# Recorder overview

Canonical: https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/overview/

Updated: 2026-10-10
Publication state: published
Product version: Recorder source f6ed5b96

Agent summary: A tour of Recorder's Explore, Test case, and Verify fix setup, recording controls, viewer tabs, results, and send destinations.

## Prerequisites

- Recorder installed in Chrome

## Inputs

- An application to test
- A stopped recording for exploring the viewer

## Outputs

- An understanding of where to record, inspect evidence, and prepare a handoff

## Limitations

- The retained timeline is bounded
- Available controls depend on recording state and project configuration
- Stored-session review differs from local review

## Permissions

- Access to the application and evidence being reviewed

## Privacy

- Review captured data before downloading, uploading, or submitting it
- Project generation sends the report to the configured Data Plane


Find your way around the side panel, recording controls, and session viewer.

Recorder has three places to work: the **side panel** beside your application, **in-page controls** while recording, and the **session viewer** for reviewing evidence. This tour explains where to go and what each section helps you do.

For a grouped list of keys for all three places, use the [keyboard shortcuts reference](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/shortcuts/).

You can record, review, and download locally without an account. Sign in and select a project before recording when you need your team's configured capture rules or sharing destinations. See [Local recording and connected projects](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/local-and-connected/).

## Side panel: prepare and control the recording

Open the side panel with the **Fairlead Recorder** icon in Chrome's toolbar. Opening it does not start capture.

### Choose the recording context

Use **Continue without an account** when you want to investigate locally and share downloaded files yourself. With no tracker connected, the title and description name and explain the local session; they do not create a ticket.

For a team workflow, sign in and select the assigned project before recording. That choice supplies the capture and redaction rules, issue destinations, and report-storage service. If the project has multiple tracker destinations, choose the one containing the issue you are testing. A missing destination is a project-configuration problem; a request to connect your personal tracker account is an authorization problem. Recorder directs you to Control Plane for that account connection.

Signing in after starting does not turn a local recording into a project session. Preserve it, then start a new recording in the intended project. See [Local recording and connected projects](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/local-and-connected/).

### Choose Explore, Test case, or Verify fix

The first row states what the recording is for:

| Session type | Lookup | Result after Stop |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Explore** | Optional Issue; leave empty to prepare a new report | No Recorder result selector |
| **Test case** | Type the authoritative case ID; TMS search is unavailable | Passed, Failed, or Blocked |
| **Verify fix** | Select the issue being verified | Fixed or Not fixed |

For an issue lookup, Recorder can fill an unchanged Title and offers **Add** when the issue has a description. Add appends that text to Description; it does not replace your text or stay synchronized. Verify the issue key and use its link for full tracker context.

For Test case, keep the case open in the TMS. Recorder stores the typed ID but does not fetch instructions or synchronize the result. Attach reviewed evidence and enter the result manually. See [Testing workflows](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/testing-workflows/) and [TMS handoff](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/tms-evidence/).

### Record a focused attempt

Select **Start recording** when the application is ready for the check. The status and elapsed timer tell you whether capture is running. Perform the interaction, then select **Stop recording** promptly after the result appears.

Check the [retained-timeline and session limits](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/developers/capture-support/#recording-retention) before starting. For a longer case, save short checkpoints and keep a separate account of the full execution. **New recording** clears the local session, so use it only after preserving the evidence you need.

### Add the visible result

While recording, use the in-page **Capture** or **Area** controls. After Stop, add existing files or clipboard images in the local Viewer's **Screenshots & Attachments** tab. Capture an error message or unexpected state while it is visible; Recorder does not create a screenshot for every action.

An image added after Stop can explain the result, but it does not recreate missing requests or actions. Images outside the frozen recording interval are not included in the report by default; review their inclusion controls. Local downloads can still contain those images, so check the actual screenshot folder before sharing it.

### Move from capture to review

After stopping, select **Investigate** to inspect the recording. Account-free sessions also offer **Download report** in the panel; connected sessions can download from the viewer. Downloading saves files to your computer. It does not create an issue or upload a report.

For a complete first attempt, follow [Record your first test](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/quick-start/).

## In-page controls: stay with the application

The recording toolbar lets you work without keeping the side panel open. **Capture** takes an image of the visible viewport; **Area** lets you select a region. **Panel** opens the side panel, and **Stop** ends recording. You can move the controls out of the way.

A viewport capture does not stitch together the whole scrollable page. Stopping freezes the retained timeline; taking another screenshot does not resume action or network capture. See [Screenshots and attachments](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/screenshots/) and [Start, stop, and reset](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/recording-lifecycle/).

## Session viewer: inspect and explain the evidence

After stopping, select **Investigate**. The viewer opens in an extension tab. Its sections answer different questions about the same recording; you do not need to inspect every tab for every test.

### Overview

Start here to decide what needs investigation before you hand off the recording. Evidence counts, review prompts, and items needing attention point you to failed requests, warning/error messages, or selectors that could make an exported test unreliable. Follow a prompt into the relevant evidence section. The viewer opens here when it detects failed requests, warning or error logs, or locator risks; otherwise it opens on Actions.

