# Inspect a shared artifact bundle

Canonical: https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/developers/artifact-bundle/

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

Agent summary: Inspect the files in a downloaded Recorder bundle and choose the evidence relevant to an investigation.

## Prerequisites

- A Recorder artifact folder or selected files shared by a tester

## Inputs

- session.md and any supplied HAR, logs, action exports, scripts, notes, or images

## Outputs

- An evidence inventory and a focused investigation path

## Limitations

- The artifact folder does not include every detail available during the tester's review

## Permissions

- Access to the supplied files

## Privacy

- Review every supplied file before copying it to another destination


Identify the supplied Recorder files and choose the evidence for your investigation.

Treat a shared Recorder bundle as a collection of independent artifacts. Use your editor, a HAR viewer, browser developer tools, and your existing test tools to inspect them.

## Start with the files you received

Open `session.md` first. It provides the tester's title and description, session context, numbered actions, evidence counts, and links to files Recorder expected to generate. Then compare that list with the files that are actually present.

| Artifact | Use it for | Important boundary |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `session.md` | Expected and observed behavior, action order, start time, duration, and evidence counts | It contains tester-authored conclusions as well as generated summaries. |
| `notes.md` | Source-linked observations and field paths | It is omitted when the recording has no saved notes or pins. |
| `network.har` | Captured HTTP requests, responses, headers, bodies, and HAR timings | Bodies can be redacted, truncated, unavailable, or binary. |
| `console.log` | Captured console text and stack traces | It may be absent even when `session.md` contains a link to it. |
| `steps.json` | Chrome DevTools Recorder actions | It is not a Fairlead Report and does not contain every captured event. |
| `playwright.spec.ts` | Generated Playwright actions | It needs setup, safe data, stable locators, and assertions. |
| `puppeteer.js` | Generated Puppeteer actions | Reaching the final line does not establish a passing result. |
| `screenshots/*.png` | Visible state selected by the tester | Pixels are not automatically masked, and an image may omit decisive context. |

The folder is not a serialized runtime Report and is not a portable copy of the session Viewer. Viewer-only filters, privacy decisions, WebSocket frames, environment panels, and performance panels cannot be recovered from these files unless the tester separately described or exported the relevant observation.

## Choose the first artifact

- Start with `session.md` and `notes.md` to understand the claim and locate the decisive action.
- Open `network.har` when the question concerns submitted data, returned state, timing, or an application-level error.
- Open `console.log` when the browser reported an exception or diagnostic message.
- Compare screenshots with the action and response when the visible state is decisive.
- Use the generated action files only when you are authorized to reproduce the flow in a controlled environment.

Keep observations from each file separate until identifiers, values, and timestamps support joining them. Proximity in time suggests where to investigate; it does not prove causation.

## Handle missing or partial bundles

Do not infer that an absent file was empty. Ask the sender whether the file was not generated, failed to download, was intentionally withheld, or contained no supported entries. State which conclusion is blocked by the gap.

If evidence that is not represented in the supplied files is necessary, ask the tester to record the observation in Description or a source-linked note and download a new bundle. Name the missing observation instead of asking for “the whole session.”

Use the [sample bundle](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/schema/#sample-reproduction-bundle) to practise the file-first workflow. It contains no runtime Report or `console.log`, and its screenshots need the action timeline and HAR to establish the final lane.