I seem to recall this is a feature, that I can check to see if the game is running in a preview and then call actions if it is or isn't, but I cannot for the life of me find where this is located in the documentation.
construct.net/en/make-games/manuals/construct-3/system-reference/system-conditions
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I did look there of course but made the mistake of searching for "Is in Debug" instead of "Is in Preview", thank you all the same.