Exploratory Sessions

Exploratory sessions are for free-form testing that isn't tied to predefined test cases — you follow a charter, explore the product, and log what you find as you go, with the time you spend tracked automatically.

Starting a session

Open the Sessions tab in a project and click New session. Give the session a name and, optionally, a charter or description describing what you plan to explore. Once you click Start session, you're taken to the session's own page, where the timer starts running immediately.

Each session gets a project-specific number (#1, #2, and so on) that you can use to refer back to it.

The session timer

The timer tracks how much time you've actually spent testing, and it's based on server time rather than anything the browser reports, so it can't drift or be tampered with by pausing your laptop or losing your connection.

• While a session is active, the timer counts up continuously.
• Pause it any time you step away — the accumulated time is locked in and the timer stops.
• Resume to pick up where you left off.
• Finish ends the session for good; this is final, and there's no way to reopen a finished session.

The session list shows a static snapshot of elapsed time for each session; the live, ticking timer only appears on the session's own detail page.

Session statuses

Adding session notes

While a session is open (not yet finished), a Notes section on the session page lets you log what you observe as you go. Each note has a type:

• note — general observation
• bug — something broken
• question — something to follow up on
• idea — something worth exploring further or suggesting

Pick a type, write your text, and click Add note. Notes are listed in the order you added them, each with its type badge, timestamp, and text. You can edit or delete any note later using its menu — editing and deleting stay available even after the session is finished, so you can still clean up your notes, though you can no longer add new ones.

Attaching files to notes

Each note can have file attachments — screenshots, logs, recordings, anything that helps illustrate what you found. Upload files directly from the note while the session is still open; attachments appear as clickable chips you (and anyone with access to the project) can download. Uploads are capped at 10 files and 10 MB per file per request, with 50 MB total.

The workload board

The workload board gives coordinators (admins and managers — testers don't see this page) a single view of what everyone on the team is currently working on, so they can spot who's overloaded and who's free without chasing status updates manually.

What it shows

The board is laid out as columns, one per project member. Each column can show:

• An active or paused exploratory session, with a live timer if it's running.
• Assigned runs — open or in-progress runs where that person is the assignee, along with their pass/fail progress.
• Metrics for the period — a today / week toggle showing how many results they've logged and how much total time they've spent.
• A workload indicator — free, normal, or overloaded, based on how much active work is in their column.

Reassigning runs

Anyone who can manage runs (admins and testers) can reassign a run to a different team member directly from the board — either by dragging its card to another column or using the reassign option in its menu. Managers can view the board but can't reassign runs themselves. Every reassignment is recorded for later review.