Capture your first State Card

Capture your first State Card

StatePort turns one bounded reproduction into a reusable State Card.

The creation flow is:

Prepare
→ Capture
→ Stop and review
→ Review
→ Save State Card

Manual Capture and the supported CodeceptJS Run & Capture path use different setup steps, then converge on the same Review and produce the same normal State Card.

1. Choose how to reach the state

Start from Create a State Card and choose the method that matches the work:

• Reproduce manually — open the application in StatePort’s managed browser and reach the useful state yourself.
• Run an automated test — choose one supported CodeceptJS browser test and let StatePort rerun it once under Capture.
• Capture from Chrome — record a selected tab where you are already signed in, then review and save in StatePort Desktop.

CodeceptJS is the current direct test-runner integration. StatePort does not treat arbitrary test frameworks or CI systems as interchangeable Capture sources.

Capture from your existing Chrome tab

Chrome Capture is included in the current Desktop Public Beta on Linux x64 and macOS Apple Silicon. Install the current Desktop from the download page and use the extension packaged with it. The extension currently uses Chrome’s developer mode; a Chrome Web Store listing is not available.

1. Open Settings → Capture from Chrome → Set up Chrome Capture. This registers the local connection and opens the packaged extension folder.
2. Open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, choose Load unpacked and select that folder. Pin StatePort Capture.
3. In the application’s selected tab, choose Start Capture & Reload. Save unsaved work first. The information button offers Start without reloading, which records subsequent activity and may miss initial page data.
4. Reach the useful state, then choose Stop and review in the floating controls.
5. Review and save in Desktop. Keep current browser sign-in on this device retains selected existing cookies and sign-in storage in protected local storage for the original application. These values are excluded from ordinary State Cards and sharing.

Desktop stays open while capturing; the original Chrome tab stays open afterward. Recorded page transitions and supported native controls can supply Journey. Original environment loads the current site’s application code and permitted public images; application code is not archived by this extension. Captured API responses supply recorded data, and unmatched API requests remain blocked. Opening against local code uses your local frontend and its authorized sign-in.

2. Prepare a manual Capture

For the normal manual path:

1. enter the application URL;
2. choose Development Profile for everyday browser continuity or Clean Session for a fresh isolated browser context;
3. review the compact Capture defaults;
4. add project/environment context only when it helps identify the State Card;
5. start browser Capture.

The State Card name can be edited before Save. You do not need to invent a perfect name before Capture begins.

Source environment is descriptive provenance. It helps identify where the state was observed; it does not choose the later current-code target and does not relax network, redaction, or safety policy.

StatePort does not copy your normal Chrome profile and does not infer that sensitive values should be retained merely because the managed browser is signed in.

Managed Capture blocks matching ad and tracker network requests with a bundled Ghostery ruleset. Replay uses that exact version. This records the site in a filtered environment, which can differ from your normal browser. Review shows the filtering count. If a required feature breaks under filtering, the Card is not a successful reproduction of that feature. A missing matching ruleset stops Replay rather than silently switching policies. Runner-owned test Capture records its environment separately and is not automatically filtered.

3. Capture the reproduction

While Capture is active, use the application normally within the supported scope:

• navigate to the relevant route;
• switch roles, entities, flags, or other supported state;
• fill supported form controls;
• reproduce the bug or useful application state;
• create a manual checkpoint when a named intermediate state matters.

StatePort records approved semantic actions, checkpoints, supported browser/application state, replayable HTTP evidence, and selected browser console/page-error evidence according to the Capture policy.

When the useful state is ready, choose Stop and review.

If a limit, unsupported dependency, or finalization problem occurs, StatePort reports the typed state instead of silently truncating a healthy-looking State Card.

Automated-test Capture

For a supported CodeceptJS project:

1. choose the project and one browser test;
2. confirm the application origin used by the test;
3. choose Run & Capture;
4. let StatePort observe the runner-owned browser while that selected test executes once.

If the expected failure reproduces, the captured result enters the normal Review flow. A healthy counterpart or a failure that does not match the supported expected-failure contract must not silently become a false failure State Card.

StatePort does not need to modify the test project permanently to create the State Card.

4. Review before saving

Review answers the product questions that matter before Save:

• Saved state — which checkpoint/state will open directly;
• Journey — Full, Partial, or unavailable, including automatic steps and manual barriers;
• API replay — which supported exchanges are replayable;
• Console evidence — captured errors/warnings or the selected evidence state;
• Sharing readiness — whether an ordinary credential-free share is ready or blocked;
• Required decisions — only the decisions that must be resolved before Save.

