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Getting Started

Get up and running with CrowdRunner in five minutes.

What is CrowdRunner?

CrowdRunner is a synthetic UX testing platform. Instead of recruiting real participants, CrowdRunner generates AI-powered personas that browse your website like real users — clicking links, filling in forms, and navigating your interface. Each persona has a unique demographic profile (age, tech literacy, accessibility needs) that influences how they interact with your site.

After a test completes, you get detailed results including step-by-step screenshots, friction point analysis, and an AI-generated synthesis report summarizing the findings.

Your First Test

Creating a test takes about a minute. Here's how:

  1. Click New Test from the Tests page.
  2. Pick a test mode — Task, Exploratory, Chaos, or UAT (more on these in the Tests & Results guide).
  3. Enter the URL you want to test (e.g. https://yoursite.com) and pick an execution mode (cloud or your Chrome browser via the extension).
  4. Add a login if the page is behind auth, or skip it.
  5. Choose a cohort — start with "General Consumers" for a diverse panel.
  6. Describe the instructions (what personas should accomplish) and set success criteria and panel size.
  7. Set guardrails — block real purchases, signups, or newsletter submissions; provide the form data personas should use.
  8. Review the configuration and click Launch Test.

Understanding the Wizard

The wizard first asks you to pick a test mode: Task, Exploratory, Chaos, or UAT. The standard modes (Task / Exploratory / Chaos) share these six steps:

  1. Target URL — Enter the website address and choose an execution mode (cloud servers or your browser via the Chrome Extension).
  2. Login — Optionally provide credentials so personas can reach pages behind auth. Stored encrypted, never sent to the worker payload in plaintext.
  3. Cohort — Pick a built-in cohort, a custom cohort, or select individual prebuilt personas.
  4. Instructions — Describe what personas should do, set success criteria, and pick your panel size.
  5. Guardrails — Block irreversible actions (purchases, signups, newsletter, contact forms, file uploads), add custom rules, and supply the form data personas can use safely.
  6. Review & run — Confirm the configuration and launch.

UAT mode replaces Cohort / Instructions / Guardrails with a single UAT upload step and a Requirements step, where personas execute structured acceptance criteria you provide.

What Happens During a Test

Once launched, CrowdRunner spins up browser sessions for each persona. Every persona navigates your site independently, taking screenshots at each step. Sessions end when the persona completes the task, gets stuck, or reaches the step limit.

You can watch progress in real time on the test detail page. Each persona shows its current status, step count, and outcome as it executes.

Reading Your Results

After all personas finish, CrowdRunner generates a synthesis report. The results page shows:

  • Session timelines — Step-by-step screenshot walkthroughs for each persona.
  • Friction points — Specific moments where personas got confused, encountered errors, or abandoned the task.
  • Comparison view — Side-by-side screenshots to see how different personas experienced the same flow.
  • Synthesis report — AI-generated summary with actionable recommendations.

Next Steps

Dive deeper into specific features:

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