chrome.devtools.recorder

See DevTools APIs summary for general introduction to using Developer Tools APIs.

# Overview

devtools.recorder API is a preview feature that allows you to extend the Recorder panel in Chrome DevTools. Starting from Chrome M105, you can extend the export functionality. Starting from Chrome M112, you can extend the replay button.

# Customizing the export feature

To register an extension plugin, use the registerRecorderExtensionPlugin function. This function requires a plugin instance, a name and a mediaType as parameters. The plugin instance must implement two methods: stringify and stringifyStep.

The name provided by the extension shows up in the Export menu in the Recorder panel.

Depending on the export context, when the user clicks the export option provided by the extension, the Recorder panel invokes one of the two functions:

• stringify that receives an entire user flow recording
• stringifyStep that receives a single recorded step

The mediaType parameter allows the extension to specify the kind of output it generates with the stringify and stringifyStep functions. For example, application/javascript if the result is a JavaScript program.

# Export plugin example

The following code implements an extension plugin that stringifes a recording using JSON.stringify:

class MyPlugin {
  stringify(recording) {
    return Promise.resolve(JSON.stringify(recording));
  }
  stringifyStep(step) {
    return Promise.resolve(JSON.stringify(step));
  }
}

chrome.devtools.recorder.registerRecorderExtensionPlugin(
  new MyPlugin(),
  /*name=*/'MyPlugin',
  /*mediaType=*/'application/json'
);

# Customizing the replay button

To customize the replay button in the Recorder, use the registerRecorderExtensionPlugin function. The plugin must implement the replay method for the customization to take effect. If the method is detected, a replay button will appear in the Recorder. Upon clicking the button, the current recording object will be passed as the first argument to the replay method.

At this point, the extension can display a RecorderView for handling the replay or use other extension APIs to process the replay request. To create a new RecorderView, invoke chrome.devtools.recorder.createView.

# Replay plugin example

The following code implements an extension plugin that creates a dummy Recorder view and displays it upon a replay request:

const view = await chrome.devtools.recorder.createView(
  /* name= */ 'ExtensionName',
  /* pagePath= */ 'Replay.html'
);

let latestRecording;

view.onShown.addListener(() => {
  // Recorder has shown the view. Send additional data to the view if needed.
  chrome.runtime.sendMessage(JSON.stringify(latestRecording));
});

view.onHidden.addListener(() => {
  // Recorder has hidden the view.
});

export class RecorderPlugin {
  replay(recording) {
    // Share the data with the view.
    latestRecording = recording;
    // Request to show the view.
    view.show();
  }
}

chrome.devtools.recorder.registerRecorderExtensionPlugin(
  new RecorderPlugin(),
  /* name=*/ 'CoffeeTest'
);

Find a complete extension example on GitHub.