# Test chat

Test chat opens a text conversation for the selected agent branch so you can evaluate a published tip or your current draft without publishing it first.

Test Chat is exploratory and interactive. It does not save a reusable evaluator, batch multiple cases, calculate a pass rate, or preserve a test revision. Use [Agent Testing](/docs/agent-testing) when a behavior must become repeatable release evidence.

## Start the right configuration

The workspace must be activated with a positive daily usage allowance before Test Chat can open a conversation. New workspaces start at `0`. Only an Operade operator can activate a workspace or set or increase its daily allowance. Workspace owners and admins can view usage, but cannot activate the workspace or change its allowance. If the panel reports `workspace_not_activated`, contact an Operade operator, then start a new conversation after activation.

1. Open the agent and the branch you want to test.
2. Open **Test panel** and select **Start test conversation**.
3. Enable **Use the draft you're editing** to test the saved draft. Leave it off to test the branch tip.
4. Send one message at a time and wait for the response to complete.

The branch and draft choice are pinned when the connection starts. Test conversations are excluded from version statistics.

## Restart after a change

An open conversation keeps the configuration from when it opened. If a draft changes, the panel warns that the conversation is using older configuration. Select **Start a new conversation** before evaluating the edit.

Closing the panel hides it; **End** ends the test conversation and clears the panel history. These are separate actions.

## Recover from a connection problem

The panel attempts to reconnect after an ordinary network disconnect. It does not automatically resend a message that failed while disconnected. When **Message not sent** appears, wait for the connected state and use **Send again**.

If reconnection does not recover, end the test conversation, reopen the panel, and retry. Application-level rejections are not retried repeatedly. `workspace_not_activated` means no conversation opened; ask an Operade operator to activate the workspace before trying again. `quota_exceeded` means a positive allowance was present but has been reached for the current UTC day. Owners and admins can view usage, but only an Operade operator can increase the allowance.

After the draft passes, follow [draft and publish](/docs/agents/draft-and-publish), then start a new chat with the draft option off to verify the published result.