Sandbox mode

Every new project starts in sandbox mode. You can set up journeys, campaigns, and transactional emails, run them for real, and check every email before anyone receives one. When you're ready, you go live.

How it works

In sandbox mode, Audryo runs the full pipeline — audiences, triggers, waits, branches, consent checks, merge tags, footers, and link tracking. Only the last step changes: instead of handing the email to your provider, Audryo stores it in the project's Sandbox inbox.

How to tell you're in sandbox

• A violet Sandbox badge in the header, on every page. Click it to open the Sandbox inbox.
• Today → Sending says "Sandbox mode" and links to the inbox.
• Settings → Email delivery shows a Sandbox mode card with the go-live checklist.
• Starting a Journey and sending a campaign both say where the emails will go.

The Sandbox inbox

Open Emails → Sandbox inbox. Each email shows who it was for, where it came from (for example "Onboarding · Day 2 tips"), and when.

• Desktop / Mobile — the exact HTML a recipient would get.
• Plain text — the text part for clients without HTML.
• Details — language, CC/BCC, headers, and the event or API data used for merge tags.
• Forward — sends the email to your own inbox (or up to 10 addresses) so you can check it in Gmail, Outlook, or on your phone. The subject starts with [Audryo sandbox].

Emails that a real recipient would not have received appear as Not sent with the reason — for example "No marketing consent". That is the fastest way to find consent or audience problems before launch.

Links in the preview open in a new tab and count as clicks, and viewing an email counts as an open. Use this to try Insights end to end.

Until a provider is connected, the From line is empty — the sender comes from your sending identity. Use ⋯ → Clear inbox to start over; running journeys are not affected.

Test a journey quickly

1. Start the journey. Sandbox mode is shown in the start dialog.
2. Trigger it — add a contact to the audience, send an event, or load the sample dataset.
3. Open the Sandbox inbox. The first email appears within seconds.
4. Waiting for "3 days" is not practical. Open the journey's ⋯ menu and choose Fast-forward waits. Everyone on a wait step moves on immediately; "wait until" steps take their timeout path unless the event already arrived.
5. Repeat until you have seen every step and branch.

Go live

Open Settings → Email delivery. The Ready to go live? checklist shows what's missing:

Click Go live to review what changes. The dialog explains the sandbox reset, paused journeys and retained contacts and content. Confirm that sandbox journey progress and test history will be permanently deleted, then choose Go live. Audryo then:

1. Pauses every active journey. Nothing started during testing reaches a real person. Resume each journey when you're ready.
2. Moves scheduled campaigns back to draft.
3. Deletes sandbox test data — captured emails, test enrollments, and their opens, clicks, and conversions — so Insights and reentry rules start clean. Campaigns that were only sent in sandbox return to draft.

Your contacts, audiences, journeys, and emails stay exactly as they are.

Switch back to sandbox

Live projects can switch back any time under Settings → Email delivery → Switch to sandbox, for example to test a new journey. Active journeys are paused again. Live data and reporting are kept.

Common questions

Do editor test emails also go to the Sandbox inbox? No. Send test email in the editor and Forward in the inbox always deliver to the addresses you type, so you can check real clients. Everything sent to your contacts — journeys, campaigns, transactional API — is captured.

Are contacts, audiences, and journeys separate in sandbox? No. You work on your real project data. Only delivery changes, and test enrollments are cleared when you go live.

Will someone who entered a journey during testing get it again after going live? Yes, if they still qualify. Test enrollments are deleted, so reentry rules treat them as new.

Does sandbox work count toward my plan? No. See Plans and usage.

Can I test the transactional API and webhooks? Yes. API responses include "sandbox": true, the email appears in the inbox, and outbound webhooks fire with "sandbox": true so your receiver can tell test traffic apart.

Is there a limit on captured emails? No. Clear the inbox whenever you like; going live clears it for you.

For developers and agents

• GET /v1/projects/{projectId}/delivery_mode — mode and go-live checklist
• GET /v1/projects/{projectId}/sandbox_messages — captured emails, with filter[status], filter[source], and search
• GET /v1/projects/{projectId}/sandbox_messages/{id} — rendered HTML, text, headers, and merge data
• POST /v1/projects/{projectId}/workflows/{workflowId}/fast_forward
• Send responses and outbound email.* / journey.* webhooks include sandbox: true for captured work.

MCP tools: get_delivery_mode, list_sandbox_messages, get_sandbox_message, fast_forward_journey. An agent can build a journey, trigger it, and verify every resulting email without sending anything. Going live stays a human decision.

Related

• Connect your ESP
• Quickstart
• Transactional email
• Journeys
• Insights
• Design emails with your agent