Receive recordings from non-members

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Upload codes allow customers and other collaborators to show you what happened in their browser. They can record a bug, product walkthrough, design review, or support issue without creating a Shiplight account or joining your organization.

Completed recordings appear in your Recordings list with labels that identify their source. Invited participants can submit recordings without access to the other content in your organization.

Available on paid plans

Receiving recordings from non-members is available on Pro and Enterprise plans. This feature is being released gradually. Contact Shiplight if Upload codes does not appear on the Recordings page for your organization.

Invite someone to record

Organization owners can create, reveal, edit, and revoke upload codes. Other organization members can view the list of codes.

Open Recordings, select Upload codes, then Create code.

• Name: Enter the customer, group, or purpose, such as "Acme support escalation" or "Beta cohort." Shiplight adds this name to incoming recordings so your team can identify their source. Each active code must have a unique name.
• Recording limit: Set the total number of recordings that participants can submit with the code. The limit includes all submissions over the lifetime of the code, even if a recording is later deleted. You can change the limit without issuing a new code.
• Expires in: Set how long the code remains active, up to 365 days. An expiration date is required. Use a short period when possible; you can extend it later without issuing a new code.
• Tags: Optionally apply tags to incoming recordings so your team can filter them by customer, cohort, or campaign.

The form also shows the maximum duration of a recording. This limit is set by your plan, applies to recordings from both members and non-members, and cannot be changed for an upload code. Tell participants about the limit before they begin. Shiplight rejects recordings that exceed it when the participant tries to upload them.

After you create the upload code, share it with the person you want to invite.

What non-members can do

Participants can see your organization's name before recording so they can confirm who will receive the submission.

An upload code does not grant organization membership. Participants can submit recordings, but they cannot access your recordings, tests, billing information, or other organization content.

Anyone with the upload code can send recordings until it reaches its recording limit, expires, or is revoked. Treat the code like a password and share it only with the intended participants.

Send a recording as a non-member

Share the instructions from the Upload codes page with the person you invited.

Give customers a privacy warning

Before you send an upload code, tell the customer that Shiplight captures screen video, browser actions, console messages, network requests, and microphone narration. Explain that every member of your organization can view the completed recording.

Ask the customer to close unrelated tabs, remove sensitive information from the flow, and avoid entering or revealing usernames, passwords, API keys, personal data, or other secrets while recording.

To send a recording, the participant must:

1. Install Product Surface Recorder from the Chrome Web Store.
2. Open the extension, select Use code instead, and enter the upload code.
3. Record the workflow. The extension uploads the recording when the participant stops.

The recorder provides the same narration, capture, pause, and resume controls for members and non-members. See Record product walkthroughs for details.

Share the code privately

Anyone who has the code can send recordings to your organization. Send it directly to the intended participants, and do not post it in a public channel or mailing list.

Owners can return to the Upload codes page to reveal and resend an existing code.

Review incoming recordings

Open Recordings to review new submissions. Recordings from non-members appear with your team's recordings and include the name and tags assigned to the upload code.

Recordings from non-members belong to your organization, are visible to its members, and count toward its recording capacity just like recordings created by members.

The Upload codes page shows how many recordings each invitation has used. When a code reaches its allowance, its status changes to Limit reached and it stops accepting recordings.

You do not need to issue a new code to accept more recordings. Select Edit code to increase the recording limit or change the expiration date. The code remains the same, and the changes apply to the next upload.

Change an invitation

Select Edit code on any code that has not been revoked. You can change:

• The tags applied to incoming recordings. New tags apply to future submissions. Existing recordings retain their original tags unless you edit each recording separately.
• The recording limit, either higher or lower. Setting the limit at or below the number of recordings already received pauses the code until you increase the limit. This change does not affect existing recordings or reset the submission count.
• The expiry, either earlier or later. Extensions are measured from the current date and can be set for up to 365 days at a time. Setting an expiration date in the past stops the code immediately. You can reactivate it by extending the date.

Editing does not change the upload code, so participants do not need to enter a new one. You can also reactivate an expired code by extending its expiration date.

Every change is recorded with its previous and new values.

Stop accepting recordings

Revoke an upload code when the invitation is complete. Revocation is immediate and permanent, so allow any recordings in progress to finish first. You cannot edit or reactivate a revoked code. To pause submissions temporarily, lower the recording limit or set the expiration date in the past.

Recordings already received remain in your organization. The revoked code also remains in the list so you can identify the source of those recordings.

Tips for managing invitations

• Create a separate code for each customer, group, or campaign you want to track independently.
• Use separate codes when people need different expiry dates or recording limits.
• Set the recording limit slightly above the expected number, then revoke the code when the work is complete.
• Use a short expiration period for one-time requests, then extend it if necessary. Extensions are measured from the date of the change, so you can keep a code active without issuing a new one.