# Collect responses

> Give your artifact a form and read the answers back.

Kind: guide · ~2 min · Verified v0.127.10 · Next: [Collections, insights and dashboards](https://pr-1517-stg.superartifacts.app/docs/workspace-data.md)

![The artifact Data tab with collected responses.](https://pr-1517-stg.superartifacts.app/screenshots/docs/collect-responses-light.0d34be59.webp)

*Answers arrive on the artifact's Data tab.*

You will have a page that collects answers and a place to read them.

**Make an RSVP that collects answers**

```prompt
Using the Event RSVP template, build me an RSVP page for something I am planning — ask me one question first. Publish it, send me the link, and tell me where the answers will appear.
```

## One policy

The agent publishes one `policy` with the artifact. This is an answer sheet: one row per person, which they can come back and change.

```json
{
  "policyVersion": 1,
  "writes": "upsert",
  "perUser": "single",
  "read": "own",
  "retentionDays": null,
  "recordCap": { "perVisitor": 1, "perArtifact": 500 },
  "fields": [
    {
      "name": "attending",
      "type": "boolean",
      "required": false,
      "pii": "none",
      "description": "A yes or no answer."
    },
    {
      "name": "guests",
      "type": "integer",
      "required": false,
      "min": 0,
      "max": 10,
      "pii": "none",
      "description": "Optional, so each answer can be saved on its own."
    }
  ]
}
```

Fields can be added later; previously collected fields keep their meaning.

## Pick the shape

| What a row is | `perUser` | `writes` | Also |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| one person's answers | `single` | `upsert` | `recordCap.perVisitor: 1`, every field optional |
| one event: an order, a vote, a guestbook line | `many` | `append-only` | `uniqueBy` makes it one answer per question, for visitors (the host's own stream is never limited) |
| an item a person keeps and edits | `many` | `upsert` | |
| a thing everyone edits together: a plan, a board | `shared` | `upsert` | `key` names the field that identifies it |

`read` is what a visitor reads back: `admin`, nothing; `own`, their own rows; `contributors`, everyone's once they have answered; `public`, everyone's. You always read every row. Other people's rows reach a visitor with anything about a person hidden, and a `public` text field holds at most 280 characters.

- **Saving again** merges into the same row. An optional field sent empty (`null`) is cleared; a field left out is kept.
- **Editing a whole form** can also replace the row by its id. That replaces everything: a field the form leaves out is removed. Under `uniqueBy` the replacement must carry the row's own value of that field: an answer can change, but never move to another question.
- **Pick all that apply** is one yes-or-no field per option, so each is counted on its own.
- **Only while a question is open:** a stream can take answers during one phase only, the host's to move. See [Live rooms](https://pr-1517-stg.superartifacts.app/docs/concepts/live-rooms.md).

[Shared and live pages](https://pr-1517-stg.superartifacts.app/docs/shared-pages.md) has a prompt for each shape.

## Read, export, erase

**Read the answers and locate the export**

```prompt
Read the responses to <artifact> with super_data, tell me where its Data tab and export are, and explain how to erase a response if someone asks. Erase nothing until I name the response.
```

The **Data** tab shows responses and the schema to people allowed to work with the data. The owner sees raw answers. The agent can download an export through the responses export endpoint; the export follows its access, including any masking. `super_data` lets the owner's agent read answers back.

Erasure removes stored responses, rather than only hiding a table row. A visitor can erase their own data; the owner can erase a named response. Exported copies are separate files.

Size, field, retention and row ceilings live in [Limits](https://pr-1517-stg.superartifacts.app/docs/reference/limits.md).

## Check it worked

A submitted answer appears on **Data**. The export includes the response. After erasure, reading it back no longer returns that record.

Next: [Collections, insights and dashboards](https://pr-1517-stg.superartifacts.app/docs/workspace-data.md).