Readiness indicators help organize review. They do not establish that a test passed or that all sensitive information has been removed.

### Description and session context

Use Description to turn the capture into an account another person can reproduce: starting conditions, what you tried, expected/actual behavior, result, evidence, and gaps. The context above it shows the session type, available issue or test-case lookup, and selected result. Older stored reports can contain a separate legacy reproduction-notes value; current local recordings use Description.

Choose **Write**, **Split**, or **Preview** to edit Markdown, see text and its formatted result together, or read the result alone. Text saves after a pause and when you leave the field. A save error appears above the editor and marks the tab; resolve it before leaving. Saving the draft does not submit it to the tracker.

Use **Add** to bring evidence into the account:

| Menu item | What it adds | When to use it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Recorded actions** | The local action sequence and starting page, including custom action names. It includes actions regardless of the Actions tab's current filters. | Preserve the captured sequence without retyping it. |
| **Notes** | Saved notes and pins with their source context. | Bring the observations that explain the finding into the handoff. |
| **Steps to reproduce** | Generated numbered instructions. | Turn captured actions into a procedure the recipient can follow. |
| **Steps written by AI** | Instructions written from the recording using AI. | Produce a readable draft, then check its claims against the evidence. |

Inserted text goes at the cursor, replacing a selection when present; without a cursor in the field it goes at the end under a heading. **Undo** reverses the insertion. Inserting notes copies their current text into the account; review that text again if you later change the source notes.

Recorded actions and Notes insertion work locally. Both step-generation options require sign-in, a configured project Data Plane, and permission to save recorded data. The Data Plane is the project's service for report storage and processing. Deterministic generation sends a reduced report without network headers/bodies, logs, or attachments; AI generation sends the full report. Neither option is an offline operation.

**Improve → Rewrite with AI**, when available, rewrites the text already in the field. It differs from adding a source section: review the replacement and use **Undo** to restore the previous text if needed. Generation or rewriting can fail independently of local editing, so you can still write your own account.

This editor is not available for stored sessions opened from Control Plane. Use the separate Notes tab for observations attached to specific evidence.

### Actions

Use **Recorded Actions** for the sequence of interactions and **Event Log** for individual event details. Search the actions, inspect a target or selector, and follow available links to related requests and messages.

For a long list, use **Key actions only**, **Has evidence**, or **Needs attention** to narrow what you inspect, and **Group by page** to follow navigation. Filters change the view; they do not trim the exported recording.

Open an action to explain an ambiguous target, add a note or pin, and inspect its related evidence. **Rename** can replace a vague narrative with a clearer name; the original remains available, and renaming does not change the captured input or generated test commands. **Delete** is different: where allowed, confirmed deletion permanently removes the action from the report and exports. Actions anchoring related evidence are protected from deletion.

Use this view to answer “What did the tester do just before the problem?” Related evidence inferred from timing is a lead to investigate, not proof of causation. Earlier actions may be missing from the retained interval.

### Screenshots & Attachments

Inspect the images that show the visible result. Compare a screenshot with the action and request evidence, and review the available attachment controls before preparing a handoff.

For a badge or layout defect, use an area crop for the symptom and a wider image for the page context. Add a source-linked note to explain what the reviewer should notice.

Report inclusion affects the images sent with the report and tracker submission. Local downloads retain session images even when they are excluded from that report or outside its retained interval. An area crop may omit the lane or page heading, so compare it with the action and request evidence before drawing a conclusion. See [Screenshots and attachments](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/screenshots/).

### Tests

Preview generated **Playwright** and **Puppeteer** scripts, inspect locator risks, and download the format your developer needs. The full download also includes `steps.json` for Chrome DevTools Recorder.

Choose the format your team uses, inspect the preview, and copy or download it for the test project. Locator warnings identify selectors to check against the application rather than merely increasing a timeout.

For the sticky Blocked badge example, a script can successfully click both lanes and still miss the bug. A developer must add checks that the card reaches In progress and that its Blocked badge disappears. Generated actions also need authentication, test data, and stable locators before they become a reliable automated test. Local test generation is not available in stored-session review. See [Turn a recording into a reliable automated test](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/developers/reliable-automated-tests/).

### Timeline

Inspect the ordering and timing of captured events, including available lifecycle and performance evidence. Use it to compare an interaction with surrounding activity when investigating a delay or unexpected result.

For a slow interaction, compare the action time with the following requests and available long-task or paint events. This helps decide whether to investigate network delay, browser work, or the UI response. Check timestamps: some performance measurements describe page loading before recording began.

The timeline is not a video replay or a complete browser profiler. Its retained interval can be shorter than the elapsed session. See [Environment and performance evidence](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/environment-and-performance/).

### Network

Search or filter traffic and open a request to inspect its method, URL, status, headers, payload, response, and timing. Copy a request as cURL or HAR when a developer needs to investigate it separately.

Start with the endpoint and time associated with your check, then compare the submitted value with the returned one. In the [sample investigation](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/developers/trace-a-failure/#worked-example-the-sticky-blocked-tag), the lane-change request succeeds, but the following response still carries the blocked flag. That gives the developer a specific state-update question.

