Posthog Session Replay Portable !link! Here

PostHog session replays are "portable" primarily through JSON exports, allowing you to preserve, share, or re-import recordings even after their standard retention period expires. Portable Export Options

PostHog provides several methods to move or store session replay data outside the standard cloud dashboard:

JSON Export: You can export individual recordings to a JSON file via the "more options" menu in the recording viewer. These files contain the serialized DOM snapshots (using rrweb) and can be re-imported into PostHog for playback later.

Public Link Sharing: You can generate a public link that allows anyone to view a specific replay without a PostHog account. These can also be embedded into other web pages using an iframe.

API Access: The Session Recordings API allows for programmatic retrieval of recording data for custom storage or integration into external tools like support ticket systems.

Batch Exports: For high-volume needs, PostHog supports batch exports to external storage destinations like S3, Postgres, or Snowflake. Portable Deployment (Self-Hosting)

Since PostHog is open-source, you can run the entire platform on your own infrastructure using Docker Compose. This "portable" infrastructure approach ensures full data sovereignty and is often used by teams with strict privacy requirements. Core Replay Capabilities Whether used in the cloud or self-hosted, PostHog captures: Session recordings API Reference - PostHog

Response. Show response body. Example request. GET /api/environments/:environment_id/session_recordings/:id. cURL. export POSTHOG_ Sharing and embedding replays - Docs - PostHog

3. AI/ML Training Data

Imagine training a model to detect user frustration or a bot to automate a checkout flow. You need the raw data. Portable JSON exports allow you to feed thousands of session replays directly into your Jupyter Notebooks or BigQuery for analysis far beyond what PostHog’s UI offers.

1. Core Session Recorder

// session-recorder.ts
interface SessionEvent 
  type: string;
  timestamp: number;
  data: any;
interface SessionRecording 
sessionId: string;
userId: string;
startTime: number;
endTime?: number;
events: SessionEvent[];
metadata: 
userAgent: string;
viewport:  width: number; height: number ;
url: string;
;

class PortableSessionRecorder {
private recording: SessionRecording | null = null;
private eventBuffer: SessionEvent[] = [];
private isRecording = false;
private flushInterval: NodeJS.Timeout | null = null;
constructor(
private config: 
sessionId?: string;
userId?: string;
flushIntervalMs?: number;
maxBufferSize?: number;
storage?: 'memory'  = {}
)  'memory';

start(userId?: string): void 
if (this.isRecording) return;
this.recording = ;
this.isRecording = true;
this.setupEventListeners();
this.startFlushInterval();
this.captureInitialState();


stop(): SessionRecording | null 
if (!this.isRecording 
private setupEventListeners(): void 
// Mouse events
document.addEventListener('click', this.handleClick);
document.addEventListener('mousemove', this.handleMouseMove);
document.addEventListener('scroll', this.handleScroll); posthog session replay portable
// Form events
document.addEventListener('input', this.handleInput);
document.addEventListener('submit', this.handleSubmit);
// Navigation events
window.addEventListener('popstate', this.handleNavigation);
// Console events
this.interceptConsole();
// Error events
window.addEventListener('error', this.handleError);
window.addEventListener('unhandledrejection', this.handlePromiseError);


private handleClick = (event: MouseEvent): void => 
const target = event.target as HTMLElement;
this.addEvent('click', 
x: event.clientX,
y: event.clientY,
target: this.getElementPath(target),
text: target.innerText?.substring(0, 100),
tagName: target.tagName,
);
;
private handleMouseMove = (event: MouseEvent): void => 
// Throttle mousemove events
if (this.shouldThrottle('mousemove', 50)) return;
this.addEvent('mousemove', 
  x: event.clientX,
  y: event.clientY,
);

;
private handleScroll = (): void => 
if (this.shouldThrottle('scroll', 100)) return;
this.addEvent('scroll', 
  scrollX: window.scrollX,
  scrollY: window.scrollY,
);

