Test and debug a campaign

A test execution walks your saved graph without touching Facebook or Instagram: click Test on the canvas, optionally type the message the campaign should treat as incoming, and the canvas switches to the Executions view with the path the run took highlighted. Real runs land in the same list, so one view tells you which node ran, which node failed, and why the run stopped.

What you need first

• A campaign saved on the canvas with at least one trigger node. A test execution runs the campaign’s current saved version, so unsaved edits are not tested. See Build a campaign on the canvas.
• No page setup beyond that. A test execution is not bound to a connected page and makes no calls to Facebook or Instagram.

How do I run a test execution?

1. Open the campaign on the canvas and click Save if anything is unsaved.
2. Click Test.
3. Type the sample message the run should treat as the incoming comment or DM. Leave it empty and the run behaves as though the message text were the word test.
4. Click Run test.
5. The canvas switches to the Executions view and the new execution appears at the top of the list.
6. Click the execution to overlay its path on the canvas: nodes it passed through are marked as visited, the node it stopped on is marked as current, and nodes it never reached are dimmed.

The whole traversal finishes before the canvas answers, so there is no animation of a run stepping through nodes — what you get is the finished state.

How does a test execution differ from a real one?

A test execution uses the same engine and the same graph, and it stops for the same reasons. What it skips is every call that would reach a real person.

Behaviour	Test execution	Real execution
What starts it	The Test button	A comment or DM matching the trigger
Recipient	A synthetic test recipient	The person who commented or messaged
Connected page	None	The page the campaign is bound to
DMs, comment replies, hides, deletes	Recorded as a description of what would have been done; nothing is sent	Sent through Facebook or Instagram
Tags	Not added, not removed	Applied to the contact
delay nodes	Recorded as skipped, and the run ends there	Scheduled, resumed when the wait elapses
A condition set to wait for a reply	Parks and stays parked — no reply can arrive	Resumes when the person replies
In the execution list	Yes, marked as a test	Yes

Because a test execution ends at the first delay node, it tells you nothing about the nodes after that delay. Remove the delay temporarily, or verify that stretch with a real comment.

What does the execution history tell me?

The Executions view lists the 20 most recent executions for the campaign, newest first, tests and real runs together. Each row carries whether it is a test, whether it is still active, the recipient, when it started, when it completed, the node it sits on, and an error message if it has one.

Selecting an execution loads the graph version that run started on and marks every node it visited. Each visited node records its type, when it ran, and either a description of what the node did or the error it raised — which is how you tell “the DM node sent” from “the DM node failed”.

The list does not refresh itself. Use the refresh control on the panel to re-pull a run that is still active.

What does the path record at each node?

Entry against the node	What it means
Trigger fired	The run started here. Every execution has this as its first entry
A description of the action	An action node ran: a DM sent, a comment replied to or hidden, tags changed
Waiting for reply	The run parked on a condition set to wait for a reply and has not been woken
Scheduled delay, with the wait in seconds	A delay node scheduled the resume and stopped advancing
Took arm 2	A random_split picked that arm, and the run continued down it
Flow stopped	A stop node ended the run deliberately
An error message	The node raised an error. The run does not continue past it

How do I read the state of one execution?

What you see	What it means	What to do
Not active, with a completion time	The run reached a stop node, or an output with nothing connected after it	Nothing. This is a normal finish
Still active, current node is a condition	The condition is set to wait for a reply and no reply has arrived	Wait for the reply. A test execution stays here, because no reply can reach it
Still active, current node is a delay	The wait is scheduled and has not elapsed yet	Wait for the delay to elapse
Still active, with an error message on the last visited node	An action failed. The run records the error and does not continue past that node	Fix the cause, then start a fresh run — this one does not resume by itself
Not active, error names a cycle at a node	The path returned to a node it had already visited. Every node runs at most once per execution	Rework the branch so the path never revisits a node
Not active, error says the scheduled step did not run	A delay was scheduled but its resume never happened	Test the branch again. If it repeats, raise it with support
Not active, error says the person did not reply within 7 days	The run sat on a condition waiting for a reply for a week	Nothing. Expiry is the expected end for conversations nobody continues

Retries are narrow. A resume after a delay is attempted up to three times before the run is marked failed with the last error. An action that fails while the run is walking the graph is not retried at all, and no execution is ever re-run from the start.

How long does an execution wait for a reply?

Seven days. A run parked on a condition that waits for a reply is closed as failed after seven days of silence, with a message saying the person did not reply, and test executions expire the same way.

A scheduled resume that never happens is caught separately: once it is more than an hour overdue, the run is closed as failed with a message saying the step did not run.

Both deadlines are checked by a periodic sweep rather than at the instant they pass, so a run can still show as active for a while after its time is up.

What happens to a run in flight when I edit or delete the campaign?

Saving the campaign writes a new version of the graph. Runs already in flight stay pinned to the version they started on and finish against it, so editing a campaign never rewires a conversation that is already under way. New events start runs only on the current saved version, and a trigger node that survives only in an older version never fires again.

Older versions are kept for as long as runs still reference them, which is why an execution you open in the Executions view can show nodes that are no longer in the graph you are editing. Highlighting can also fail to line up on runs old enough that the version they used was never recorded; the panel falls back to the current graph for those.

Deleting the campaign removes every saved version of its graph and every execution recorded against it, active runs included.

Caution

Deleting a campaign is not reversible and takes the execution history with it. A run that was waiting out a delay does not resume — nothing further is sent for it.

Why did nothing happen when I tested?

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Test reports that the campaign has no trigger	The saved graph contains no trigger node	Add a trigger node, click Save, then test again
The run completes after one or two nodes	The output it needed has nothing connected to it, so the run ended there	Connect the branch and save
The send_dm node shows as visited but no message arrives	Test executions record actions instead of sending them	Confirm delivery with a real comment or DM on the connected page
Nothing arrives on a real comment either	The campaign is saved but not active, or the comment did not match the trigger and the condition	Check the Active toggle, then read Match comments with keyword lists
A second comment from the same person produces nothing	One person cannot have two active runs of the same campaign at once, so the second matching event is skipped	Wait for the first run to finish, or test with a different account
The run stops on an action node with an error	The action failed against Facebook or Instagram, and a run never continues past a failed action	Fix the cause, then start a fresh run

Related

• Execution states — every state a run can be in, and how it leaves each one.
• Match comments with keyword lists — why a condition took Match or No Match.
• Node types — what each node does when the run reaches it.
• Build a campaign on the canvas — the graph you are testing.