Control where your checklist appears, who sees it, and how it behaves when users navigate your app. These settings are on your checklist's settings page in Studio after selecting a checklist from Experiences > Checklists.

Set the display behavior

The display setting controls whether the checklist starts open or closed when a user lands on a targeted page.

Select one of three options:

Open once, closed after: The checklist opens automatically the first time in a session. If the user closes it, it stays closed for the rest of that browser tab session.

Closed: The checklist always starts minimized. The user must click the beacon to open it. Use this when the checklist supplements the experience but shouldn't interrupt it.

Open: The checklist starts expanded on every page load. Use this for high-priority onboarding checklists where visibility matters more than subtlety.

If you're unsure, start with Open once, closed after. It gives new users a clear prompt without being intrusive on return visits.

Set page targeting

Page targeting controls where in your app the checklist appears — which URLs and which domains.

Any page: The checklist appears on every page where Appcues is installed. Good for onboarding checklists that should follow users everywhere.

At a specific path: Set URL path conditions using "starts with," "contains," "equals," or "matches regex." For example, to show a checklist only on dashboard pages, set the path to starts with /dashboard.

If your URLs include dynamic segments (like user IDs or account IDs), use contains for the stable part or matches regex for more complex patterns. See Page Targeting for detailed instructions on dynamic URLs and regex.

Under Environment, choose which environments the checklist appears in:

Everywhere Appcues is installed: The checklist shows on all domains where your Appcues script is loaded (production, staging, etc.).

Specific domains: Select individual domains. Use this to limit a checklist to production only, or to test on staging before going live.

Click Test URL Targeting to verify your settings. Enter a URL and the tool confirms whether it matches your path and domain conditions.

If you don't see a domain in the list, it means Appcues hasn't detected recent page views from that domain. You can still type it in manually — as long as the Appcues script is installed there, the checklist will show.

Set audience targeting

Audience targeting controls who sees the checklist.

All users

Every identified user in your app sees the checklist on targeted pages. Use this for universal onboarding checklists.

Users in a segment

Target a pre-built segment. Segments are reusable across experiences, so if you already have a "New users (last 7 days)" segment, select it here.

To exclude a segment, choose Specific users, add a segment condition, and set it to doesn't match.

Specific users

Build custom targeting rules using any combination of:

• User properties — role, plan type, signup date, or any custom property you send via Appcues.identify(). For example: plan equals trial AND created_at is within the last 14 days.
• Group properties — account-level attributes like company size or industry.
• Language — the user's browser language. Useful if you have localized checklists.
• Flow interactions — target users who have or haven't seen/completed a specific flow. For example, show the checklist only after the user completes your welcome modal.
• Checklist interactions — target based on another checklist's status (not started, in progress, completed, skipped). Useful for sequencing checklists: show a "Power User" checklist only after the onboarding checklist is completed.
• Events — target users who have or haven't triggered a specific event within a timeframe.
• Segments — combine segment membership with other conditions for more granular targeting.

Use the All / Any toggle to control whether the user must match all conditions (AND) or any one of them (OR). See Use multiple targeting conditions for details.

Publish the checklist

Review your display, page, and audience settings.

Click Publish. The checklist goes live immediately for users who match your targeting.

Confirm it worked

• Open your app in a browser where you're identified as a user who matches the audience targeting.
• Navigate to a URL that matches your page targeting.
• The checklist beacon appears in the position you configured in the builder.
• Click the beacon. The checklist opens with your items.
• If you set the display to Open once, closed after, refresh the page — the checklist should start closed on the second load.

Common targeting patterns

Show the checklist only to new users: Set audience to Specific users → first_seen_at is within the last X days (adjust the window to your onboarding timeline).

Show the checklist after a welcome flow: Set audience to Specific users → Flow condition → user has completed your welcome flow.

Show different checklists by role: Create one checklist per role. Target each to Specific users → role equals admin, role equals member, etc. Make sure the segments are mutually exclusive.

Test with your team before going live: Set audience to Specific users → email contains @yourcompany.com. Publish, test, then update the audience to your real targeting before launching to customers.

Sequence two checklists: Target the second checklist to Specific users → Checklist condition → the first checklist has been completed.

A/B test two checklists: target each to a segment split by the audience randomizer property (e.g., audience_randomizer greater/less than 50). 

If the checklist isn't showing to the right users

User should see it but doesn't: Open the diagnostics tool, enter the user's ID and current URL, and switch to the Checklists tab. Click the "Ineligible" link next to your checklist to see exactly which condition failed — page, domain, or audience.

User sees it but shouldn't: Check your audience conditions for overly broad rules. Confirm that property values are case-sensitive: role equals Tester won't match a user whose role is tester.

Checklist disappeared for a user who didn't finish it: Check whether the user dismissed it. Go to Events Explorer, filter by Checklist events, find your checklist, and look for a Checklist Skipped event for that user. If the checklist is non-dismissible, check that the user's properties still match the audience targeting — properties that stop being sent can cause a user to fall out of eligibility.

Checklist shows on the wrong pages: Click Test URL Targeting on the settings page and enter the URLs where you don't want it to appear. If they match, tighten your path conditions. A common mistake: using "contains" with a short string like /app that matches more URLs than intended.

If it's still not working, collect:

• Checklist ID (from the URL on the settings page)
• User ID of the affected user
• The URL where the issue occurs
• Screenshot of the Debugger
• Screenshot of your page and audience targeting configuration

Then contact Appcues support.

Related

• Create a checklist — build the checklist, add items, and set completion criteria
• Page Targeting — detailed guide to URL path conditions, dynamic URLs, and regex
• Audience Targeting — full reference for all audience condition types
• Segments overview — create and manage reusable audience segments
• Troubleshooting Checklists — full diagnostic guide
• Preview and test your checklist — testing methods before going live