;
private handleInput = (event: Event): void => 
const target = event.target as HTMLInputElement;
this.addEvent('input', 
target: this.getElementPath(target),
value: target.type === 'password' ? '[REDACTED]' : target.value,
tagName: target.tagName,
inputType: target.type,
);
;
private handleSubmit = (event: Event): void => 
const target = event.target as HTMLFormElement;
this.addEvent('submit', 
target: this.getElementPath(target),
formData: this.sanitizeFormData(new FormData(target)),
);
;
private handleNavigation = (): void => 
this.addEvent('navigation', 
url: window.location.href,
state: history.state,
);
;
private interceptConsole(): void 
const originalConsole =  ...console ;
const logTypes = ['log', 'info', 'warn', 'error'] as const;
logTypes.forEach(type => 
  console[type] = (...args: any[]) => 
    this.addEvent('console', 
      type,
      args: this.sanitizeConsoleArgs(args),
    );
    originalConsole[type].apply(console, args);
  ;
);


private handleError = (event: ErrorEvent): void => 
this.addEvent('error', 
message: event.message,
filename: event.filename,
lineno: event.lineno,
colno: event.colno,
stack: event.error?.stack,
);
;
private handlePromiseError = (event: PromiseRejectionEvent): void => 
this.addEvent('promise_error', 
reason: String(event.reason),
stack: event.reason?.stack,
);
;
private captureInitialState(): void 
this.addEvent('initial_state', 
url: window.location.href,
viewport: 
width: window.innerWidth,
height: window.innerHeight,
,
scroll: 
x: window.scrollX,
y: window.scrollY,
,
domSnapshot: this.captureDomSnapshot(),
);

private captureDomSnapshot(): any 
// Capture simplified DOM structure
const captureElement = (element: Element, depth = 0): any => 
if (depth > 5) return  truncated: true ; start(userId
  return  undefined,
    children: Array.from(element.children)
      .slice(0, 10)
      .map(child => captureElement(child, depth + 1)),
  ;
;
return captureElement(document.body);


private addEvent(type: string, data: any): void  100)) 
  this.flushEvents();

private flushEvents(): void this.eventBuffer.length === 0) return;

this.recording.events.push(...this.eventBuffer);
this.eventBuffer = [];
// Persist to storage if configured
this.persistRecording();

private async persistRecording(): Promise<void> if (!this.recording) return;

switch (this.config.storage) 
  case 'localstorage':
    localStorage.setItem(
      `session_$this.recording.sessionId`,
      JSON.stringify(this.recording)
    );
    break;
  case 'indexeddb':
    await this.saveToIndexedDB(this.recording);
    break;
  case 'memory':
    // Keep in memory only
    break;

private async saveToIndexedDB(recording: SessionRecording): Promise<void> // Implement IndexedDB storage const db = await this.openIndexedDB(); const transaction = db.transaction(['sessions'], 'readwrite'); const store = transaction.objectStore('sessions'); store.put(recording);

private openIndexedDB(): Promise<IDBDatabase> return new Promise((resolve, reject) => const request = indexedDB.open('SessionRecorder', 1);

  request.onerror = () => reject(request.error);
  request.onsuccess = () => resolve(request.result);
request.onupgradeneeded = (event) => 
    const db = (event.target as IDBOpenDBRequest).result;
    if (!db.objectStoreNames.contains('sessions')) 
      db.createObjectStore('sessions',  keyPath: 'sessionId' );
;
);

private startFlushInterval(): void this.flushInterval = setInterval(() => this.flushEvents(); , this.config.flushIntervalMs);

private getElementPath(element: HTMLElement): string const path: string[] = []; let current: HTMLElement

private sanitizeFormData(formData: FormData): Record<string, string> { const sanitized: Record<string, string> = {}; for (const [key, value] of formData.entries()) lowerKey.includes('token')) sanitized[key] = '[REDACTED]'; else sanitized[key] = String(value).substring(0, 100); return sanitized; }

