A review link opens a page where a stakeholder can try a simulation and leave comments, without a devlin.ai account. Any member of the workspace that owns the simulation can create review links, on every plan.
Before you start
- Open the simulation in the workspace that owns it. Review links are created per simulation. Coaches do not have review links.
- The simulation does not need to be published. A review link opens the simulation as it is currently saved, draft or published, so save your changes before you send the link.
- Decide who gets which link. Each link has its own comments. People who share one link see each other's comments, and people on different links never do.
- Treat the link as a secret. Anyone who has it can open the simulation and comment until the link expires or you revoke it. No sign-in is asked for.
Steps
- Open the simulation and go to the Publish stage. The Share for review card is at the top.
- Optionally type a label in the label box, for example the name of the person the link is for. A label can be up to 100 characters. Only your workspace sees it, never the reviewer. A link without a label is listed as Untitled link.
- Choose how long the link works under Expires after. The choices run from a single day to 90 days, and the default is 14 days.
- Select Create review link.
- Use the copy button next to the new link and send the link to your reviewer.
Result
The link appears in the Share for review card with its label, the date it was created, the full link and the date it expires. Every active link of the simulation is listed there, so you can copy a link again at any time. Under each link the card shows its comments: "No comments yet" until a reviewer leaves one, then a count of open threads out of all threads.
A simulation can have up to 20 active review links. Expired and revoked links do not count. At the limit you see "Too many active review links. Revoke one before creating another." If a link cannot be created for another reason you see "Could not create a review link."
What the reviewer sees
The link opens a page with the simulation's name at the top, the simulation on one side and a Comments panel on the other. If the simulation is still a draft, the top of the page carries a Draft preview label.
- The simulation runs in the page with a Preview badge. The reviewer holds the conversation the way a learner would.
- The simulation on the page works for as long as the link does. A reviewer can leave the tab open and come back to it days later, and if you extend the link while their tab is open it keeps working. Once the link expires or is revoked, the simulation stops accepting messages and shows "This preview has expired. Reload the page to continue." A voice session will not start and shows an error instead.
- If the preview cannot be loaded, the page shows "This simulation preview is temporarily unavailable. You can still leave comments."
- If the review page is opened many times in a short period from one network address, it shows "Too many requests. Wait a minute and reload this page." instead of the simulation. Wait a minute and reload.
- The Comments panel lists every comment thread left on this link, with a count of open threads. A reviewer sees the threads other people left on the same link. Comments posted by someone else show up after the page is reloaded.
Leaving a comment
The first comment on a link opens the comment form straight away. After that the reviewer selects New thread.
- Your name is required and can be up to 100 characters. Without it the form shows "Please add your name."
- Email (optional) can be left empty. It is stored with the comment and is not shown on the review page.
- The reviewer picks the part of the simulation the comment is about: Overall, Character, Opening or Evaluation. The choice is shown as a tag on the thread.
- The comment can be up to 2000 characters. An empty comment gets "Please write a comment."
- Post comment adds the thread to the panel. If it fails the form shows "Could not post your comment."
Anyone on the link can select Reply on a thread to add to it. The browser remembers the reviewer's name and email address for the next comment.
Comments are rate limited: up to 60 comments a minute on one link, and up to 30 a minute from one network address. Past either limit the reviewer sees "Too many comments, please slow down."
Reading comments in the editor
Comments are listed in the Share for review card, on the row of the link they were left on. You do not need to open the link to read them.
- When a comment is posted, the members of the workspace get an in-app notification that names the person who commented and the simulation. Selecting it opens the simulation on the Publish stage, where the card is.
- Each link row shows Comments: with the number of open threads out of all threads on that link. Select it to open the list. Each thread shows the part of the simulation it is about, a Resolved tag if it was resolved, and its comments in order with the name of the person who wrote each one. Comments from your workspace carry a Team badge.
- The list in the card is read-only. To reply or to mark a thread resolved, select open the review page under the list. It opens in a new tab. A link listed without its address has no such shortcut.
- The card loads the comments when the Publish stage is opened and again each time you come back to the browser tab. While you stay on the tab, reload the page to see newer ones.
- A reviewer's email address is not shown in the card.
Replying and resolving
Replying and resolving are done on the review page. Open the review link in a browser where you are signed in to devlin.ai.
- Signed-in members of the workspace get a Mark resolved action on each thread. A resolved thread stays in the panel with a Resolved tag and no longer counts as open. Reopen makes it open again. Reviewers do not get these actions. If the change cannot be saved, the thread shows "Could not update this thread. Try again."
- To answer a reviewer, select Reply on the thread. The form asks for your name like it does for a reviewer. Your comment is shown with a Team badge, whatever your role in the workspace, and it does not send a notification to you.
- A resolved thread can still be replied to. A reply from anyone reopens the thread, so it counts as open again until a member marks it resolved.
- Comments cannot be edited or deleted.
Change the expiry or revoke a link
Both are done on the link's row in the Share for review card.
- Change expiry: pick a period from the menu. The link then expires that long from now, not from its original date. The longest period is 90 days. If the change fails you see "Could not update the expiry."
- Revoke: you are asked to confirm first, with the reminder "Reviewers lose access. Comments stay here under Past links." Select Revoke link to go ahead. The link stops working immediately and a revoked link cannot be restored. If it fails you see "Could not revoke that link."
- A link that reaches its expiry date stops working by itself.
A reviewer who opens a revoked or expired link gets a page-not-found error. The page does not say whether the link expired, was revoked or never existed. The same happens if the simulation was deleted. A reviewer who already has the page open can no longer post comments, and the simulation on that page shows "This preview has expired. Reload the page to continue."
Links created before devlin.ai stored the link for display are listed without their address. Revoke such a link and create a new one to get a link you can copy.
Past links
A link that has expired or been revoked leaves the list of active links. If reviewers commented on it, it moves to Past links at the bottom of the Share for review card, so their comments are not lost. A link nobody commented on is not kept.
- Past links is closed until you select it. Each past link shows its label, the date it was created, whether it expired or was revoked and when, and the same Comments: list as an active link.
- Past links have no address and cannot be opened, so their threads can be read but no longer replied to or resolved.
- An expired link can be brought back: pick a period under Extend. The link works again at its original address for that long from now and returns to the active list with its comments. At the limit of active links you see "Too many active review links. Revoke one before extending this one." If it fails for another reason you see "Could not extend that link."
- A revoked link cannot be extended.
- Every active link is always listed, and every past link that has comments is kept. There is no limit on how many past links or comments the card holds.
Credits and results
- Conversations held through a review link use your workspace's credits like any other conversation with the simulation.
- They are stored as test runs, not as learner attempts.
AI tools over MCP
An AI tool connected through the MCP server can create a review link for a simulation, with an optional label and expiry, and gets back the link and its expiry date. It can also list a simulation's active review links with each link's address, label, expiry and comment threads, how many of the allowed links are in use, and the comments kept from past links. One answer carries a limited amount of comment text. When there is more, the answer says how many threads it left out, and the tool can ask for a single link to read the rest. Changing a link's expiry, extending and revoking a link are done by a person in the Share for review card, and replying and resolving on the review page.