# Understand capture rules

Canonical: https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/capture-configuration/

Updated: 2026-10-07
Publication state: published
Product version: Source verified — 52de40a

Agent summary: Understand why scope, payload limits, and redaction rules affect recorded evidence. Project sensitive-key lists replace the local baseline; rule changes do not repair shared evidence.

## Prerequisites

- An application check and its recording context

## Inputs

- Required domains and data-handling rules

## Outputs

- Capture gaps identified for the project administrator

## Limitations

- Project sensitive-key lists replace the local baseline; rule changes do not repair shared evidence

## Permissions

- Access to the recording

## Privacy

- Review content and destination before sharing


Understand why scope, payload limits, and redaction rules affect recorded evidence.

Recorder applies the settings selected when recording starts. Account-free recording uses built-in rules; connected recording uses the assigned project's rules. This guide explains their effect on evidence. Control Plane setup is outside this guide.

## Check page and network scope

Account-free recording derives its scope from the starting hostname family, with a leading `www.` normalized. Connected projects can have separate page and network rules. If an expected request is missing, first clear Network filters, then check its domain and whether it occurred inside the [retained interval](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/developers/capture-support/#recording-retention).

Give the project administrator the missing URL, recording time, and selected project when a rule needs investigation. Capture scope does not restrict connected correlation-header destinations; see [backend correlation](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/session-correlation/).

## Recognize body limits

Payload size and content-type rules affect which bodies are retained. The account-free default size limit is 512 KiB. A missing or truncated response is not proof that the server returned no data, and increasing a future limit cannot restore bytes absent from this recording.

Read the reason in [Network](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/network/) and identify the affected request in your handoff.

## Understand excluded elements and frames

Excluded selectors suppress matching DOM capture. They do not obscure pixels in a screenshot. Untrusted iframe input values may be unavailable even when an interaction was captured; a missing value does not mean the tester left the field blank.

Use [navigation and frame guidance](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/navigation-and-frames/) to explain these gaps. Review images separately.

## Review sensitive values

Project sensitive-key lists replace the account-free baseline. Always-on password/passwd/secret matching remains. Supported manual redactions affect reviewed exports; including automatically hidden originals depends on the session's reveal policy.

Read [How redaction works](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/redaction-rules/) and inspect the evidence before sharing. If your team changes project settings, preserve the existing session and start a new recording to check their effect. Existing downloads and submitted reports are separate copies.