Artifacts & Recordings

Every test session on ProvaLab.io cloud infrastructure automatically collects artifacts -- screenshots, video recordings, console logs, and network traffic captures. These artifacts are stored alongside your test results, giving you everything you need to understand what happened during a test without having to reproduce it.

Types of Artifacts

Screenshots

Screenshots capture the state of the screen at a specific moment during the test.

Automatic failure screenshots: When a test fails, ProvaLab.io automatically captures a screenshot at the point of failure. This is enabled by default for all cloud sessions and shows you exactly what the screen looked like when the error occurred.

Manual captures: During a live session, you can take a screenshot at any time by clicking the camera icon in the session toolbar or pressing S. This is useful for documenting specific states or behaviors you want to reference later.

Step-level screenshots: For automated tests, you can configure your test framework to capture a screenshot after each step. These are attached to the corresponding step in the test result.

Video Recordings

Video recordings capture the full session from start to finish, giving you a complete playback of everything that happened.

Automatic recording: When enabled for your test run, video recording starts when the session begins and stops when the session ends. The resulting video file is attached to the test result.

Manual recording: During a live session, you can start and stop recording at any time using the video camera icon in the toolbar. This lets you capture only the portion of the session you care about.

Playback features:

• Play, pause, and scrub through the timeline
• Playback speed control (0.5x, 1x, 1.5x, 2x)
• Frame-by-frame navigation for detailed analysis
• Full-screen playback

Console Logs

Console logs capture all output from the browser or device console during the session:

• Errors -- JavaScript errors, uncaught exceptions, failed resource loads
• Warnings -- Deprecation notices, performance warnings
• Info messages -- Application logs written to the console
• Network errors -- Failed HTTP requests logged to the console

Console logs are timestamped, so you can correlate them with specific moments in the video recording or specific test steps.

Network Logs (HAR Files)

HAR (HTTP Archive) files capture every network request and response during the session:

• Request details -- URL, method, headers, body
• Response details -- Status code, headers, body size, content
• Timing -- DNS lookup, connection, TLS handshake, time to first byte, content download
• Errors -- Failed requests, timeouts, CORS issues

HAR files are invaluable for debugging API-related test failures, performance issues, and network-dependent features.

Accessing Artifacts

From a Test Result

1. Navigate to Test Runs and open a completed test run.
2. Click on a specific test result.
3. Scroll down to the Artifacts section.
4. You will see tabs for Screenshots, Video, Console Logs, and Network Logs.
5. Click on any artifact to view it inline, or click the download button to save it.

From Session History

1. Go to QA Infrastructure and select the Sessions tab.
2. Find the session you are interested in (use date filters and search).
3. Click on the session to open its details page.
4. Select the Artifacts tab.
5. Browse and download any artifacts from the session.

From the AI Failure Analysis

When AI analyzes a test failure, it references relevant artifacts in its analysis. Click the artifact links in the AI analysis panel to jump directly to the screenshot, video timestamp, or log entry.

Downloading Artifacts

Individual Downloads

1. Open the artifact you want to download.
2. Click the Download button (down arrow icon).
3. The file downloads in its native format:
   • Screenshots: PNG
   • Videos: MP4
   • Console logs: TXT or JSON
   • Network logs: HAR

Bulk Downloads

To download all artifacts from a session or test result:

1. Go to the Artifacts section of the test result or session.
2. Click Download All at the top of the artifacts panel.
3. A ZIP file is created containing all artifacts, organized by type.
4. The ZIP file downloads to your computer.

Sharing Artifacts

Share with Team Members

1. Open the artifact you want to share.
2. Click the Share button.
3. Choose how to share:
   • Copy link -- Generates a link that any logged-in team member can use to view the artifact.
   • Email -- Sends the artifact (or a link to it) to specific team members.
   • Attach to comment -- Adds the artifact to a comment on a test case, test run, or defect.

Share with External Stakeholders

1. Open the artifact.
2. Click Share and select Create Public Link.
3. Set an expiration date for the link (optional but recommended).
4. Copy the link and share it via email, chat, or your project management tool.

tip

Public links provide view-only access and do not require a ProvaLab.io login. Use them when you need to share evidence with stakeholders, product managers, or developers who do not have ProvaLab.io accounts.

Artifact Retention

Artifacts are stored for a configurable retention period based on your organization's settings:

Artifact Type	Default Retention
Screenshots	90 days
Video recordings	60 days
Console logs	90 days
Network logs (HAR)	60 days

Changing Retention Settings

Administrators can adjust retention periods:

1. Go to Settings and select Organization.
2. Select the Storage tab.
3. Adjust retention periods for each artifact type.
4. Click Save.

tip

If you need to keep specific artifacts beyond the retention period, download them before they expire. You can also mark individual artifacts as "pinned" to exempt them from automatic cleanup.

Storage Usage

Monitor your organization's artifact storage:

1. Go to Settings and select Organization.
2. Select the Storage tab.
3. View current storage usage by artifact type.
4. See a breakdown by project and time period.

Best Practices

1. Enable automatic recording for CI/CD runs. You cannot go back in time to record a session. Enable video recording and screenshots by default so you always have them when a failure occurs.

2. Use HAR files for API debugging. When a test involving API calls fails, the HAR file is often the fastest way to identify whether the issue is in the request, the response, or the timing.

3. Attach artifacts to defect reports. When logging a bug from a failed test, include the relevant screenshot, video clip, and console logs. This gives developers the context they need to reproduce and fix the issue quickly.

4. Review console logs for silent errors. Even when tests pass, console errors may indicate issues that should be addressed. Periodically review console logs from your test sessions to catch problems early.

5. Pin important artifacts. If an artifact is evidence of a critical bug or is needed for compliance, pin it to prevent automatic deletion when the retention period expires.