Bug Replay — How to Record and Reproduce a Bug 1:1

"Can't reproduce." Two words that stall sprints. A tester reports a bug, a dev tries to reproduce it, fails, and the ticket bounces back. Bug Replay solves this problem: it records the tester's exact actions and lets you replay the bug with a single click. No guessing, no interpreting descriptions.

Why bugs come back with "can't reproduce"

A tester finds a bug. Describes the steps in Jira. A developer reads the description, tries to reproduce. Fails. Ticket comes back with "can't reproduce." Tester describes it more precisely. Dev tries again. The loop continues.

A single unreproducible bug costs a developer 20-30 minutes in reproduction attempts. In a team with 5 testers, 3-5 such bugs per week means several hours of developer time that could have gone into writing code.

Why does this happen? Text descriptions lose context. The order of clicks, timing between actions, the application state at the moment of the bug. The tester remembers what they did. But reproducing it from a description is like following a recipe from someone who cooked from memory.

What Bug Replay is (and what it's NOT)

Bug Replay is a feature of the Voice2Bug extension that records tester actions: clicks, typed text, page navigation, URLs, and timestamps. The recording is saved as a JSON file with the exact sequence of steps.

A developer imports the file and clicks "Play." The browser replays the exact sequence of the tester's steps. No guessing, no interpreting descriptions, no "maybe it was this button."

Bug Replay is NOT screen recording. Loom records pixels: you get a video, watch it, and try to keep up clicking in the same places. Bug Replay records actions: you click "play" and the browser does the rest.

Step by step: how to record and replay a bug

The entire process from the tester's side takes a few clicks. From the dev's side, even fewer.

Step 1: Open the page with the bug

You're on the page where you found the bug. Click the Voice2Bug extension icon in the Chrome toolbar. The side panel opens.

Step 2: Click "Record"

From this moment, the extension records every click, every typed character, and every URL change. Walk through the bug path exactly as you found it. No special steps needed. Just repeat what you did.

Step 3: Click "Stop"

The report with the recording is ready. You see a list of recorded actions with timestamps. Every click, every input, every navigation.

Step 4: Export

Two options: download a .v2b-replay.json file to your drive or send the recording directly to Jira as a ticket attachment. If you're already using Voice2Bug for fast bug reporting, Bug Replay attaches to the same report.

Step 5: Developer clicks "Play"

The dev opens the Voice2Bug side panel, imports the file (or opens the recording from Jira) and clicks "Play." The browser replays the steps. The dev sees exactly what the tester saw. No more "can't reproduce."

Team Replay Library: sharing across the team

"Share with Team" is one click. Once shared, the entire team sees the recording in the organization library. Scenarios are org-scoped — nobody outside your team has access.

Practical example: a new tester joins the project. Instead of explaining how to reproduce known bugs, you send them a link to the Team Replay Library. They import the scenarios and know exactly what the reproduction steps look like. Onboarding from a week to a day.

Security and privacy

Bug Replay records metadata: CSS selectors, URLs, action types (click, input, navigation). It does NOT record screenshots, screen content, or personal data.

Your organization's admin decides which pages the extension works on (whitelist). Outside the whitelist, Voice2Bug is inactive.

Data stored on EU servers (Frankfurt): Supabase and Digital Ocean. HTTPS/TLS encryption in transit, AES-256 at rest. Privacy policy GDPR-compliant, DPA with subprocessors available on request.

FAQ

"Does it work on every page?"

Yes, on every page within the whitelist set by your organization's admin. Outside the whitelist, the extension doesn't record.

"What if a CSS selector changes?"

Bug Replay works best when the tester and dev are working on the same version of the application. If a selector changed (e.g., after a deploy), playback may not hit the right element. AI Selector Healing is on the roadmap.

"Is it safe?"

Yes. Bug Replay records metadata (CSS selectors, URLs), not screen content. Details in the Security and privacy section above.

"How much does it cost?"

Bug Replay is free. No registration, no credit card. Install the Chrome extension and start recording immediately. Full version with AI reports, voice recording and Jira integration: 79 PLN/user/month (netto).

If you're interested in the other side of Voice2Bug — voice bug reporting — check out the separate blog article.