Search within a request to locate a value across detail tabs. Where captured, WebSocket frames and EventStream messages provide evidence for live updates. A missing response body may mean it was not captured or could not be retrieved; read the reason shown before assuming the server returned nothing. Copying as cURL prepares a request that may change data if executed, so review its destination and inputs.

A successful HTTP status does not establish correct application behavior. Read the body and compare it with the expected result. Missing, truncated, or redacted content limits what you can conclude. See [Network requests and responses](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/network/).

### Console

Review application messages, exceptions, and browser errors. Filter the entries and inspect available stack traces to connect a symptom with code or a request.

Use the level and source filters to separate an application exception from browser warnings. Compare its time and available stack trace with the relevant action or request, then add a note on the entry that explains its significance. This preserves the exact error for the developer instead of requiring them to search the entire log.

An empty console does not mean the test passed. Log text can also contain sensitive values that need review before sharing. See [Console and browser errors](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/console/).

### Environment

Read the recorded browser, page, viewport, language, colour scheme, connection, and available page-load context. Use it to explain the conditions under which the result occurred.

For a layout difference, compare viewport size, pixel ratio, and browser zoom between attempts. For slow loading, check the document-load timings and the browser-reported connection estimate. That estimate is context, not a measured bandwidth benchmark; the document load can also precede the route where you started recording.

Add application build, account role, and test-data preconditions separately when needed. A browser version does not identify the application build. See [Environment and performance evidence](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/environment-and-performance/).

### Notes

Review saved observations attached to evidence. Mark an observation as important, edit a comment or remove a note, or select **View evidence** to return to its source. Add notes while inspecting actions, requests, console entries, or other supported evidence.

Use **Pin** when you want to mark an event for follow-up without writing a comment yet. A pin and a comment are separate: you can add the explanation later, and a pinned event can remain after its comment is removed. Use **Important** for a note that the recipient should not miss. **Add → Notes** in Description brings these marked observations into the report narrative.

Keep observations specific: “Expected the badge to clear; this response still has the blocked flag.” Select **Save comment** to save note edits and check for errors. Notes are your written observations, so review them for sensitive information. See [Add notes to evidence](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/notes/).

### Privacy preview

Use this section to answer two different questions: “What sensitive values are included?” and “Is enough evidence present to explain the result?” The source ledger groups **Policy rules**, **Your decisions**, and **Not sanitized** report content. Select a source to inspect the values and records it affected, then follow links to the exact request, action, or log. Counts overlap when an overridden value appears under both its rule and your decision; an unavailable count is not zero.

In supported local evidence fields, right-click to open note and **Redact** or **Unredact** actions. Manual redactions change the reviewed report and generated artifacts; allowing automatically hidden originals into exports depends on the session policy. Some fields have no supported privacy control.

The **Originals** toggle has a different purpose: it shows or hides available original values locally and controls whether searches match them. Showing an original does not authorize its export; hiding it on screen does not redact the export. Review export decisions separately.

Use **Not sanitized → Recording composition**, **Truncated bodies**, and **Screenshots** to record gaps in the handoff. Redaction cannot recover bytes that were never captured, and field-level sanitization does not mask image pixels. Clicked-image thumbnails are included with action evidence and cannot be hidden in Privacy preview.

A clean summary is not a guarantee that the session is safe to share. Pay particular attention to written text and screenshot pixels. See [Review data before sharing](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/review-redaction/).

## Viewer header: name and preserve the session

Edit the title field in the header to name the attempt by check, build, or result. Press Enter or leave the field to save; Escape restores the previous title. The name also determines the folder for subsequent local downloads.

Choose the handoff that matches the recipient:

- **Download** saves the available evidence files locally. Check the actual files and Chrome download results before attaching them elsewhere. If some downloads fail, keep the session and retry.
- With a configured tracker, submit to create the new issue or update the selected one. Read the result, open the returned issue, and confirm the text and screenshots arrived.
- Report storage in the project Data Plane is a separate result. An issue can succeed while a screenshot or report upload fails; retry the failed operation rather than creating another issue. HAR files are not automatically attached by the tracker screenshot workflow.

If submission times out with an unknown outcome, check the tracker before retrying. For a TMS, attach reviewed files or an accessible link to the intended case/run and enter its result there.

**Return to recording** takes you back to the recording context; it does not resume a stopped capture. The viewer URL refers to extension-local evidence and is not a shareable report link. See [Open the session viewer](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/session-viewer/) and [Download session artifacts](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/bundle-contents/).

## Key facts before your first recording

- Capture begins at **Start recording** and follows the [retained-timeline limit](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/developers/capture-support/#recording-retention). Preserve short checkpoints for longer tests.
- Review and save the evidence you need before **New recording** clears the local session.
- Available controls depend on recording state, project configuration, and whether the session is local or stored. For remote review, follow [Open a stored session](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/stored-sessions/).
- Recorder supplies evidence; you decide whether the expected result was met. Record that assessment in your issue or [test result](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/test-outcomes/).

Continue with [Record your first test](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/quick-start/). If a section is empty, check that the recording has stopped and is still available locally; see [Recording and missing evidence](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/troubleshooting/).