Guided Walkthroughs turn real software workflows into hands-on practice. A learner completes the work in the actual application while a voice or text coach stays alongside them, offers guidance, and detects when each step is complete from the learner's shared screen.
Walkthrough is a mode inside AI Conversations, but it is designed for doing rather than simulating. Use it for software onboarding, standard operating procedures, system training, and any task where learners should practice in the real tool.
Guided Walkthroughs versus Video Simulations
Choose the experience based on where learners should practice:
Guided Walkthrough: The learner works in the real application. Mindsmith opens a floating coach panel, watches the tab or window the learner chooses to share, and advances as the learner reaches each visible outcome.
Video Simulation: The learner watches clips or interacts with captured screenshots inside a Mindsmith lesson. They do not need access to the real application.
Use a Guided Walkthrough when authentic practice matters and learners have access to the destination application. Use a Video Simulation when you need a safe, repeatable environment or cannot give learners access to the real system.
Create a Guided Walkthrough from a screen recording
The fastest way to build a Guided Walkthrough is to demonstrate the workflow once and narrate what you are doing. The Mindsmith Agent uses your narration and the visible changes in the recording to draft the project, coach, steps, verification instructions, and reference clips.
Create a standalone Conversation, or open the Mindsmith Agent in an existing lesson where you want to add the activity.
Open the attachment menu and select Record screen.
Choose your microphone, then choose the browser tab, window, or screen you want to record.
Complete the workflow while explaining the purpose of each action, what a successful result looks like, and anything a learner may find confusing.
Stop the recording, review it, then select Use recording. Recordings can be up to 15 minutes long.
Ask the Mindsmith Agent to turn the recording into a Guided Walkthrough.
Review the generated Walkthrough in the Conversation editor before sharing it with learners.
Speak throughout the demonstration whenever possible. A silent recording gives the Mindsmith Agent much less context about your intent, the learner's goal, and which visible changes matter.
Create one manually or from a template
You can also start without a recording. Add a Conversation tile or create a standalone Conversation, open the Conversation editor, and choose Walkthrough as the mode. You can select a Walkthrough template or build the project and steps manually.
Configure the project and coach
The top of the Conversation editor controls how the Walkthrough starts and how the coach supports the learner.
Project: Add the name and URL of the application where the learner will work. The learner receives a Go to button during setup, so link directly to the best starting location when possible.
Introduction: Explain what the learner will complete, what access or preparation they need, and approximately how long the activity should take.
Modality: Choose Voice & Text, Voice Only, or Text Only. Voice & Text lets learners switch if they cannot or do not want to use a microphone.
Screen: Grading only: Visual checks determine when a step is complete, but the coach does not receive the learner's screen as conversational context.
Screen: Grading and character: Visual checks determine completion and the coach can react to what is visible on the shared screen.
Coach: Set the coach's name, voice, role, and personality. Use the coaching instructions to define how quickly the coach should step in, how much it should explain, and the tone it should use.
Walkthroughs are coached to completion rather than scored. They do not use the scorecard or passing-percentage settings available to Role Plays and Assessments.
Build effective steps
Break the complete project into a short sequence of meaningful checkpoints. Five to ten steps is usually enough to cover a workflow without turning every click into a separate instruction.
Each step can include:
Step title: A concise action or outcome, such as "Create the return" or "Publish the project."
Success looks like: A short learner-facing description of the result they should reach.
Coaching notes: Private guidance that tells the coach where controls are located, what to explain, and how to help if the learner gets stuck.
Grading notes: The exact visible evidence a screen check should use to recognize completion.
Step resources: An image, link, copy action, or practice file the learner can use from the floating panel.
Recording clip: If you created the Walkthrough from a recording, select the part that demonstrates the step. A clip can be up to 60 seconds long.
Learners see the step title, success description, reference media, and resources. They do not see private coaching or grading notes.
Choose how each step is verified
Use Verified by to choose what completes the step:
Screen: A visual check watches for a result on the learner's shared screen. Use this when completion produces a visible state, such as a new record appearing, a saved status, a selected setting, or a confirmation message.
Transcript: The coach confirms completion from what the learner says or types. Use this for planning, reflection, explanation, decisions that are not visible, downloads, and work performed outside the shared area.
For a screen-verified step, describe the finished state rather than the click that produces it. "The project name appears in the header and the unsaved indicator is gone" is verifiable. "Click Save" is not, because the visual check cannot infer that the hidden action succeeded.
Avoid criteria that depend on the exact example values from your recording. If learners can enter their own name, date, reason, or message, describe the surrounding state instead of copying the value you entered during the demonstration.
Choose the screen evidence type
Screen-verified steps have two evidence options:
Lasting state: Use this for results that remain visible, such as a created item in a list, a saved field value, or a published status. This is the best default.
Brief confirmation: Use this only when a short-lived toast, banner, or confirmation directly proves that the step succeeded.
A loading spinner, animation, or closed dialog does not prove completion by itself. If the successful result cannot be seen reliably, verify the step from the transcript instead.
Test before publishing
Preview the Walkthrough and complete it as a learner would. Use the same starting URL, permissions, and application state your learners will have.
During testing, check that:
The project link opens the correct starting location.
Each step can be completed in order from that starting state.
Screen checks advance only when the intended finished state is visible.
Brief confirmations remain visible long enough to be detected.
Coaching notes help without revealing answers or narrating every click.
Reference clips and files match the step where they appear.
The learner can recover if they choose the wrong tab or window to share.
If a correct action does not advance a screen-verified step, make its grading notes more concrete and learner-independent. If no reliable visual state exists, change the step to transcript verification.
What learners experience
The learner opens the Walkthrough and reviews its introduction and steps.
They select Set up conversation, choose the tab or window to share, and confirm the screen preview.
If you supplied a project URL, they select Go to the named application.
Mindsmith opens the coach in a small floating panel that stays available while they work in the other application.
The learner begins with voice or text. The panel shows the current step, its resources, the coach's responses, and any visual guidance.
Screen-verified steps advance when Mindsmith detects the required result. Transcript-verified steps advance through the learner's conversation with the coach.
The learner can pause, resume, change what they are sharing, switch between voice and text when allowed, or end the Walkthrough.
After the final step, the learner sees that the project is complete.
Browser and launch requirements
Guided Walkthroughs require a desktop browser with screen-sharing support. Chrome is recommended. Safari is not currently supported for screen-sharing Conversations.
The Walkthrough must run in a secure, top-level browser tab so it can request screen-sharing permission and open the floating coach panel. If a lesson is embedded, the learner may be prompted to open the activity in its own tab. Test the exact LMS, embed, or packaged launch you plan to use before assigning it broadly.
Learners also need permission to access the destination application and any practice data used by the activity. Remind them to share only the tab or window required for the task and to avoid displaying unrelated sensitive information.
Access and usage
Walkthrough authoring is available only in workspaces where the feature has been enabled. If you do not see Walkthrough mode or Record screen, contact Mindsmith to ask about access. Once a Walkthrough has been created, collaborators can edit it and learners can complete it normally.
Guided Walkthroughs use the same learner Conversation allowance as other AI Conversations. Building and testing in the editor does not consume that allowance, though editor testing has daily limits. A learner session lasting more than 30 seconds counts toward learner usage.
See AI Conversations for Conversation access, billing, and general voice and text settings. See Video Simulation for interactive training built from clips and screenshots instead of live work in another application.