Train & Test Mode
Chat with your bot before deploying — and teach it. With the Training toggle on, facts and instructions you type are saved to the knowledge base instantly.
On this page
Train & Test Bot is where you talk to your own bot: test its answers before customers see them, and — this is the part people miss — teach it. With training switched on, anything you tell the bot gets saved to its knowledge base immediately. No forms, no re-training run. You chat, it learns.
Open any bot and click Train & Test Bot in the sidebar (under Knowledge).
The Preview & Test page
The page shows your bot in a chat window styled exactly like the deployed widget — same colors, header, and welcome message. Two tabs sit above it:
- Live Preview — the chat itself. This is where you test and teach.
- Review Answers — sample responses to look over.
Next to the tabs are two toggles:
- Training — the important one. On means the bot saves new information you give it; off means it behaves exactly like the deployed bot.
- Full width — expands the chat panel so you can audit how longer answers lay out.
When Training is on, a Training Mode badge appears in the chat header as a reminder that what you type can become training data.
Testing your bot
With Training off, the preview behaves like the real widget — same knowledge, same instructions, same tone. Ask it the questions your customers actually ask:
- Pull real questions from your support inbox.
- Ask about pricing, policies, and edge cases.
- Ask something it shouldn't know, and check that it admits it rather than guessing.
Answers here come from the same knowledge base as the live bot, so what you see is what visitors get.
Teaching your bot
Flip Training on, then tell the bot things in plain language. When you provide new information, it saves it to the knowledge base on the spot and acknowledges that it's learned it. It works for three kinds of input:
Facts and policies:
- "Our support hours are 9am–5pm CET, Monday to Friday."
- "The Pro plan includes 3 bots and 1,000 interactions per month."
- "Remember that we don't ship to PO boxes."
Conditional responses:
- "If anyone mentions refunds, say refunds are handled within 5 business days."
- "When users ask about enterprise pricing, direct them to sales@yourcompany.com."
Behavioral instructions:
- "Always be friendly and professional."
- "Never discuss competitors by name."
Each saved item becomes a Q&A source in your bot's Sources tab — individually visible and deletable, like any other source. Taught facts are stored at high priority, so a correction you teach tends to win over older page content saying something different.
Replaying real conversations
From the Activity tab, you can open any past conversation in Train & Test. The page loads the conversation with a "Replaying a past conversation" banner, switches training on automatically, and prompts you to add training data based on that conversation.
This is the tightest feedback loop in HelpJet: find an exchange where the bot stumbled, replay it, and type the answer it should have given. Next time, it knows. Click Stop replay to return to a normal chat.
Teaching vs. adding sources
Both feed the same knowledge base — they differ in scale and speed:
Use Train & Test when… | Add sources when… |
|---|---|
Correcting a single wrong answer | Training on a whole site, sitemap, or document |
Adding a fact that isn't written down anywhere | The content already exists as pages or PDFs |
Setting a conditional or behavioral rule | You want content that refreshes automatically |
You need the fix live right now | You're doing initial bot setup |
A good rhythm: bulk-train from your site first (Training from a Website or Sitemap), then use Train & Test to patch the gaps testing reveals.
For shaping the bot's overall personality and standing instructions, use the system prompt in Brand & Voice — Train & Test is better for specific facts and rules than for wholesale tone changes.
Common questions
Do I need to retrain or redeploy after teaching?
No. Saved knowledge is live immediately, in the preview and in the deployed widget.
Will the bot save things I only meant as test questions?
Asking questions is safe — the bot searches its knowledge base to answer them. Saving triggers on statements that provide new information or instructions. If you want zero chance of accidental saves while testing, switch Training off.
Can I see everything I've taught the bot?
Yes — Sources tab → Q&A filter. Each taught item is its own row.
Who can use Train & Test?
Anyone with edit access to the bot. See Bot Permissions.
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