Docs / Capturing traffic

Recording links

Get a readable, redacted recording of a customer's problem without asking them to email you a file full of cookies.

When a customer reports a problem with your API or app, the most useful thing they can send is a recording of their browser's network traffic. Asking for one usually goes badly: the steps are confusing, and the HAR file they send is full of their cookies and tokens. A recording link fixes both. Your customer gets a page with clear steps for their browser. Their browser turns the recording into a diagram and strips the secrets out, they see exactly what will be sent, and you get a readable diagram with the failed requests marked.

#Create a link

1. Sign in and open Recordings in the sidebar, under Capture.
2. Fill in What should they record?, such as "Checkout fails after entering a card". This is the title they see.
3. Optionally add Instructions for them, such as which page to start on.
4. Click Create link, then copy the Link to send. It looks like https://volley.sh/r/ followed by 20 letters and digits.

Click Preview what they see to open the page your customer will get.

#What your customer sees

The page says who asked for the recording, shows your title and instructions, and walks them through recording in Chrome or Edge, Firefox or Safari. Then they drop the HAR file on the page.

The file is read in their browser and is not uploaded. Volley turns it into a diagram of the API requests, removes cookies, tokens, passwords and API keys, and shows them the result. They can switch between Show the diagram and Show the text that will be sent to check every line, and choose another file if they recorded the wrong thing.

They can add their name or email and a note about what went wrong, both optional, then click Send to and your name. Only the diagram text is sent to you.

#What you receive

Each link lists its recordings, newest first, with the sender's name (or "Anonymous"), the date, how many requests it holds, how many failed, and their note. Click Open diagram to open it in the editor.

In the diagram:

• each API request is an arrow from Browser to the host it called, with its reply;
• static files such as images, scripts and stylesheets are left out;
• every failed request, one with no response or a status of 400 or above, is followed by a note that says Failed with the status, so problems stand out;
• payloads are trimmed to stay readable, and headers are not included.

Very large recordings are trimmed harder, and if they are still too big, only the most recent requests are kept. Your customer is told before they send.

From here you can run a drift check against your own diagram of the flow, save the recording to your account, or share it with your team.

#Manage links

• Links do not expire. They work until you delete them or they are full.
• When a link is full, your customer is told to let you know. Delete a recording to make room, or upgrade.
• Delete a recording with Delete this recording, and a link with its delete button. A deleted link stops working at once.

#Limits