# Work through the Inbox

URL: https://testmode.ai/docs/inbox/

> The Inbox holds what Self-driving needs from you: its questions, its verdicts on failed runs and the suggestions of explorations. How to read an item, answer it, apply a fix, confirm a bug or dismiss it.

The **Inbox** is where Self-driving hands things back to you. Everything in it waits for a decision: a question only your team can answer, a verdict on a failed run, a fix it has already tried, or an exploration's suggestions. What Self-driving did without needing you is not here; it is under [Activity](https://testmode.ai/docs/self-driving-activity/).

Open it with **Inbox** in the sidebar's **Self-driving** section, or press <kbd>G</kbd> then <kbd>I</kbd>. The number beside it is how many items wait.

## What arrives

| Item | From | What you do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Question** | A review that needs something only your team knows | Answer it, or skip it |
| **Bug** | An investigation: the app does something wrong | Confirm it, or mark it fixed |
| **Intended change** | An investigation: the app changed on purpose, the test still expects the old behaviour | Apply the new steps, or update the test yourself |
| **Test problem** | An investigation: the test is wrong or too vague to pass reliably | Apply the new steps, or update the test yourself |
| **Environment** | An investigation: the login, the site or the test data is not usable | Fix the environment, then mark it fixed |
| **Flaky** | An investigation: the test passed when re-run | Usually nothing: it is set aside until it happens a third time |
| **Exploration** | An exploration with suggestions not added or declined yet | Review the suggestions |

See [Investigate failed runs](https://testmode.ai/docs/investigate-failed-runs/) for how each verdict is reached.

The list is grouped into **Needs you** (decisions) and **Ready to review** (a fix that already passed, or an exploration's suggestions), most urgent first. Each item has a priority from **P0** (urgent) to **P3** (low).

## The brief

Above the list, a line says what happened since your last visit in this browser: how many runs finished and how many failed, how many failed runs Self-driving investigated, flaky failures it set aside, and how many changes it made to the suite, with a link to its update.

## Read an item

Click an item to open it beside the list. <kbd>J</kbd> and <kbd>K</kbd> move through the list.

[Screenshot: The Inbox: under Needs you an environment verdict that Long Nose Pliers is out of stock on Production, under Ready to review two explorations' suggestions, and the verdict open beside the list with its summary, the failed check, the screenshot of the product page, Open the failed test, Fixed, Dismiss and a box to tell Self-driving something about the app. Caption: An investigation's verdict open in the Inbox: what it found, the evidence, and what you can do.]

An investigation's verdict shows:

- **The title**: the verdict in a sentence, with its kind, priority and when it was seen. **Seen N times** means the same failure came back.
- **The summary**: what Self-driving found and why it thinks so.
- **Evidence**: the operation that failed and the page it ran on, the screenshot taken at that moment, a link to **Open the failed test**, and what the re-run did, for example **Re-run failed the same way**.
- **New steps, tried and passing**, when it rewrote the test and a draft run with the new steps passed. The link opens that draft run.
- **Suggested steps**, when it has steps it could not get to pass, marked **Not run yet**; or, for a bug, **What the app should do**.
- **How Self-driving got there**: each step it took, such as **Re-ran the test in a fresh browser**.
- **Finding**: a link to the [finding](https://testmode.ai/docs/findings/) the failure filed.

## Act on it

You need the Editor role or above. Viewers read the Inbox.

- **Apply to test** (a ready item): the tried steps replace the test case's steps, and the item is done. It is refused when someone changed the test case after Self-driving read it: the steps were tried against the older version, so open the test case and change it by hand.
- **Confirm bug**: you know about it. It moves to **Done**, and when the same failure comes back it is counted, not reported again.
- **Fixed**: it moves to **Done**, and comes back if the failure does.
- **Open test case**: opens the test in its editor.
- **Dismiss**: not worth acting on. It stays dismissed if it happens again.
- **Reopen**, from the **Done** or **Dismissed** tab.

Under every item, **Tell Self-driving something about your app** saves a note that every later run reads: what changed on purpose, what to leave alone, which flows matter most. Click **Save as note**. Notes are listed under **What it knows** on the [map](https://testmode.ai/docs/map/).

The same failure in a later run never makes a second item: it updates the one there is (same test, same failing step) and counts the occurrence.

## Answer a question

A question shows the possible answers Self-driving thought of, numbered, plus **Other…** for your own words. Pick one, or write your answer, and click **Answer** (`Cmd+Enter` in the text box). Your answer is kept as a note that every later exploration, review and investigation reads, and the question moves to **Done**. **Skip question** dismisses it.

Don't put passwords in an answer. Add a test account under **Settings** > **Credentials**, and another URL under **Environments**, instead.

## Review an exploration's suggestions

An exploration item says what its suggestions would change. **Review suggestions** opens them; **Archive** declines what is left. You can still add an archived suggestion from the exploration later. See [Review and apply suggestions](https://testmode.ai/docs/review-and-apply-proposals/).

## Ask about an item

With an item open, **Ask about this** in the header opens the assistant on it. That conversation belongs to the item, and everyone in the project sees it: ask what a failure means, answer a question in your own words, or have the assistant fix the test. See [Ask the assistant](https://testmode.ai/docs/create-tests-with-the-assistant/).

## Get the Inbox in Slack

Connect a Slack channel and every item that needs someone is posted there as a thread. A reply in the thread answers a question or is kept as a note. See [Connect Slack](https://testmode.ai/docs/slack/).

## Related

- [Investigate failed runs](https://testmode.ai/docs/investigate-failed-runs/): How each verdict is reached.
- [Findings](https://testmode.ai/docs/findings/): Every failure, and what it turned out to be.
- [Self-driving's activity](https://testmode.ai/docs/self-driving-activity/): What it did without needing you.