How LiveCases works

For case creators

Creating, sharing and hosting need an approved creator verification (see Accounts below). Anyone can join the sessions they are invited to.

Verified creators open Cases and Sessions from the sidebar. Cases has My cases and Shared with me. Sessions has My sessions, for classes you host, and Joined, for sessions you entered as a participant. Needs attention on Cases shows a running build, an AI draft waiting for review, a build failure from the last seven days, or the first thing blocking publication.

Basic accounts stay on Your sessions. Profile & account, and Billing for creators, are in the account menu with Help under Theme. Get verified to create cases is on that dashboard and on the profile, outside any session. If verification is later removed, the dashboard still links to earlier cases and hosted sessions so you can read, export, pause or end them.

From your dashboard, open Cases for your own and shared work, Sessions to manage invitations, or Billing and usage to review coins, purchases and activity by case or session.

Build a case

Choose Create a case, then write the case and characters yourself. Case text is optional: drop or choose a PDF, text or Markdown file, plus up to four more documents such as exhibits, or type or paste it. Review the file list before upload, then select each document to check its extracted text; press the pencil to edit it. You can remove a document from the draft or delete its original upload in Case files. An AI draft of characters is optional. My cases includes the PulsePath demo, with its full case text, which you can copy to practice building, auditing and revising, or hide. Builds run in the background, and you can cancel one for a full refund. Before any AI build, you see the maximum coins it can use. Nothing is charged unless you confirm. You review the AI draft and choose which characters to keep. If the AI writes a field longer than its limit, you still get the draft: the warning names the field, its counter shows red, and you shorten it before publishing. The target picker shows the character limit for your plan. If your plan changes, choose a target within the new limit before building again. Existing characters are kept and can still be revised.

• The private objective describes the key point and case map and guides generated characters. Participants never see them.
• Use each character's Knowledge, Behavior and Guardrails tabs to edit what they know, how they speak and what they must not do. LiveCases advanced guardrails are enabled by default; below the checkbox, add only restrictions specific to your case, such as a figure participants must calculate themselves. AI builds write Guardrails the same way and leave them empty when the advanced guardrails already cover everything. Basic privacy and knowledge safeguards always apply.
• On the Characters step, you can test a conversation with any character of your saved case before running a session. Tests are private, not saved, and each reply uses your coins.
• The Audit step, before Publish, flags figures that do not match the sources, including currencies and units. Review the original exhibits too; these checks cannot prove that every fact is correct. One button runs a paid AI audit of the case and, for each character, 16 test questions (17 when it has its own guardrails), after you approve the total maximum. You can skip the audit step with its switch; open findings then no longer block publishing. Audited issues come first: select an area of the map to read its issues, highest severity first, and fix each one or accept it with a reason. Test results follow: choose a character and click a test area to inspect its prompt, verdict and answer. Each verdict covers only what that test checks; a problem elsewhere in the answer shows as an Other issue and is listed with the findings. Outdated results need review. Revise with AI, under the tests, reads every open finding for that character and decides what to change in its knowledge, behavior and guardrails; you compare the changes before applying them, and Recent builds can restore an earlier version into your draft.
• Publishing saves a fixed version. Sessions keep the version they started with, so later edits never change a running session.
• You can invite colleagues who are verified case creators when your plan allows collaboration. The Free plan cannot. They add their own characters and run their own sessions. You stay the only one who publishes.
• Archiving hides a case and keeps its content. Deleting a case also deletes your sessions on it, with their conversations, invitations and exports; the confirmation lists this. A colleague's session that has not ended yet keeps the case until it ends.

Run a session

• Create a session from a published case. Pick the session type first: Text for written chat, or Audio, where you choose an audio model and a voice for each character. Choose its characters, schedule, participant limit, messages per participant and coin budget.
• Every plan can use all enabled models, paid in coins. You pay for the session, so you choose its model, and can give individual characters a different one. You can change them until the first participant message; after that the choices and session rates stay fixed. Administrators may update the provider behind a choice. To switch models later, end the session and create a new one.
• Share the invitation link. You can revoke a link, remove a participant, and pause, resume, extend or end the session.
• Send a message to everyone in the session or to chosen participants from the session page. It stays on their screen until they close it, and a check then appears beside their name.
• Delete removes a session with its conversations, recordings, participant list, invitation links and exports. It cannot be undone, and coins already charged are not refunded.
• Release case files to participants when you want them to have the evidence. A file can belong to the whole case or to chosen characters; participants then see which character it came from.
• Open a session as a participant to preview it. Previews are kept apart from your participants' conversations. Allow copying is off unless you turn it on for that session. You can still download transcripts.

Review and export

The session page lists participants with their activity. Open a participant to read their conversations by character, or download transcripts (Markdown or JSON) and a participation summary (CSV). A transcript that is too large to download at once is prepared in the background. The link expires within five minutes. Prepared downloads are available for up to 24 hours, within the conversation retention window. Conversations stay available for 180 days after the session ends. Your conversation view and permitted Markdown download include the full retained thread, including older messages in long conversations.

Coins and verification

Character replies and AI builds use coins from the organizer's balance; participants never pay. Open Billing for your balance and recent usage. Review the rates before creating a session. They stay fixed for that session when administrators change prices, including if you change its model before participants begin. Approved case creators buy coins and Premium through Stripe; every payment has an invoice under Billing that you can download for reimbursement. Purchased coins never expire. Promotional gifts can have an expiry or be limited to builds and studio tests. Check the offer before claiming; Billing shows each gift separately. Premium raises plan limits and adds a monthly authoring allowance for builds and studio tests; if you cancel, it stays active until the paid month ends. Refunds reduce that period's allowance. Your character limit includes characters you contribute to other people's cases, even after leaving them, and archived cases count toward both limits. Offer links from LiveCases either add coins when you claim them or lower the price at checkout, one offer per checkout. Your profile has a referral link: when a colleague signs up from it and makes a first payment of at least $20, you receive 1,000 coins a week later.

