# Testing and connecting an agent

## Test in the playground

Open the **Playground** tab in the designer and chat with your agent as if you were the customer. Every conversation you run is saved automatically — click **History** to revisit the last 20 test sessions for the agent, so you can compare behaviour before and after a change.

![Playground test history](../../.gitbook/assets/guides/test-history.jpg)

## Connect inboxes

Click **Inboxes** in the designer header and select which inboxes the agent should handle — each inbox can only be assigned to one flow agent. Per inbox you can also set:

* **Pause when a human replies** — when a teammate answers (from the dashboard or the connected app), the agent steps back automatically instead of talking over them.
* **Don't reply to these labels** — the agent skips any conversation or contact tagged with the labels you pick, so VIPs or complaint cases stay human-handled.
* **Only reply to specific ads** — limit the agent to chats that started from particular Meta ad IDs.
* **Ignore WhatsApp group chats** — the agent stays out of group conversations.

## Publish

Click **Publish** and choose who can talk to the agent:

* **Public** — everyone messaging the connected inboxes.
* **Testers only** — only the phone numbers you list, so you can trial the agent on a live channel before opening it up.

If the agent is set to [hand off silently](/mampu-ai/flow-agents/building-the-conversation-flow) (a blank handoff message), the first publish shows what customers will experience and asks you to confirm before going live.

![Publish dialog](../../.gitbook/assets/guides/publish-dialog.jpg)

## Behaviour settings

The **Settings** button in the designer header controls how the agent behaves in conversation: whether it keeps answering FAQs after the flow ends, whether it answers FAQs on the very first message, how long it pauses after a handoff before resuming (15 minutes to 24 hours, or never), the re-ask limit for collect steps, and an optional delay before replying so responses feel less instant.

![Flow agent settings](../../.gitbook/assets/guides/flow-agent-settings.jpg)

If the agent ever stops replying with an error about limits, check your plan's AI credit usage — the agent pauses when the account's credit limit is reached and resumes once it renews or is raised.

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Source: https://help.mampuai.com/mampu-ai/flow-agents/testing-and-connecting-an-agent