Session Replay for Bug Reporting

A client reports a bug with a screenshot. "The form is broken." You look at the screenshot. You don't see anything obviously wrong. You ask for more details. They tell you they filled it out and clicked submit, but nothing happened. You ask which browser. Which device. What exactly did they fill in.

The feedback loop extends. It takes five or six messages to understand the actual issue.

Session replay changes that entirely. Instead of a static screenshot, you get a recording of everything the user did before they hit submit. You see them type into the form. You see what they didn't fill in. You see the exact interaction sequence that broke.

It's the difference between a bug report and complete context.

What session replay actually captures

When a user reports feedback with Lairo on a Starter+ plan, the tool automatically captures a session replay. This isn't video. It's a pixel-perfect recording of their browser state, rebuilt from event data.

You can play it back. Watch them navigate. See them click. Watch them type. See their mouse movements. The entire sequence that led to the bug is visible.

It captures DOM changes, mouse movements and clicks, form inputs and selections, scroll position, network requests, and console errors. Nothing is lost. The entire context is there.

Why this matters

Many bugs are state-dependent. A user gets into a specific state, does a specific thing, and then the bug appears. A screenshot captures that moment. A session replay captures the entire path that led to it.

Consider a multi-step form. The user fills out step one, moves to step two, does something that breaks validation on step three. A screenshot of step three looks fine. The session replay shows exactly what happened on steps one and two that caused the issue.

Or consider a complex UI interaction. An accordion opens, a dropdown filters options, a search refines results. The user expects one thing but something else happens. A screenshot shows the end state. A session replay shows the interaction sequence and when things diverged from expectations.

Session replay vs video recording

Some tools like Userback offer video recording. The user explicitly hits record and captures a video. That works, but it has friction. The user has to think to hit record. They might not capture everything relevant. And video files are large and slow to scrub through.

Session replay is automatic. Every feedback submission includes it. No client effort. No large files. You can scrub to any moment, frame by frame, and see exactly what happened.

Performance and privacy

Session replay event data is smaller than video. Lairo's replay system compresses efficiently, so it doesn't bloat feedback submissions. It's also more privacy-conscious than video, since only interactive events are captured, not continuous video streams.

You can also mask sensitive data. If you don't want password fields or credit card inputs captured, you can configure that. The replay will blank out those fields.

Integration with your workflow

When you pull up a feedback item in Lairo, the session replay is right there in the same interface. You see the screenshot, the browser details, the console errors, and the replay. You don't have to jump between tools or download files.

And when you sync that feedback to GitHub or Linear, the replay stays attached. Your developers can click back to Lairo and review the replay directly.

Getting session replay

Session replay is included on Lairo's Starter and Pro plans. The free plan captures screenshots and metadata but not replay.

Starter at $12 per month gives you 200 feedback submissions per month, three projects, and full session replay. For most freelancers and small teams, that's everything you need. Pro at $39 adds more quota, more projects, and GitHub and Linear integration. Learn how to set up visual bug reporting quickly, and explore how annotation pairs with replay in our guide to annotation tools.

If you want to try the core product first, the free plan lets you submit 25 feedback items per month. Once you see how valuable session replay is, upgrading takes minutes.