Slack bug tracking that arrives already answered
Somebody hits a bug, presses the button, and the report is in your channel a moment later with the page, the browser and the first console error already on it. The thread that used to be five questions is a link somebody opens.
The thread this replaces
The bug takes a minute to describe and a day to pin down.
Somebody in support finds that the discount code on shop.example.com applies but the total does not change. They screenshot the checkout page, drop it into the channel, and write a sentence about it. That part takes a minute and it is the only part anybody enjoys.
Then the thread starts. Which page was that, exactly? Which browser, and which version? Did anything land in the console? Was that the live site or the staging one? Every one of those is a round trip through somebody's afternoon, and none of them is about the bug.
A report answers them before they are asked. The checkout URL, Chrome and its version, the failed request, and the line the console actually printed - Uncaught TypeError: discount is null (cart.js:214) - are collected when the capture is taken, so the message that lands in the channel is already the answer to the follow-up.
What lands in the channel
One message per report, posted as it arrives.
New bug report · shop.example.com
Discount code does not change the total
Page: shop.example.com/checkout
Reported by Severity
Anonymous Major
Status Failed requests
Pending 1
First error:
Uncaught TypeError: discount is null (cart.js:214)
[ Open report ] [ Start work ] [ Mark resolved ]
Severity
[ Minor ] [ ✓ Major ] [ Critical ]
Screenshot · Chrome · 31 Aug at 14:20The message names the page the bug was filed on and the title somebody gave it, then who reported it, how bad it looks, where it stands and how many requests failed, and the first console error underneath. Below that are the buttons the channel can act on.
The capture itself is never in the message. One link opens the report, and the recording, the console output and the network trace are behind it.
Setting it up
Four steps, done once by a team admin for the whole team.
Connect it from the Connectors screen
A team admin opens Connectors and presses Add to Slack. It is done once and it belongs to the team, so nobody else has to repeat it.
Approve it in your workspace
Two permissions and no more: permission to post messages, and permission to list your channels so you can pick one. Nothing written in your workspace is read.
Pick the channel
Public or private. A private channel needs the app in it first - type /invite @Session Replay in the channel, then reload the list and it is there to choose.
Say what the channel may do
Leave the actions on and anyone in the channel can move status and severity from the message; turn them off and it is a read-only feed. Then bind it to the domains your team has claimed.
Slack is one of several destinations a report can be sent to. What each of the others does with a report, and what connecting it takes, is on the connectors page.
Triage from the message
What the channel can do to a report without opening anything.
Move it without leaving Slack
Start work and Mark resolved sit on the message. Press one and the report's status follows, so the board and the channel do not drift apart.
Set how bad it is
Minor, Major and Critical are on the message too, with a tick against the one that is set, so a report promoted in the channel is promoted everywhere.
Or make it a read-only feed
With the actions turned off, new messages arrive without the buttons and a press on an older message is refused. The channel watches and changes nothing.
What this does not do
The connection is a narrow one, and it is worth being plain about where it stops:
- Two permissions only, and nothing is read back. We post, and we list your channels so you can pick one. Nothing written in your workspace is read, and closing the thread does not change the report.
- The capture is never in the message. The page, the facts and one link travel; the recording, the console output and the network log stay behind that link.
- A report's link is public. Anyone who can see the channel, and anyone the message is forwarded to, can open the report without signing in - so pick a channel whose members you would show the report to.
- One channel per connection, set by a team admin for the whole team. It is not a per-person setting and it is not a per-person notification.
- No always-on recording. Nothing is captured until somebody presses a button.
Questions people ask about Slack bug tracking
Put the answer in the channel, not the question
Connect Slack once, and the next bug somebody finds arrives with the page, the browser and the console already attached to it.