The candidate experience
Once a candidate has accepted an invite, they have a private workspace with the problem applied. This is what the assessment looks like from their side.
Starting the assessment
Section titled “Starting the assessment”The candidate clicks Start when they are ready. Starting is deliberate, not automatic on accept, so a candidate can read the prompt and set up before the clock begins. The start time is recorded on the server, so the timing is the same regardless of timezone or browser.
Timed vs due-date
Section titled “Timed vs due-date”An assessment runs in one of two modes, set by you when you configure it:
- Timed. A fixed time limit starts when the candidate clicks Start. When it runs out, the assessment auto-submits whatever is in the workspace. The candidate sees the remaining time as they work.
- Due date. The assessment is open until a calendar deadline and never auto-submits. The candidate submits when they are done; a submission after the deadline is accepted but flagged late for the reviewer.
Either way the deadline is computed and enforced server-side, so it is identical for every candidate and cannot be extended by tampering with the client.
The AI assistant
Section titled “The AI assistant”If you enabled it for the assessment, the candidate has Claude Code in the workspace terminal - the same agentic CLI they would use day to day. They run it from the shell alongside their code; there is no separate chat panel.
- It runs against a hard budget scoped to the assessment. When the budget is spent, the assistant stops responding. Every candidate gets the same allowance, and there are no runaway costs.
- Every prompt and reply is recorded. The candidate’s exchange with the assistant is saved to a transcript the reviewer reads later. AI use here is on the record by design, so it can be assessed rather than policed.
If you leave the assistant off, the workspace is a plain no-AI take-home.
Submitting
Section titled “Submitting”The candidate submits when they are done (or a timed assessment submits for them at the deadline). On submit:
- The workspace freezes read-only for everyone, including the candidate, so what the reviewer sees is exactly what was submitted.
- If recording was enabled, the session recording is finalized and becomes available for replay.
The candidate cannot reopen or keep editing a submitted assessment.
Next: Reviewing submissions.