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Test your agent before you turn it on

Before your agent talks to a customer, give it a try. There are two ways: the simulator in your dashboard, where nobody gets anything, and test accounts, on real Instagram.

⏱ 10 minutes

The simulator

Open your agent and tap Test in the top right (it's on every tab). The simulator opens on the side. Write like a customer would, or tap the test questions.

Test your agent panel: test questions at the top and the simulator with two answers, the Used note, and the Good and Needs work buttons 1 2 3 4
  1. 1Try a DM or simulate a Comment on a post.
  2. 2Test questions, built from your business profile. Tap them one by one.
  3. 3Used: the part of your business profile it read to answer.
  4. 4Tell it whether the answer was Good or Needs work.
  • Use I follow this person and It's a story reply to test those cases.
  • Don't like an answer? Improve your business profile and ask again.
  • Restart conversation starts over from scratch.
You need at least one test

To turn on your agent, you have to try it in the simulator at least once.

Your agent's 4 statuses

You'll find the status in Your agent → Overview. It tells you who your agent replies to.

Draft
Doesn't reply to anyone. Every agent starts here.
Test mode
Replies only to your test accounts. Nobody else sees a thing.
Live
Replies to your real customers.
Paused
Doesn't reply to anyone, but messages keep arriving in your Inbox.
Draft status with the Turn on and Test mode buttons
In Draft, you choose Turn on or Test mode.

After that, you can switch between Test mode, Live, and Paused whenever you want. You can't go back to Draft.

Test on real Instagram with test accounts

A test account is an Instagram account of yours (or a teammate's) that isn't your business account. In Test mode, your agent replies only to those accounts, so you can try it out like a customer and your customers won't see a thing.

  1. Get a code

    Go to Settings (in the menu) → Test accounts and tap Get a code.

    Test accounts card with a CT code to send as a DM

  2. Send the code as a DM

    From your test account, send that code as a DM to your business account. In a few seconds it shows up in the list, and the test account gets a confirmation message.

    The code lasts 15 minutes and works only once. You can have up to 10 test accounts.

  3. Put your agent in Test mode

    In Overview, tap Test mode. Now message or comment from your test account (for example, @maya.tests).

    Test mode status with the Turn on button
Test from the Instagram app on your phone

On Instagram on the web, card buttons don't show up. And check Requests in your DMs: the first message from a business usually lands there.

Turn it on

In Overview, the Setup checklist tells you what's missing. Turn on only works once the required items are done:

Setup checklist: Connected account, Business info, Message replies, Comment automation, and First test all done
  • Connected account: your Instagram is connected.
  • Business info: "What your business does" with at least 80 characters.
  • Message replies and Comment automation, if you chose to use them.
  • First test in the simulator.

The Optional improvements (an alert email, the name of the person who helps customers, FAQs) don't block you, but they help a lot. When everything required is done, the list collapses to All set and only the pending improvements stay visible (tap Show steps to see everything).

Live status with the Test mode button
Live: your agent is now replying to your customers. To pause it, use Pause all in the top right.

Common problems

I'm in Test mode and my agent doesn't reply to me

Make sure you're writing from an account that's in your Test accounts list, not from your business account. With no test accounts, Test mode doesn't reply to anyone.

The test account code didn't work

It may have expired (it lasts 15 minutes) or already been used. Get a new one and send it exactly as shown, as a DM, to your business account.

It won't let me turn it on

Check the Setup checklist in Overview: it tells you what's missing and takes you there in one tap.