Coding screen settings
Set the time limit, invite expiry, default reviewers and who can be invited, then unpublish, archive, restore or delete a screen.
A screen's settings live in the rail on the right of the screen editor: the Time limit, Default reviewers, and the Options below them. Open Screens in the sidebar and pick a screen to change them. Settings save as you change them, on a draft and on a live screen alike.
Only owners and editors can change a screen. Viewers can open it but not edit it.
Time limit
Pick a preset (30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 2 hours or 4 hours) or choose Custom… to enter any length in minutes, hours or days. New screens start at 90 minutes.
The timer starts when the candidate chooses Begin screen, not when they open the link. It shows in the editor header while they work. Their work saves automatically, so when time runs out the attempt ends with everything they had saved, and you can review it like any other submission. The attempt's decision log records it as Ran out of time.
Invite expiry
Invite expiry sets how long an invitation link stays open: 3 days, 7 days (the default), 14 days or 30 days. A candidate has to begin the screen before the link expires.
The window is fixed when the invite is sent, so changing the setting only affects invites you send afterwards. Sending a reminder from Candidates gives the link a fresh window of the same length.
Default reviewers
Choose teammates under Default reviewers to make them the reviewers for every attempt on this screen. They show as the reviewer on the Candidates screen until someone assigns a specific reviewer to an attempt from its review page.
If the list is empty, nobody else is in your organization yet. Invite them first: see Invite your team.
Note. The Launch checklist shows No reviewer assigned until you pick one. It's a reminder, not a blocker: a screen can launch without default reviewers.
More options
Choose Email allowlist, retakes, role family… under Options to show the rest.
Email domain allowlist
Turn on Email domain allowlist and enter a domain in Allowed email domain, such as acme.com. Kendor then refuses invites to any address that doesn't end in @acme.com. Subdomains don't match, so jo@eu.acme.com would be refused. This is useful for internal assessments or a partner's candidates.
Allow re-invite after completion
By default, you can't invite someone who has already submitted this screen. Turn on Allow re-invite after completion to invite them again. They start a new attempt, and the earlier one stays on record.
To give one candidate a second go without changing the setting, use Reset attempt on their review page instead. See Review a submission.
Role family
Role family labels the screen with the kind of role it's for, such as Senior Backend, Frontend, Platform / Infra, Data engineering or Full-stack. The label appears on the screen's card in Screens.
Proctoring and AI assistants
Two switches sit in Options too. Proctoring records tab switches, external pastes and fullscreen exits; see Integrity signals. AI assistants in the terminal lets candidates run Claude Code or Codex on your organization's keys; see Turn on Claude Code and Codex.
Draft, Live and Archived
A screen is always in one of three states, shown next to its name and as filters on Screens:
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | You can edit and preview it. Nobody can be invited, and invitation links don't open. |
| Live | Candidates can be invited and can take it. |
| Archived | Put away. Links don't open, and the screen leaves the Live and Draft lists. |
A draft becomes live when you choose Launch. That needs a name, at least one challenge, and no challenge with an invalid runtime config. Preview as candidate works on a draft too, once the screen has a challenge, so you can try it before launching.
Unpublish, archive, restore or delete
The lifecycle actions are in the More actions menu (the three dots) in the screen editor's header, and in the More menu on each card in Screens. Which ones you see depends on the state.
- Unpublish (live screens) turns the screen back into a draft and pauses invites. Do this only when nobody is mid-attempt, because invitation links stop opening while it's a draft, including for candidates who already started.
- Archive (live or draft screens) puts the screen away. Kendor refuses while a candidate is still taking it, or while an invitation is unused and hasn't expired. Cancel those invitations from the candidate's profile, or wait for them to expire or be completed.
- Restore to draft (archived screens) brings it back as a draft, ready to launch again.
- Delete removes the screen and its challenges, and any invitation links stop working. It only works before any candidate has started the screen, and it can't be undone. Once someone has started, archive it instead, so their work and your reviews stay on record.
Tip. To retire a screen you've used, archive it. Its submissions stay reachable from Candidates.