@rrweb/browser-client

Browser client for recording rrweb sessions to an rrweb Cloud-compatible API. It wraps rrweb recording, streams events over WebSocket, and falls back to HTTP POST for buffered events.

This README covers the npm/ESM package. For the hosted script snippet and broader rrweb Cloud setup, see the JavaScript SDK guide.

Installation

npm install @rrweb/browser-client

Quick Start

import rrwebBrowserClient, {
  start,
  stop,
  addMeta,
  getRecordingId,
} from '@rrweb/browser-client';

start({
  publicApiKey: 'public_key_rr_...',
  includePii: false,
  meta: {
    userId: 'user-123',
    environment: 'production',
  },
});

addMeta({ plan: 'pro' });

console.log('recording id', getRecordingId());
stop(false);

The default export exposes the same methods:

rrwebBrowserClient.start({
  publicApiKey: 'public_key_rr_...',
});

Options

• serverUrl: optional events endpoint. Defaults to https://api.rrweb.com/recordings/{recordingId}/events/ws. Include {recordingId} in custom URLs, or the client will add it as a query parameter. http and https URLs are converted to ws and wss for the WebSocket connection, and the HTTP fallback posts to the same endpoint without a trailing /ws. See Recording endpoint proxying when routing events through your own domain.
• publicApiKey: public write-only API key sent with WebSocket and HTTP fallback requests. rrweb Cloud public keys use the public_key_rr_... format. See API Keys.
• includePii: default false. When enabled, the client includes additional visitor metadata such as language, timezone, screen size, title, and referrer details. See Pre-baked metadata.
• meta: custom recording metadata sent before recorded events. Built-in diagnostics such as recordVersion, recordCommitHash, jsSource, and jsEntrypoint are added automatically after custom metadata. See Application Metadata.
• jsSource: optional source identifier for programmatic loaders. URL values are recorded without query strings or hashes.
• jsEntrypoint: optional entrypoint label. Defaults to programmatic for direct start() calls and script-tag for script-tag autostart.
• rrweb record options: other options are passed through to record() from rrweb, such as masking, blocking, sampling, and DOM capture options. See the rrweb recording docs.

Stylesheet Capture

inlineStylesheet is currently used for stylesheet capture compatibility. Once the captureAssets recording API lands from the assets branch, captureAssets.stylesheets should replace that compatibility path.

Recording Helpers

• getRecordingId(): returns the current recording id, creating it before start() if needed. Recording ids are stored in sessionStorage, so separate tabs get separate recording contexts.
• addMeta(payload): adds or updates recording metadata after recording has started.
• addPageviewMeta(payload): adds metadata for the current page view.
• addCustomEvent(tag, payload): queues a custom rrweb event.
• stop(resetRecordingId): stops rrweb recording and closes the WebSocket. Pass true to clear the stored recording id before a future start().

Further Reading

• JavaScript SDK guide
• WebSocket event streaming
• Application Metadata
• Replaying Guide

Local Dev/Test Env Vars

Copy .env.example to .env in this package when running local integration tests.

VITE_RRWEB_BROWSER_CLIENT_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:8787/recordings/{recordingId}/events/ws
VITE_RRWEB_BROWSER_CLIENT_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8787
VITE_TEST_API_KEY=public_key_rr_XXXX