Sheet Sandbox
This page covers deployment to Roll20. Guides for other VTTs will be added as export support expands.
Roll20's Sheet Sandbox is a special development environment designed for character sheet creators. It gives you a faster way to load and test your sheet than pasting into game settings every time you make a change.
What Is the Sheet Sandbox?
The Sheet Sandbox is a Roll20 game with developer features enabled. Instead of pasting your HTML and CSS into game settings, you can load your sheet files directly and see changes more quickly. It provides:
- Faster reload -- Load updated sheet files without navigating through game settings each time
- A real Roll20 environment -- Your sheet runs in the actual Roll20 platform, so you see exactly how it will behave for players
- Sheet worker console output -- View log messages and errors from your sheet worker scripts (the JavaScript generated from your Logic Editor graphs)
- Browser developer tools access -- Use your browser's built-in developer tools to inspect elements, debug styles, and diagnose issues
Setting Up the Sheet Sandbox
- Go to Roll20 and create a new game (or use an existing one you are willing to use for development).
- Open the game and go to Settings > Game Settings.
- Under Character Sheet Template, select Custom.
- Paste your exported HTML into the HTML Layout tab and CSS into the CSS Styling tab (the same process as a Custom Game Upload).
- In the game, open the browser developer tools (F12) to access the Sheet Sandbox console, which provides enhanced logging for sheet worker scripts.
For complete setup instructions and the latest features, see Roll20's official Sheet Sandbox documentation.
Create a dedicated game just for sheet development. This keeps your development work separate from actual games and lets you experiment freely without affecting players.
Using the Sandbox During Development
The typical development workflow with the Sheet Sandbox looks like this:
- Make changes to your sheet in Sheet Architect
- Export your updated files
- Load the new files into the Sheet Sandbox
- Test the changes on a character in the sandbox game
- Repeat
This is significantly faster than the custom game upload workflow because you skip the game settings page each time.
Advantages Over Custom Game Upload
| Custom Game Upload | Sheet Sandbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup effort | None | One-time setup |
| Update speed | Slow (paste into settings each time) | Fast (reload files) |
| Environment accuracy | Production Roll20 | Production Roll20 |
| Best for | Final testing, production use | Active development, rapid iteration |
Limitations
The Sheet Sandbox is great for development but has some things to keep in mind:
- Not for production -- The sandbox is a development tool. Use a standard custom game upload for actual play sessions.
- Some features may differ -- Certain Roll20 features like compendium drag-and-drop integration or marketplace content may not be available or may behave differently in the sandbox.
The Sheet Sandbox is the recommended way to test during active development. Once your sheet is stable and you are ready for your group to use it, switch to a Custom Game Upload for the actual play game.
Debugging Tips
When testing in the Sheet Sandbox:
- Open the browser console (F12, then click Console) to see sheet worker errors and log messages
- Use the Elements inspector (F12, then click Elements) to check if your CSS is applying correctly -- you can see which rules are active on any element
- Check the Network tab if your sheet seems slow to load -- large file sizes will show up here
- Test with multiple characters to make sure repeating sections and character-specific data work correctly
For more on the Sheet Sandbox, see Roll20's official Sheet Sandbox documentation.