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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pawtograder.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Testing an Assignment

Although Pawtograder does not provide a feature to “impersonate” a student, it does provide a robust feature to allow staff to test an assignment. This feature provisions staff with a repository just like any other student would have, but it does not show up in the list of student submissions. You can even mark up the submission with rubric checks to perform a complete end-to-end test of the assignment.

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Creating a Test Repository

After creating an assignment, you can test it by clicking the “Test Assignment” button, and then clicking “Create Repositories.” This works for both individual and group assignments - for group assignments, the system will create a test group repository for you to test the group workflow.
Test Assignment button on the assignment page
After a moment of processing, the page should show a link to your repository. You can then browse that repo, edit things, and commit/push to that repo. For group-only assignments, the test repository creation process properly handles group configurations, creating the appropriate group repository structure to verify that group permissions and workflows are configured correctly.
Link to view the test repository

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Viewing Test Submissions

After the submission completes, you’ll see a link to view it on that “Test Assignment” page. You may need to refresh the page to see the link, which will only appear once the submission is complete.
Link to view the test submission

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Grading Test Submissions

The test submission page will look just like it will when viewing a student’s submission. You can navigate between rubrics (if applicable) from the dropdown in the right sidebar. You can also navigate between submissions (from students or even from other staff members) from the dropdown in the top bar.
Test submission grading interface with rubric sidebar

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Repository Analytics

Pawtograder provides analytics for assignment repositories to help you understand student engagement and development patterns. Repository analytics include:
  • Commit history and frequency
  • Code contribution metrics
  • Development timeline visualization
  • Activity patterns across the assignment period
These analytics are available for both test repositories and student repositories, allowing you to verify that the assignment workflow is functioning as expected before releasing to students.
Repository analytics are particularly useful for group assignments, where you can track individual contributions and ensure equitable participation among group members.

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Test Insights and Regrading

After students submit, you can use the Test Insights view to analyze common error patterns:

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Viewing Common Errors

The Test Insights page shows:
  • Error patterns grouped by test name and error signature
  • Number of affected submissions
  • Average scores for each error group
  • Sample error outputs

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Regrading Workflow

When you identify an error pattern that needs regrading:
  1. Click Regrade Submissions on the error group
  2. Choose an autograder version:
    • Select a recent commit from the main branch
    • Or enter a custom SHA
  3. Optionally enable Auto-promote to make new scores official immediately
  4. View and copy affected student emails if needed
  5. Click Regrade to queue the submissions
The regrade process runs asynchronously. You can monitor progress on the Workflow Runs page.

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Viewing Affected Submissions

Click View Submissions on an error group to navigate to the Rerun Autograder page with those submissions pre-selected. This makes it easy to review the affected submissions before deciding whether to regrade.

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Rerunning the Autograder

When testing or debugging grading issues, you can rerun the autograder on any submission:
  1. Reuse submission: The rerun uses the same submission record rather than creating a new one
  2. Select grader version: Choose which version of the grader to use for the rerun:
    • Use the current grader configuration
    • Select a specific commit from the grader repository history
    • Enter a manual SHA for precise version control
This feature is particularly useful for:
  • Testing grader changes without affecting student submissions
  • Debugging grading issues with different grader versions
  • Validating fixes before deploying to production