--- title: "How to start a live coding interview" description: "Set up the code once, add your interviewers, then start a session now or schedule one. The candidate joins from a link with no account." updated: 2026-10-06 canonical: https://kendor.io/docs/live-coding/start-a-live-coding-interview --- # How to start a live coding interview Open **Live coding** in the sidebar, choose **New live coding interview**, add the code, then choose **Invite**. You can start the session right away and share the link, or schedule it and email the invitation. A live coding interview is a reusable setup: the code, a brief and a panel of interviewers. Each candidate you invite gets their own session, and every session opens a fresh copy of the code. Only owners and editors can create one or invite candidates. ## Add the code Under **Code**, add the project the session opens with. It saves as you go, so the interview exists as soon as the code is added. - **From a repository:** paste a link into the **Repository URL** field and choose **Check**. GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and your own Git server all work. See [Import from any Git host](/docs/repo-import/import-from-any-git-host). - **Blank project:** under **Or add:**, choose **Blank project** to start from one of Kendor's starters. - **Single file:** choose **Single file** for an algorithm-style question with one file and no running app. - **Library:** choose **Library** to start from a template. A live coding interview holds one project. **Invite** stays disabled, with the hint **Add the code first**, until it has one. Give the interview a name at the top of the page, and write a **Brief for the candidate** if you want one. The brief appears in the room's **Prompt** tab, and you can still change it during a session. ## Choose your interviewers In the right-hand panel, pick people under **Interviewers**. They're added to the panel of every session, and each of them gives a verdict afterwards. Whoever sends an invite is always on that session's panel too. **Default session length (minutes)** sets the starting length for each invite, between 15 and 480 minutes. Leave it empty for 60. The length is only a guide for the room clock: nothing stops when it runs out. ## Decide on AI agents **AI assistants in the terminal** lets anyone in the session run Claude Code and Codex in the sandbox terminal, on your organization's API keys. It's on by default. If your organization has no key for a vendor, a note under the switch says which agent won't work, with a link to add one in **Integrations**. See [Turn on Claude Code and Codex](/docs/ai-agents/turn-on-claude-code-and-codex). You can override this setting for a single invite, and an interviewer can switch agents on or off during the session. ## Invite a candidate Choose **Invite** on the live coding interview. You can also start from **Calendar** with **Invite to a live coding interview**, or from a candidate's profile with **Live code**, which fills in their details. In the dialog, pick **Start now** or **Schedule**. ### Start now Choose **Start session** and you go straight into the room. Copy the link with **Copy link** in the room's header and send it to the candidate, for example in the chat of a call you're already on. The candidate's name and email are optional here. Leave **Candidate details** folded and the candidate gives them in the lobby. ### Schedule Pick a **Date and time** in the future and choose **Schedule**. An email is required, because the next step is the invitation: Kendor opens the email composer with a draft you can edit before you choose **Send email**. Scheduled sessions get a reminder the day before. The candidate's link opens the room 10 minutes before the start time. See [Rescheduling and reminders](/docs/calendar/rescheduling-and-reminders). For both options, **Length (minutes)** overrides the default length, and **Claude Code and Codex in the terminal** overrides the AI setting for this one session. ## The candidate's lobby The candidate doesn't need a Kendor account. The link is their way in, and an interviewer still has to let them in. 1. They open the link and land in a green room titled **Check your camera, then ask to join**, with a preview of their camera and microphone. 2. If you didn't enter their details, they fill in **Your name** and **Your email**. 3. They choose **Ask to join** and wait. > **Note.** If Kendor records the session's terminals and AI agent chats, the lobby tells the candidate before they join. Kendor doesn't record the call's audio or video. Signed-in members of your organization who open the same link join as interviewers, not as the candidate. ## Admit or deny the candidate When the candidate asks to join, every interviewer in the room sees **{name} is asking to join** with **Admit** and **Deny**. - **Admit** brings them into the room and the call. - **Deny** sends them back to the lobby with **You weren't admitted this time.** Their link stays valid, so they can ask again. ## If the candidate doesn't show up If you end a session the candidate never joined, nothing is kept. A session you started now is removed, and a scheduled one is marked **No-show** in the **Sessions** list. Sessions nobody ends are closed automatically two hours after their booked end. To stop new invites to a live coding interview, open the **More actions** menu next to **Invite** and choose **Archive**. Choose **Restore to draft** from the same menu to bring **Invite** back.