The test channel

Every bot has a private test channel, #try-{name}, beside the chat with camel-builder. It looks and works like a Discord channel, but only you see it and nothing goes to Discord. Use it to try each change before you publish.

camel-builder sees what you try in the test channel, and what it tries shows there too. When something fails, you can say "fix that" in the chat and camel-builder knows what you mean.

What runs in the test channel

• Your messages run the saved code, which is what publishing would put live. They're tagged saved code.
• camel-builder's tries run its working draft, which it hasn't saved yet. They're tagged DRAFT and marked sent by camel-builder.

On phones, select Try in the chat's header to open the test channel.

Talk to your bot

The message box works like Discord's:

• Address it. On Camel's app, start a message with the bot's name, such as mochi, hi. On your own app, mention it, such as @Pebble hi. If a message doesn't address the bot and gets no reply, the channel shows a note saying so.
• Run a command. Type / to see the bot's commands, pick one, and fill in its options, such as /roll sides:20. On Camel's app you can type /mochi roll or just /roll.
• Reply to a message. Hover over one of the bot's messages and select Reply. A reply reaches the bot without its name, as on Discord.

Talk as someone else, or in #general

The first button in the message box, your initial, picks who is talking and where:

• Talk as you, Alex, or Sam. Alex and Sam are pretend members of the server, so you can try what a bot does with several people, such as taking turns or keeping a scoreboard.
• In the bot's own channel or #general, so you can try how the bot behaves outside its channel.

Messages from Alex or Sam, or in #general, say so in the channel.

Buttons, menus, and forms

Buttons and dropdown menus on the bot's replies work. Select one and the bot answers as it would in Discord. Replies that only you would see in Discord show that way here too.

A command with a form opens it the way Discord does. Fill in the fields and select Submit.

Files and voice messages

• Attach files with the paperclip at the start of the message box, by pasting, or by dropping them on the channel. A message takes up to 10 files, each up to 20 MiB. A message can be just its files.
• Record a voice message with the microphone at the end of the message box. Stop to send it, or cancel it. The bot gets it as a voice message, as it would in Discord.

The bot gets your files as attachments. Images and files the bot sends back show in the channel.

Schedules and alarms

When a bot has schedules, or sets a reminder while you try it, an alarm clock with a count appears in the channel's header. Open it to see each schedule and alarm, when it would run next, and Run now.

In the test channel, schedules run only when you select Run now. The exception is an alarm set to go off within 15 minutes, which goes off by itself. Nothing you run here affects the live bot.

Test data

What the bot saves while you try it is test data, kept apart from the live bot's data. Open the ⋯ menu in the channel's header to:

• Look at test data. See the bot's tables and how many rows each has. Select a table to see its rows, or run your own query. Looking changes nothing.
• Reset test data. Clear what the bot saved, so it starts fresh. The channel shows "Test data reset. The bot starts fresh." A reset also clears the test channel's schedules and alarms.

camel-builder can reset the test data too, and the channel says when it does.

AI in tests

AI in the test channel is real. Chat replies, images, and voice transcription run as they would in Discord. Their cost comes out of your daily camel-builder allowance, which also covers camel-builder's own work. It never comes out of the live bot's allowance.

AI today, in the channel's header, shows how much of today's allowance is used. It resets at midnight UTC. Once it's used up, AI in tests stops working and camel-builder takes no new messages until it resets. See AI allowances.

When something fails

A failed reply shows Your bot hit an error on followed by what you tried and the error. Show details shows what the bot logged. Tell camel-builder in the chat. It sees what you tried and can fix it.

The channel's header

• The bot's name. With several bots, select it to switch bots. Keep testing mochi here pins the test channel to that bot. Otherwise the channel follows the bot the chat is about.
• The pencil. Ask camel-builder to change this bot. The chat's message box starts with @mochi.
• Dashboard. Opens the bot's page. See The bot page.
• Add to Discord. Shows once the bot has answered a test, until it's in a Discord channel.