Understanding Rule Status: Active, Inactive & Test Mode

Every rule you create has a status that controls whether it runs during checkout. Understanding these statuses helps you manage your rules safely and confidently.

The Three Statuses

Test Mode

When to use: Before going live with any new rule.

In Test mode, the rule only activates when the customer enters test@testing.com as their email address at checkout. All other customers are completely unaffected.

This lets you verify that your rule works exactly as expected — correct conditions, correct behavior — before turning it on for real customers.

How to test:

  1. Set your rule status to Test.
  2. Save the rule.
  3. Go to your store’s checkout.
  4. Enter test@testing.com in the email field.
  5. Fill in the other checkout fields to match your rule’s conditions (e.g., specific country, certain products in cart).
  6. Verify the rule behaves as expected.

Tip: Always test with realistic checkout data. If your rule has conditions based on cart total or customer location, make sure your test checkout matches those conditions.

Active

When to use: When you’ve tested the rule and are ready to apply it to all customers.

An Active rule runs for every customer during checkout. If the customer’s checkout matches the rule’s conditions (or the rule is set to “Always”), the action is applied.

Inactive

When to use: When you want to pause a rule without deleting it.

An Inactive rule is saved but does not run at all. No customers are affected. This is useful when:

  • You want to temporarily disable a rule (e.g., during a sale or promotion).
  • You’re troubleshooting and want to isolate which rule is causing an issue.
  • You’ve created a rule for future use but don’t want it active yet.

You can reactivate an Inactive rule at any time by changing its status back to Active or Test.

Create rule → Test → Verify at checkout → Active
  1. Create your rule with the desired settings and conditions.
  2. Set status to Test and save.
  3. Go to checkout with test@testing.com and verify the behavior.
  4. Change status to Active once you’ve confirmed it works.

This workflow prevents surprises. A misconfigured rule could hide all payment methods or block checkout for everyone — testing first avoids that.

Changing Rule Status

You can change a rule’s status at any time:

  1. Open the rule in the editor.
  2. Under the Rule status section, select the new status (Test, Active, or Inactive).
  3. Click Save.

The change takes effect immediately.

Quick Reference

StatusWho It AffectsWhen It Runs
TestOnly test@testing.comDuring checkout, email must match
ActiveAll customersEvery checkout that matches conditions
InactiveNobodyNever runs

Common Questions

Can I have multiple Active rules at the same time? Yes. You can have as many Active rules as you want across all rule types. They all run independently.

What happens if I set a rule to Inactive — does it delete my settings? No. All your conditions, settings, and configuration are preserved. You can reactivate the rule at any time.

Do I need to test every rule change? It’s strongly recommended for new rules or major changes to conditions. For small changes like updating a rule name, testing is optional.

What’s Next?