How AgentShed researches a playbook
Desk research by Penelope Voss · Updated 27 October 2026
Updated 27 October 2026
TL;DR · Direct answer
A playbook is desk-researched until someone follows the steps on a real account and saves a screenshot. The badge says so. Research notes say what to check, or what the vendor docs lead you to expect. The word Tested appears only when the page has a status of tested and a screenshot path. Hands-on testing is in progress.
AgentShed writes setup guides for sole traders. None of them has been followed on a live account yet. This page is the process, including the part that has not happened.
What a page is today
Each playbook and comparison is desk-researched. The steps were compiled from vendor documentation and other public sources: a pricing page, a help article, a GOV.UK page. The badge on the page says that, names the author, and gives the date those sources were last checked. Hands-on testing is in progress. Until it is finished, the page does not say the setup was tested.
A research note says what to check when you set it up, or what is expected, based on vendor docs. It does not say what happened when someone ran the product.
What has to be true before a page says tested
Three fields in the playbook, all of them:
statusistested, notdesk-researched.testedOnis the date a person followed the steps.evidenceis a path to a screenshot of that run.
The page shows the word Tested only when all three are present. A date without a screenshot is not enough. A screenshot path that does not exist on a desk-researched page is not used. Every playbook in this library is desk-researched, with testedOn and evidence empty.
A hands-on run means a person follows the steps on a real account, or on a sandbox that behaves like one, and writes down what matched the page and what did not. The screenshot is the evidence. The changelog reads the research notes so there is not a second diary.
What we will not claim
No time-saved figure, no conversion lift, and no reliability percentage. Those would be inventions. A price is a list price from the vendor page on the date in the sources, plus a planning conversion into pounds. It is not a quote.
Screen labels move. If a step does not match what you see, the contact form is the correction. The page stays desk-researched until someone re-reads the vendor page or, later, runs the steps and files a screenshot.
Sponsors and affiliate links are a separate rule, on the editorial page. A sponsor does not get to edit a verdict, a research note, or a direct answer.
Questions
Has any playbook been run on a live account?
No. Every current playbook has status desk-researched. The testedOn date and the evidence path are empty. The badge says desk-researched, and the research notes say what to check when you set it up.
When can a page say Tested?
Only when status is tested, testedOn is a date, and evidence is a path to a screenshot of the run. A research note is not that evidence. Without the screenshot, the page stays desk-researched.
What is a research note?
It is what the vendor documentation leads you to expect, or what to check when you set the steps up. It is not a result from running the product, and it is not a pass or a fail.