Use Explore when you are learning how a feature behaves, following an unexpected observation, or preparing a new defect that does not yet have a test case. Explore does not show a Recorder result selector: you write the observation, coverage, and next question yourself.

Follow this 9-step path

1. Select Explore. Leave Issue empty for an unfiled discovery, or select an existing issue when the experiment already belongs there.
2. Name one variation and write its starting conditions and question in Description.
3. Select Start recording, try the variation, and capture the unexpected or informative state.
4. Select Stop → Investigate promptly so the discovery remains in the retained timeline.
5. Start at the image or action nearest the observation and work backward through the same subject’s input, request, response, and earlier state.
6. Preserve the first supported discrepancy and the strongest competing explanation.
7. Add source comments that separate observation from inference.
8. Write one next experiment that could change your interpretation; finish Description and preserve the files or send the finding.
9. Verify the handoff before New recording clears the local evidence.

Understand the Explore fields

Part	What happens	What you decide
Issue empty	The recording remains unfiled; a configured tracker can later create an issue	Whether the discovery is ready to report
Existing issue selected	Recorder can fill an unchanged Title and offer its description	Whether to append the description and update or replace it at send time
Description	Holds this experiment’s question, observation, evidence, and next step	What the recording establishes and what remains open
Result	No Recorder control appears	Use scoped prose; do not turn exploration into a blanket pass
Delivery	Download, tracker action, or Fairlead storage can be chosen	Where this discovery belongs and who can open it

If Recorder offers Add for a found issue description, it appends the text to your current Description. It does not replace your notes or stay synchronized with the issue.

Define a recognizable experiment

Use a distinctive safe record such as QA-lanes-A3, and record setup completed before Start. A useful experiment changes one relevant condition where practical: direct move versus move through Blocked, warm versus cold cache, or one role versus another.

For the Quackban example, ask: “After this card enters Blocked and moves to In progress, does the badge remain?” “The server fails to clear the flag” is an explanation to test, not the discovery itself.

If the observation occurred before Start, preserve a manual image if permitted and make a fresh attempt. Add the reference through Screenshots & Attachments → Upload image or Paste image. Note its source and original time; an image added after Stop is not capture-time evidence.

Work backward from the observation

1. Open the discovery image and pin it. State exactly what it shows and which context it omits.
2. In Actions → Recorded Actions, inspect the preceding action’s Target, captured value, control state, page changes, and URL changes.
3. Open the associated request. Check Payload for the subject and intended value; check Response or a later read for the resulting state.
4. Use Timeline and Timing to rule out an early screenshot or intervening update. Inspect Console or live messages only when they could explain the remaining discrepancy.

In the shared sample, the intended lane reaches the payload and returned status while the blocked-related node remains unchanged. That weakens “the click did nothing” and suggests a persistence/read question. HTTP 200 does not settle the observation.

Stop when you can explain the observation and name the uncertainty most likely to change that explanation. You do not need a root cause before preserving useful evidence.

Choose the next experiment

Remaining uncertainty	Next experiment	Preserve
State may be transient	Reload the same record in a separate attempt	Before/after state, reload, and fresh read
Prior history may matter	Compare a direct move with a path through the prerequisite	Starting state and resulting records
A later update may restore old state	Keep the interval after the trigger	First read, later update, and later image
Repeated controls may be confused	Use a distinctly named record	Target context, sent ID, and visible subject

Preserve the current recording before starting the comparison. A2 should identify the changed condition.

Write and deliver the discovery

In Notes, use View evidence → Add comment → Save comment. Write Observation → why it matters → open question.

Experiment: lanes / A3 — Blocked to In progress
Build / environment / role: [fill in]
Setup before Start: [fill in]
Variation tried: [fill in]
Observation: [specific result]
Evidence: [NOTES]
Coverage / gaps: [fill in]
Next experiment: [one question]

Insert Notes and resolve any save error. Keep a local download when the discovery is not ready to file; create an issue when it supports a report; update or replace a selected issue when it belongs there; or store the report with Fairlead when configured.

Open the files or destination. Retry only a failed issue, attachment, storage, or download operation. Preserve this experiment before any separate focused reproduction, then use New recording.

Choose another testing workflow.