Commands

StepTrail has three commands you type in a terminal. Everything else is done in the browser extension.

What is a terminal?

A text window where you type commands: Terminal on Mac, PowerShell on Windows. You only need it for the commands below.

Replay a recording

Plays a saved recording in a fresh browser and tells you whether every step worked.

node bin/replay.js recording.json

Replace recording.json with the file you saved from the extension. Add any of the options below after it.

Option	What it does	When to use it
--headed	Shows the browser window while it replays	To watch what happens
--continue	Keeps going after a step fails	To see every failure, not just the first
--html report.html	Saves a report you can open in a browser	To share results with people
--junit report.xml	Saves a report in the format test tools read	To feed CI or a test-management tool
--csv report.csv	Saves a spreadsheet of the steps	To open in Excel or Sheets
--json	Prints the full result as data	For other programs, not for people
--memory shop	Uses and updates the screen memory for the system shop: locators proven before heal broken steps, and this replay teaches the memory	To make replays recover from page changes. See Screen memory
--fail-on-slow	Fails the run if any page is rated Poor for speed	To stop a build on a slow page. See Page speed
--repeat 3	Replays 3 times (1 to 10) and uses the median speed of each page	For steadier speed numbers, on flows that are safe to repeat
--no-perf	Skips the page speed measurements	If you do not want them in the report
--fail-on high	Fails the run if a security finding is at or above this level (critical, high, medium, low, info)	To stop a build on serious security findings
--no-security	Skips the security checks	If you do not want findings in the report
--jira	Files a Jira bug if the replay fails	See File Jira bugs automatically

Result: the command finishes with code 0 when every step passed (and, if you used --fail-on or --fail-on-slow, no security finding or slow page crossed that line). Any other code means something failed, which is how automated systems know to raise an alarm. Security findings are listed after the steps; see Security checks.

Example: watch the replay and save a report.

node bin/replay.js recording.json --headed --html report.html

Generate a test script

Turns a recording into a test script you can keep and run again. You rarely need this: the extension's Download Playwright test button makes the same file with one click. Use the command when you want to generate tests from saved recordings in a script.

node bin/generate.js recording.json --out my-test.spec.js

Option	What it does	When to use it
--out my-test.spec.js	Saves the script to this file. Without it, the script is shown on screen	Almost always
--with-session	Includes your saved login in the script	Only if the flow needs you logged in. Treat the file like a password

More in Generate a test script.

Look after the screen memory

Shows and manages what StepTrail has learned about each system. See Screen memory for what is stored and what never is.

node bin/memory.js show --system shop

Command	What it does
learn <recording> --system <name>	Adds what a recording shows
show --system <name>	Lists screens, elements and routes
route --system <name> <from> <to>	The shortest known route between two screens
systems	The systems automated so far
check	Scans the memory files for personal data and addresses (use it in a build)
forget --system <name> --yes	Removes one system's memory