/Docs

Preview Links

Preview links let you share an unpublished variation with anyone — a client, an executive, a stakeholder without an A vs B account — by sending them a regular URL with a signed token appended.

1

Open the experiment in the dashboard

Make sure your edits are saved. Preview links use the most recently saved state of each variation.
2

Click Generate preview link

In the experiment's action row (the same row that contains Pause / Edit Variation / Stop), click Generate preview link. A modal opens with link options.
3

Pick the variation

Pick the variation you want the recipient to see. Variations with saved changes are marked in the dropdown.
4

Set the expiry

Choose how long the link should be valid. The default is 30 days; you can extend to a maximum of 90 days.
5

Copy and send

Click Copy. Paste it into an email, Slack message, or doc and send to the recipient.
What you'll see
The share dialog displays the target URL, an expiry dropdown (30 / 60 / 90 days), the generated link in a read-only field, a Copy button, and a list of any active preview links for this variation with their expiry timestamps and a Revoke action next to each.

What the recipient sees

The recipient opens the link in any browser. They land on your production page, which is otherwise unchanged — no editor panel, no login prompt — but with the variation applied. The link works on Safari, mobile browsers, and any device the recipient happens to be using.

Anatomy of a preview link
text
1https://your-site.com/landing-page?avsb_preview_token=eyJhbGciOi...

The signed token is appended as a query parameter. The snippet runtime detects it, verifies the signature, and forces the visitor into the corresponding variation for the rest of their session.

Customer-visible preview path

For convenience, preview links can also be presented as a short dashboard URL. The dashboard at <dashboard>/preview/<token> redirects the recipient to the underlying customer URL with the ?avsb_preview_token=<token>query string appended. This is the form the share dialog uses by default — it's easier to paste and looks tidier in email.

Expiry

  • Default expiry — 30 days from the moment the link is created.
  • Maximum expiry — 90 days. Past this, you need to generate a new link.
  • Expired links — Return the unmodified production page. The recipient sees the live experience, not an error.

Revoking a link

If you need to cancel access before expiry — for example, the recipient is no longer involved in the project — open the share dialog and click Revoke next to the link. The token is invalidated server-side. Anyone who opens the link after revocation sees the unmodified production page.

Anyone with the link can view
Preview tokens are bearer tokens — anyone who receives the link can open it for as long as it's valid. Treat them like any other unlisted share link. For sensitive variations, use a short expiry and revoke as soon as the recipient has finished reviewing.

Security model

Preview tokens are designed so that database compromise alone does not leak working preview links.

  • Token generation — Each link uses a cryptographically random opaque string. The raw token is shown to you exactly once, at generation time.
  • Hash-only storage — We store a one-way hash of the token, not the raw value. Verification recomputes the hash from the incoming request and looks it up.
  • Signature verification — The token also encodes a signed timestamp and variation reference, both verified by the snippet before applying the variation.
  • Scope — A token only forces the specific variation it was generated for. It does not unlock any other dashboard data, identity, or org-level permissions.
QA workflow
Generate a preview link for every variation before publishing. Share it with your QA team or copywriter; if any issue is spotted, fix it in the editor and re-share — the original link picks up the latest saved state automatically.