# Exploratory sessions

> Explore a feature without a script in By Dawn — set a charter and a timebox, log notes, issues and screenshots as you go, file bugs from them, and close with a debrief.

This page helps you test something without a script: poking at a new checkout flow to see what breaks, say. At the
end you'll have a record of what you tried and found, in the order you found it, with a bug ticket for each problem.

An exploratory session is one person exploring a **charter**, what to explore and what to look for, within a
**timebox**, and logging what they find as they go. Where a [manual run](https://docs.bydawn.com/test-runs/) checks what you already know
should work, a session looks for what nobody wrote a case for. Sessions are in **Tests › Sessions**.

## Before you start

- **Test management and test results both have to be on** for your organization. Without one, the **Sessions** tab
  says which isn't on your plan. [Contact support](https://app.dev.sawrun.com/support) to turn them on.
- **Members of the project start and log sessions.** Someone with view-only access can read them.

## Start a session

1. On the **Sessions** tab, choose **New session**.

2. Give it a **Name**, such as `Checkout with expired cards`, and write its **Charter**: what to explore, and what
   to look for. A charter keeps a session on track, so make it specific, such as "Pay with an expired, a declined
   and a 3-D Secure card on mobile, and look for the order being created anyway."

3. Set the **Timebox**, from 5 to 480 minutes. It starts at 60.

4. The **Tester** is you unless you pick someone else. Add the **Build**, **Environment** and **Configuration** it
   runs against, as for a run.

5. Choose **Start session**. With **Start the timer now** cleared, it's **Create session** instead, and the timer
   starts when you do or with your first note.

## Log what you find

As you explore, log each thing in the session as one of four kinds:

- **Note**: what you tried and saw.
- **Issue**: something wrong. A bug can be filed from it.
- **Question**: something to ask someone.
- **Idea**: something to test next time, or a case worth writing.

Type it and choose **Log note** (or the kind you picked), or press `⌘+Enter` (`Ctrl+Enter`
on Windows and Linux). Paste or attach screenshots to it, up to 20 a note. The log keeps them in order, so it reads
back as what happened.

Only the person who logged a note can edit or remove it, while the session is open. A note a bug was filed from
stays, but can be edited.

## Keep to the timebox

The timer shows how long you've explored, against the timebox. **Pause** it for an interruption and **Resume** when
you're back. When you pass the timebox, the session says by how much and suggests wrapping up, but it never stops
you: keep going if it's worth it.

## File a bug

**File bug** on a note files a ticket in the project with the note and the session's charter already in it, and
the note's first line as its title. **File bug** at the top of the session files one that isn't from a note, and logs
it in the notes as an issue. Either way, the bug is listed under **Bugs** on the session.

## Close it with a debrief

When you're done, choose **Close session**. The timer stops, and you can write a **Debrief**: what you covered, what
you found and what's still worth exploring. That's what someone reads first. The notes become read-only.

You can write or edit the debrief later, and **Reopen** the session to explore more.

## FAQ

**Does a session have test cases?**

No. A session has a charter instead of steps. If you find something worth checking every time, write a case for it
in the [library](https://docs.bydawn.com/test-cases/).

**Can two people share a session?**

A session has one tester. Start one each, with the same charter or different halves of it.

## Next

- [Run tests by hand](https://docs.bydawn.com/test-runs/): work through written cases with your team.
- [Test cases](https://docs.bydawn.com/test-cases/): turn what you found into cases.

Source: https://docs.bydawn.com/test-sessions/