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Study Launch Rules connect a study to the people who should be offered it. A rule says who becomes eligible — through a tracked app event or a synced Mixpanel audience — and how the installed React Native Interviews SDK prompts them. You manage rules in Configuration → Targeting rules on a study, and you can change them without shipping a new app release.

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How a rule reaches a user

You create a rule (event or audience)
  -> the installed SDK loads active rules for the project
  -> a tracked event matches, or a synced audience member loads config
  -> UserJourneys checks eligibility (priority, cooldown, max starts)
  -> the SDK shows the in-app prompt
  -> the user accepts
  -> the interview opens in-app
The SDK evaluates a tracked event locally first and ignores events that no rule targets. Eligibility, priority, cooldown, and start limits are enforced on the server, so changing a rule takes effect for installed apps without an update.

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Trigger types

Every rule has one trigger, fixed when the rule is created.

App event

Fires when a user triggers a named event in your mobile app, such as Order Completed. The SDK matches the event name and asks UserJourneys to resolve a launch.

Synced audience

Makes everyone in a synced Mixpanel cohort eligible. When a user’s referenceId matches an active audience member, the SDK receives a pending prompt while loading config.

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Set up targeting rules

1

Get your Interviews SDK key

In the dashboard, go to Settings → API keys and copy the Interviews SDK key. This public key is the only credential the mobile SDK needs.
2

Install the React Native SDK

Add the SDK to your app and create the client with that key. See the React Native quickstart.
3

Provide a trigger source

For an app-event rule, make sure your app tracks the event through the wrapped analytics client. For an audience rule, sync the Mixpanel cohort first — see Mixpanel cohort sync.
4

Create the rule

Open the study, go to Configuration → Targeting rules, and click Add rule. Choose the trigger, pick the event or audience, write the prompt copy, set pacing limits, and set the status to Active. The tab appears once your app has contacted the SDK API — run the app once after installing the SDK.
The event picker suggests events UserJourneys has already observed for your project. You can also type an event name the catalog has not seen yet.
5

Confirm the SDK is connected

Once an app has contacted the project’s SDK API with your key, the SDK not connected yet warning disappears and active rules can fire.

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What the user sees

For an SDK prompt rule, the SDK shows an in-app card with your prompt heading, message, an accept button, and a dismiss button. Accepting opens the interview in-app; dismissing clears the prompt without opening anything. Empty copy fields fall back to the SDK defaults. A Direct link rule makes the study available without showing this prompt card.

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Field reference

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Rule name
string
An internal label to find the rule later. Users never see it.
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Status
active | draft | paused
Active runs the rule now, Draft saves it without launching, and Paused turns it off temporarily. Archiving removes a rule from the study.
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How it's offered (surface)
SDK prompt | Direct link
SDK prompt shows an in-app card the user can accept. Direct link makes the study available without a prompt.
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Priority
integer
When several rules match the same person at the same time, the rule with the higher number wins. Default 100; range 0–10000.
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Cooldown between prompts
seconds
The minimum time before the same person can be prompted again. 0 means no wait; maximum 30 days, in seconds.
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Max starts per person
integer
How many times one person can start this study from this rule. Default 1; range 1–100.
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Prompt copy
object
The text on the in-app prompt card for SDK prompt rules: a prompt heading (up to 120 characters), a prompt message (up to 500 characters), an accept button label, and a dismiss button label. Any field left blank uses the SDK default.
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Extra metadata
object
Optional advanced mapping of metadata keys to respondent fields (for example traits.plan) to attach to each interview. Leave it empty unless you need it.

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When several rules match

Rules are evaluated highest priority first. For an app event, the highest priority rule that targets that event name is used. For a synced audience, audiences are evaluated highest priority first. After a rule is selected, its cooldown and max-starts limits decide whether the person is prompted; if the limit is reached or the cooldown is active, the launch is not eligible.

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Before the SDK is installed

Rules are delivered through the Interviews SDK. A rule can only reach someone after an app has contacted the project’s SDK API with your Interviews SDK key. The Targeting rules tab appears in study configuration once your app has connected, or once the project already has launch rules. Before that, start from Settings → API keys to get the Interviews SDK key and install the SDK. If rules exist while the SDK is not connected, the tab shows an SDK not connected yet warning.
Rules created before the SDK is installed (for example through the chat agent) are stored and ready, but they will not fire until the SDK is connected.

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Why isn’t anyone getting prompted?

If a rule is live but no one is seeing the prompt, work through this checklist from the most common cause down:
  • The study is not activated. A rule on a study that is not active never prompts anyone. Activate the study first.
  • The rule is paused, a draft, or archived. Only Active rules fire. Check the rule’s status.
  • The event name does not match. App-event rules match the tracked event name exactly, including spaces and capitalization. Order Completed does not match order_completed.
  • The person hit the max starts or is in cooldown. Once a person reaches the rule’s max starts per person, or while the cooldown is active, they are not eligible again. See Testing your rules to test with a fresh person.
  • The person dismissed a recent prompt. A recently dismissed prompt does not immediately reappear.
  • The person is not in the synced audience. For audience rules, the person’s referenceId must match an active member of the synced cohort. Confirm the cohort sync ran and includes that person.
  • The SDK is not installed or connected. Rules are delivered through the Interviews SDK. If the SDK not connected yet warning is showing, no app has contacted the project’s SDK API with your key — install the SDK and run the app once.

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Testing your rules

Limits, cooldowns, and dismissals are keyed off the referenceId, so once a test person has hit a limit or a cooldown, that same id will not prompt again. To re-run a rule cleanly, use a fresh throwaway referenceId for each test run — for example dev-test-1, then dev-test-2 — so the new id has no start history, cooldown, or dismissal. Switch back to your real referenceId before you release.
An invite link is a plumbing test that bypasses launch rules: it opens the interview directly without checking event match, audience membership, priority, cooldown, or max starts. Use an invite link to confirm the interview itself works, and use a fresh referenceId to confirm the rule’s targeting and eligibility.
For the full in-app validation checklist (event wrapping, WebView, microphone, fallback, attribution), see Test your integration.

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Managing rules with the chat agent

The chat agent can list, create, update, and archive Study Launch Rules for you. When it manages rules it also reports whether the SDK is connected, so it can warn you when a rule cannot reach anyone yet because the SDK is not installed.

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Related

React Native quickstart

Install the SDK and create the client with your Interviews SDK key.

Mixpanel cohort sync

Sync Mixpanel cohorts so they appear as audiences for audience rules.