private sanitizeConsoleArgs(args: any[]): any[] return args.map(arg => if (typeof arg === 'string' && arg.length > 500) return arg.substring(0, 500) + '... [TRUNCATED]'; if (arg instanceof Error) return message: arg.message, stack: arg.stack?.substring(0, 1000), ; return arg; );

private throttleTimestamps: Record<string, number> = {}; private shouldThrottle(eventType: string, minIntervalMs: number): boolean or when you need to integrate

private generateSessionId(): string return $Date.now()-$Math.random().toString(36).substring(2, 15);

export(): string if (!this.recording) return ''; this.flushEvents(); return JSON.stringify(this.recording);

destroy(): void this.stop(); // Remove event listeners document.removeEventListener('click', this.handleClick); document.removeEventListener('mousemove', this.handleMouseMove); document.removeEventListener('scroll', this.handleScroll); document.removeEventListener('input', this.handleInput); document.removeEventListener('submit', this.handleSubmit); window.removeEventListener('popstate', this.handleNavigation); window.removeEventListener('error', this.handleError); window.removeEventListener('unhandledrejection', this.handlePromiseError); }

Part 1: The Traditional Trap (The Walled Garden)

Before we unpack "portable," let's look at the status quo.

Most SaaS session replay tools operate on a Black Box model. You install their script, they capture a massive video-like feed, and you pay per "recording." If you want to leave, you lose your history. If you want to analyze the data-layer differently, you are subject to their query limits.

The core problems of non-portable Replay:

1. Compliance nightmares (GDPR/CCPA): Deleting a user’s data often requires support tickets and manual engineering work.
2. Analytical dead ends: You can watch a user rage-click, but you can't join that rage-click event to your billing system to see if they are a high-value customer.
3. Cost scaling: As you record more sessions, costs explode because you pay the vendor for storage and egress.

PostHog fixes this not by building a slightly better player, but by changing the data model entirely.

Deployment Plan (Phased)

1. Prototype: client recorder + local replay UI, store files to S3-compatible bucket.
2. Beta: server endpoint, DB, basic playback UI, privacy defaults.
3. Integrate: PostHog linking, export/import, access controls.
4. Harden: scale tests, retention automation, security review.
5. GA: docs, SDK packages, dashboard features.

Part 3: Why You Need Portable Session Replays (The Use Cases)

If you are using PostHog Cloud, you already have session replays. Why go through the hassle of making them "portable"? Here are five critical use cases.

B. The Video Download (For Human Viewing)

This is the most common interpretation of "portable replays"—getting a video file (like MP4 or WebM) that can be emailed, archived, or opened in standard video players.

Native Feature: PostHog has a built-in download feature.

1. Go to the specific Session Replay in your dashboard.
2. Look for the Download icon (usually an arrow pointing down into a tray) in the player controls.
3. This converts the DOM replay into a WebM video file.

Caveats:

• This is a "burned-in" video. You cannot inspect HTML elements or see console logs in a downloaded video file; it is purely visual.
• It relies on the browser's recording capabilities during the export process.

2. Data Export & API Access

Every replay is accessible via PostHog’s REST API. You can:

• Export replay metadata (session ID, user, duration, timestamps) to CSV or JSON.
• Fetch raw replay events (clicks, scrolls, inputs) for custom analytics pipelines.
• Connect to BigQuery, Snowflake, or S3 using their export integrations.

This means replays aren’t just “playback files” trapped in a viewer—they’re structured event data you can analyze alongside your own models.

Part 6: The Future is "Bring Your Own Storage"

The keyword "PostHog Session Replay Portable" is rising in search volume for a reason. The industry is shifting from "Software as a Service" to "Software as a Data Layer."

Founders and engineers are tired of paying $500/month to store 30-day-old replays of login pages. They want to own their user interaction data just like they own their production logs.

With PostHog, Session Replay is no longer a magical black box. It is a structured, lifecycled, and portable asset.

The Bottom Line: If you choose PostHog for Session Replay, you aren't buying a tool. You are buying a data source that you happen to watch through a nice UI. When you leave, or when you need to integrate, the data follows you.