Check the Card name and captured page in the upper section. Required protected-value and Persona choices appear immediately below them. Any required post-login checkpoint choice remains in this area.

The open Bug context form has three optional fields: Notes, Observed behavior, and Expected behavior. Use Notes for setup details another developer should know, and Observed/Expected for the problem itself. Observed and Expected have fixed-height fields with internal scrolling for long text. Automated-test provenance remains separate from human bug context.

Protected-value options explain what each choice means for Journey and ordinary sharing before you select one. A successful choice becomes a compact confirmation and updates Sharing. If the operation fails, resolve it before saving.

The preservation summary sits below the form. Production-page details are available from the help icon by pointer or keyboard focus. An unconfirmed capture check does not establish verified reopening; the notice distinguishes it from a reproduction blocker. Review saves the default final checkpoint and retains the captured checkpoints; it does not show the former evidence and checkpoint-curation accordions.

Healthy technical integrity stays quiet. If Review has a real blocker, Save explains exactly what still needs attention.

For an eligible anonymous Clean Session capture, Save may take longer while StatePort checks the final selected state and recorded Journey offline. Only a complete successful check can permit a bounded optional request to be aborted locally during reproduction. A failed check or a recovered draft that lacks the required evidence gains no such permission. Discard cancels pending Save work.

Protected local values

In Capture scope, Ask in Review is the default: supported sensitive candidates stay encrypted on this device until you choose to keep or discard them before saving. Select Keep sensitive values locally explicitly at capture start to apply Keep automatically when Review opens, without a second question. If secure storage fails, Review offers Retry keeping locally and Save remains blocked. Skip sensitive values during Capture excludes these values during recording. A recovered draft without the original confirmed selection asks in Review. Keep locally leaves it usable locally on this device; Card-only transfer omits the value. When you intentionally select a retained value for a trusted recipient, StatePort creates a separate encrypted Protected Sensitive Attachment; the recipient can accept it, import the Card only, or decline it. Discard confirms its local removal, turns that Journey point into a manual step, and keeps the saved card eligible for ordinary credential-free sharing. The value is never shown.

Keep locally

• the value stays in OS-protected machine-local storage;
• it can be used only on this device;
• each reproduction run that uses it requires explicit authorization;
• Card-only sharing omits it; the recipient may need manual input or separately accepted protected replay material.

Discard and use a manual step

• StatePort confirms the protected local value was removed or already absent;
• the saved derived Session contains no reusable protected reference for that step;
• the Journey pauses there for manual input;
• ordinary credential-free sharing becomes available when no other blocker remains.

If secure storage cannot confirm deletion, StatePort does not claim the value was discarded and Save remains blocked until you choose a truthful recovery path.

5. Save the State Card

Choose Save State Card when Review accurately represents the reproduction you want to keep.

After a successful Save, StatePort opens the newly created State Card so you can immediately reproduce it against current code, inspect its evidence, or share it. The Library remains available for navigation and later discovery.

The Card also keeps one exact-revision Saved status. When Developer access, the chosen local target, authentication/consent, and the foreground browser are already eligible, StatePort shows Checking that this State Card reopens… and runs one Saved state check. Otherwise it truthfully shows Reopen not checked, Sign in to check reopening, Start Developer access to check reopening, Choose a local target to check reopening, or Reopen check needs attention.

This check never starts Developer access, contacts the original environment, opens an authentication prompt, substitutes a target, or changes browser-session choice on its own. A confirmed check belongs only to the newly saved revision.

Saving a State Card in Free Capture does not start the 14-day Developer trial.

What becomes part of the saved reproduction

Within the supported Public Beta scope, a State Card may reference:

• safe semantic actions and checkpoints;
• route/navigation state;
• supported visible form/application state;
• approved non-auth browser state;
• selected redacted HTTP evidence;
• request occurrence/order information;
• browser console/page-error evidence under the selected policy;
• safe environment and authentication-requirement metadata;
• redaction, exclusion, integrity, compatibility, and provenance evidence;
• a partial Journey with explicit manual barriers when some steps cannot be replayed automatically.

Ordinary portable State Card material does not contain raw session cookies, bearer/access/refresh tokens, Authorization headers, your normal browser profile, uploaded-file bodies, or a database/server-memory/environment snapshot.

A supported sensitive value that you explicitly Keep locally is stored separately through the protected machine-local boundary rather than becoming ordinary portable State Card data.

Next step

Continue to Reproduce a saved State Card when you want to work from the saved reproduction against current code. That execution path is Developer functionality and starts trial time only after you explicitly enter Developer access.