Creator troubleshooting

I cannot create or change a case

Apply from your profile if you are not a verified creator. A pending application waits for review. If you are verified and the page names a plan limit, Billing’s Overview tab shows your cases, characters, session length, participants and whether you can invite colleagues. Your character total includes characters you added to other people's cases, including after you leave them. Archiving a case does not free a slot, so delete one or raise your plan to create another. Characters you already have stay. If your plan is lower, choose a target within the new limit before building again.

A build failed or I cancelled it

Needs attention on Cases keeps a failure for seven days, with the message. The cross hides the list in this browser until something in it changes. Cancelling returns the reserved coins. Try again starts a new build and asks you to confirm a fresh quote. You can leave the page while a build runs.

I cannot publish

Checks lists what is incomplete or does not match the sources. Fix each item, or accept it with a reason. Save first. Publishing uses the saved revision. A session that already started keeps the version it started with.

A colleague cannot join the case

Both accounts need approved creator verification, and your plan has to allow collaboration. The link expires after the period you chose, and you can revoke it. Someone who already joined stays until you remove them.

Participants cannot continue

Check whether the session is waiting, paused or ended, and whether the coin budget is used up. Participants see a neutral message. You see the reason on the session. Add coins from Billing or raise the session budget. Participants are never asked to pay.

For participants

• Open the invitation link from your organizer, sign in, and join the session. Joined sessions appear on your dashboard.
• Choose a character and ask questions. Each character is a simulated AI role based on the case; its answers are not verified facts.
• Your conversations are saved, and the organizer can read them. Other participants cannot.
• The organizer may limit how many messages you can send and when the session is open. You are never charged.

Find people, evidence and earlier conversations

Hover a line on the left of a conversation to preview a message and reply, and click it to jump there. On a phone, press the left edge of the conversation, slide to a line and lift your finger to jump. The preview stays for a few seconds so you can tap its bookmark button, which makes the line stand out (on a computer, B on a focused line does the same). Bookmarks stay while the session page is open and reset when you refresh or leave. With streaming off, replies arrive as whole message bubbles beneath the character's name.

Select a person in the session sidebar to open their conversation. On a phone or tablet, use Show people and evidence to open the sidebar. Files appear there when your organizer releases them. Ask the organizer if an expected file is missing; access after the session ends depends on their settings.

Return to a joined session from your dashboard to read saved replies. Conversations are available for 180 days after the session ends. Downloads are available only when the organizer allows copying.

Session troubleshooting

I cannot join

Use the invitation from your organizer and finish signing in. If the link has expired, was revoked or the session is full, ask the organizer for help. Signing in alone does not join a session.

I cannot send a message

Check the session status and your remaining messages. A session may not have started, may be paused or may have ended. Your organizer can explain the schedule and message allowance. If the page asks you to slow down, wait before sending again. Participants never need to buy coins to continue.

A reply stopped partway through

Keep the session open while it checks for a saved reply. Once your connection returns, reopen the conversation and check its saved messages before sending the question again. Partial text is not proof that a reply was saved.

I still need help

Ask your organizer about invitations, session access and evidence. For a technical problem, use the contact page. Include what you were doing and any support reference shown. Do not send your password, sign-in codes or private conversation text.

Accounts

Billing groups balances and limits under Overview, plan cards under Plans, coin usage and purchases under Activity, and invoices and billing details under Invoices.

After checkout, Billing shows loading placeholders while confirming your payment. If confirmation takes longer than 30 seconds, use Check payment again. You do not need to purchase again.

On a laptop or desktop, drag the workspace sidebar's right edge to resize it. Its width stays between 232 and 360 pixels. You can also focus the edge and use the Left/Right arrow keys or Home/End. Folding the sidebar keeps your chosen width for when you expand it again.

Email confirmation and authenticator codes verify automatically when you enter or paste all six digits, so there is no button to press. If a code is rejected, correct a digit and it is checked again. Resetting a password keeps its button, because it also takes your new password.

Signing in keeps you signed in on that browser for 30 days. Signing out affects only the device you sign out on; your other devices stay signed in. Changing your password ends the sessions on every device.

The sign-in page shows a short check that confirms you are not an automated script. It usually completes on its own; if it asks you to confirm, select the box. It protects the messages we send by email, so it also appears when you create an account, request a new confirmation code or reset your password.

If a service is temporarily unavailable, keep this tab open to preserve unsaved edits and try again. Include the support reference when reporting a problem.

• Sign in with Google or with email and password. Keep using the method you signed up with; the same email cannot use both.
• Every account starts as a basic account: accept the terms on first sign-in and join the sessions you are invited to.
• To create cases, collaborate on them and host sessions, apply to become a verified case creator from your profile. Describe how you will use LiveCases and give a public professional link, such as a staff page or professional profile; an academic address is not required. A different contact email is confirmed with a code. Each code allows five attempts within ten minutes. A temporary service failure may still use an attempt; request a new code if you reach the limit. An administrator reviews every application; approval does not mean an organization endorses your cases. Administrator access includes creator approval without a separate application.
• Verified creators can also join other creators' sessions with the same account. If verification is revoked, you keep read and export access to what you created, sessions already scheduled run as planned, and you can still pause or end them.
• You can delete your account from your profile. This removes our copy of your account and its data. Security audit records stay, and Stripe keeps the payment records it needs.