Test Pippin

1. In the left menu, go to Settings › AI Studio.
2. Click Test Pippin at the top right. The Preview panel opens on the right, on the Customer view tab.
3. Pippin greets you and explains: "My replies are real. My actions aren't."

Step 2: Chat as a customer

1. Click a suggestion (How much does it cost?, I want to book a trip or I need a refund), or type your own question in Ask the AI a question… and press Enter.
2. Read Pippin's reply. Each reply is labelled AI SDR · email.
3. Keep chatting to test a full conversation. Try the questions your customers ask most, for example "How much is the Cebu tour package for 4 people?"

Step 3: Check booking behaviour

When Pippin would offer a meeting, a note shows under its reply:

• Would send a booking link with your booking link.
• Would propose a meeting with No booking link configured — live Pippin would fail here. Click Set it up in Calendar settings to connect your calendar.

Step 4: See why Pippin answered that way

Click the Event log tab. For your latest message it lists:

• Guidance fired: each guidance rule Pippin followed.
• Tool call: what Pippin searched for in your knowledge, and how many results it found.
• Source used: the knowledge file (and page) Pippin used.
• Attribute set: the lead details Pippin picked out, such as a destination or budget.
• Would send a booking link or Would propose a meeting, when Pippin would offer a meeting.
• Fork decision: quote or meeting, worked out from your routing settings.

Step 5: Fix and test again

1. Change your knowledge, mission, voice or guidance rules in AI Studio and save.
2. In Customer view, click New chat to start a fresh conversation, then ask again.
3. Click the History tab to see recent changes to guidance rules, attributes, knowledge documents and Basics. Click Refresh to update it.

Step 6: Test single attributes and web chat (optional)

• An attribute: on the Attributes tab, open an attribute and click Preview extraction. Pippin tests it on a built-in sample travel inquiry and shows the value it found, or not detected.
• Web chat: go to Settings › Channels, click the Web chat tile to open the Web chat card, save your settings, then click Preview on a demo page. A demo page opens that carries your real web chat and is marked "Demo page — this is a pretend website carrying your real embed code. Your visitors never see this page."

Step 7: Close the panel

Click the X at the top of the Preview panel.

Verify It Worked

Success criteria:

• Pippin's replies use your knowledge and follow your rules and tone.
• The Event log shows the rules and sources you expect.
• Booking replies show Would send a booking link, not Would propose a meeting.

Troubleshooting

Common errors

• "No booking link configured — live Pippin would fail here.": no calendar booking link is set. Fix: click Set it up in Calendar settings and connect your calendar.
• A failure message shows instead of a reply: the AI service didn't answer. Fix: wait a moment, click New chat, and try again.
• "Ask the AI a question in Customer view to see the guidance, sources and attributes behind each answer." on the Event log tab: you haven't sent a message yet. Fix: send one in Customer view.
• "No changes recorded yet." on the History tab: no AI Studio changes have been recorded. Fix: none needed.
• A guidance rule doesn't show as Guidance fired: the rule isn't ticked for Email, is switched off, or doesn't apply to the question. Fix: edit the rule.

Limitations & considerations

• The panel's footer reminds you: Real AI responses · no leads created.
• Closing the panel or clicking New chat clears the test conversation.

Next Steps & Related Resources

• Next steps:
  • How to Connect Gmail
  • How to Add Pippin Web Chat to Your Website
• Related articles:
  • How to Add Guidance Rules
  • How to Write Pippin's Mission
  • How Pippin Finds Answers in Your Knowledge
  • How to Connect Your Calendar (Cal.com or TidyCal)
  • How to Choose Quotes or Meetings and the Automation Level
  • How to Review Your Setup With Coach

Need more help? For more information and assistance, please send an email to support@pippify.ai.

Last Updated: 10/19/2026