# User testing

Usero user testing is unmoderated and link-shared. You write a short task list, share an unguessable link, and the participant
works through it on their own while Usero records their screen and microphone. When they finish, the screen replay and the audio
are stitched together in the dashboard, transcribed, and analyzed, sitting next to the task checklist and the participant's note.

Be clear on the boundaries before you set one up:

- **Unmoderated only.** There is no live interview mode, no scheduling, and no moderator-present session. The participant runs the
  task list alone.
- **You recruit.** Usero gives you a share link. It does not provide a participant panel or a recruiting marketplace. You bring
  the participants.
- **The reward is a manual ledger, not a payout rail.** You set an amount and mark a session paid. Usero does not move money; you
  settle up off-platform (a gift card or a transfer).

## Create a test

1. In your project, open **User tests** and create a new test.
2. Give it a name, and write your **task prompts** (up to 20). These are plain text shown to the participant on screen as
   guidance. Tasks are guidance only and do **not** gate the reward.
3. Optionally set a **reward**: a flat amount and currency per completed session. This is what you intend to pay each participant;
   see [Rewards](#rewards-are-a-manual-ledger) for how payment actually works.
4. Optionally set an **allowlist** of participant emails (one per line, or comma-separated). When set, only those emails can start
   the test; everyone else is turned away. Leave it empty to let anyone with the link start.
5. Save. Usero gives you a share link at `/ut/<slug>`, where `<slug>` is unguessable.

## Share the link

Send the `/ut/<slug>` link however you already reach users: an email, a DM, a message to a power user, a post to a small group.
There is no built-in invite send and no panel, so distribution is yours.

What the participant sees:

1. The entry screen with the test name, the task list, and a consent checkbox.
2. They enter an email and tick consent. If you set an allowlist and their email is not on it, they are turned away here.
3. They click **Start**. Usero begins recording the screen and asks for microphone access.

## What gets recorded

While the test runs, Usero captures two streams in parallel:

- **Screen**, via rrweb, the same engine behind Usero session replay. The DOM and events are recorded and replayed as a synced
  timeline, not as a video file.
- **Microphone**, flushed as audio chunks every few seconds to storage and concatenated into a single track when the session ends.

During the test the participant can:

- **Mute** a segment of audio (the muted spans are recorded so the player can skip them).
- **Drop a timestamped note** at any moment, for "this is where I got stuck" markers.
- See the **task prompts** on screen as guidance.

The participant consents before any recording starts. Mask or exclude sensitive parts of your own UI with the same rrweb
attributes the widget uses (`data-usero-mask`, `data-usero-block`); see the [session replay docs](/docs/widget/session-replay) for
the masking reference.

## Review a session

Open a finished session in the dashboard to see the full picture:

- **Synced replay + audio.** The screen replay and the concatenated audio play together, so you watch what the participant did and
  hear what they said at the same moment.
- **Transcript and AI analysis.** The audio is transcribed and analyzed, so you can read the session and get a first pass at the
  themes without scrubbing the whole recording.
- **Task completions.** The tasks the participant self-reported completing, as a checklist. (Self-reported, and not a gate on the
  reward.)
- **Participant notes** and the end-of-session note, with timestamps that jump the player to the moment.
- **Session metadata.** Duration, and approximate location (country and city) from the request.

## Rewards are a manual ledger

The reward flow records what you owe and lets you mark it settled. It does **not** transfer money.

1. You set a flat `reward` amount per test when you create it.
2. When a session finishes with audio, it moves to **ready to pay**. (Very short or mostly-muted recordings are flagged so you can
   review them before paying.)
3. The participant picks a payout destination (an email, for a gift card or transfer you send).
4. You click **Pay** on the session, which marks it **paid** and stamps the time. No money moves; you send the gift card or
   transfer yourself, off-platform.

Treat the reward field as a record of what you owe each participant, not as a payment rail. If you need automated participant
payouts, a dedicated research platform is the better fit.

## Turn a finding into a fix

A test session is feedback like any other in Usero. A usability problem the test surfaces is classified and
[clustered](/docs/clustering) with the same problem reported through your widget, Slack, forms, or imported GitHub issues. From a
cluster you can open one GitHub pull request with a first pass at the fix:

1. Make sure [GitHub is connected](/docs/integrations/github).
2. Open the cluster and click **Create PR**. Usero clones the repo, writes the change on a branch, and opens a pull request that
   links back to the feedback.
3. Review the diff like any other PR. Your CI runs, your reviewers comment, and you merge it through your own branch protection.
   Usero never merges for you.

## Next

- [Session replay (recording engine + masking)](/docs/widget/session-replay)
- [Feedback clustering](/docs/clustering)
- [GitHub integration (AI pull requests)](/docs/integrations/github)