Live session

In plain words

A live session lets you record in your browser while a web page shows your steps as they happen, and lets you correct them straight away. It currently runs on your own computer and is meant for people who are comfortable with a terminal.

A live session lets you record in your browser and watch, edit and finish the test on a web page at the same time. You choose which browser tab to record from the page, the steps appear as you click, and you can fix locators and check them against the real page while you work. A session lasts at most 24 hours and then ends for good.

What works today

The relay and the page run on your computer and are reached only from your computer (127.0.0.1). That keeps everything private, but it also means a phone or another computer cannot open the page yet. A hosted version, with sign-in, is planned. See What's coming.

Start a session

You need StepTrails installed and the extension loaded.

1. In a terminal, in the StepTrails folder, run:

   node bin/relay.js

   It prints a link, an address and a 6-digit code.

2. Open the link in your browser. Keep it private: it is the key to the session.

3. In the StepTrails extension, open Live session, enter the address and the code, and press Connect. The code works once and for 10 minutes; the page has a New code button.

4. On the page, choose the tab to record and press Start recording. Use that tab as a user would.

To end the session earlier, press End session on the page. Add --hours 8 to the command for a shorter session (up to 24).

What you can do on the page

• Watch the steps appear as they are recorded, with the name of each action.
• Stop, then edit: reorder with the arrows, add a 1 second pause, delete a step, or correct a typed value. Editing is disabled while recording, because the steps are still arriving.
• Check locators: open locators under a step to see its ranked locators, each with an accuracy grade and how many elements it matches on the page right now. Locate highlights the element on the page (the highlight lasts about 8 seconds, so switch to that tab to see it). Use as main makes a backup locator the main one, and you can type your own main locator.
• Re-check all tests every locator against the tab you choose and marks each step Found, Uses a backup, Not found or ambiguous.
• Get the test: Download Playwright test, Copy test or Save recording, the same as in the extension. The downloaded recording does not contain cookies or storage; those stay in the extension.

Privacy and safety

• Only your computer. The relay listens on 127.0.0.1 and refuses requests from other websites and other host names, so a web page cannot talk to it behind your back.
• A key and a code. The page needs the long key in its link; the extension needs the one-use code. Five wrong codes lock pairing for a minute. After the extension pairs it gets a token so it can reconnect without a new code.
• Nothing is written to disk. Steps live in memory while the session runs. When it ends (after 24 hours, or when you press End session) they are discarded, so download what you need first.
• Passwords are still masked in the browser before anything is sent, and cookie and storage values stay in the extension.
• Website text is only text. Step descriptions and tab titles come from websites, so the page shows them as plain text and never runs them.

Limits

• One extension per session, and one tab recorded at a time (you can switch tabs after stopping).
• It does not run a replay or show page speed yet; use node bin/replay.js for that. Running replays from the page is planned.
• The page works on a phone-sized screen, but only a device on this computer can open it for now.