Record modes let you record every request Chrome makes. Playback mode serves requests out of that recorded cache just as if they were being loaded on the spot. It doesn't record where you click or what you open, just every request as it moves over the wire.
These instructions are tuned for OS X, but can be adapted to any operating system.
1. Start by closing Chrome (after copying down these instructions!)
2. Open a Terminal (Cmd+Space then type "Terminal")
3. Type open -a "Google Chrome" --args --record-mode and hit enter.
4. Run through your demo, and close Chrome, returning to the terminal.
5. Type open -a "Google Chrome" --args --playback-mode and hit enter.
6. Everything will be served out of the recorded cache, even if your servers have exploded, a bug has been deployed, or the conference wifi has dropped out.
Thanks to commenter Michael Kenniston we have these commands for Ubuntu (and most other Linux):
google-chrome --record-mode
google-chrome --playback-mode
As with the OS X instructions, remember to close Chrome before beginning and between steps.
Commenter Kristian J. has provided these instructions for Windows:
Press Win+R to open the run dialog, enter chrome --record-mode for record mode and chrome --playback-mode for playback.
Rick Johnston 12:33 PM on March 14, 2013
Awesome! This would be tremendously useful. Thanks for sharing.
David King 1:32 PM on March 14, 2013
For Windows this would be something like: start /b "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --args --record-mode start /b "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --args --playback-mode
David King 1:32 PM on March 14, 2013
For Windows this would be something like: start /b "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --args --record-mode start /b "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --args --playback-mode
Michael Kenniston 2:19 PM on March 14, 2013
Has anyone gotten this to work under either Windows or Ubuntu? I tried both without any luck (the browser started fine, but didn't seem to be doing any recording or playing back).
Zack Bloom 2:32 PM on March 14, 2013
Michael Kenniston: The best way to test it is to try to visit a site in playback mode which you have not visited before, it should give you a cache error. You can also disconnect your internet and confirm that sites you have visited in record mode still work. David King: Thanks!
Michael Kenniston 3:01 PM on March 14, 2013
Thanks, Zack. A colleague just showed me how he got it going, and the Ubuntu shell commands are simply "google-chrome --record-mode" and "google-chrome --playback-mode". It is important that you not have *any* other instances of chrome running on the machine (otherwise you just get a new window in an existing session, which is not what you want). I also found it helpful to exit the existing session(s) by closing all tabs, so that the recording session starts up with a clean start-up screen. My main problem was that I was interpreting "playback" with the meaning it has for automated testing where you start the test and it plays everything back. In this context "playback" only refers to the internal Internet connection, so when you start in playback mode nothing happens by itself -- you have to interact with the browser, manually typing and clicking the same things in the same order that you did during recording. Be very careful not to click on any links that you didn't record the first time through. The good news is that this makes it look like you're doing a live demo. The bad news is that if you hit the wrong link and get a cache miss, things can fall apart and you may have to start the playback over again from the beginning.
Austin King 3:11 PM on March 14, 2013
You've angered the Demo Gods!
your mother 6:41 PM on March 14, 2013
bulletproof demo = don't demo... show a playback of what demoing might look like if you actually demoed something. #dum
anjan bacchu 1:49 AM on March 15, 2013
Can you record a session of doing this in a youtube demo ? thank you
ankur 9:32 AM on March 15, 2013
sounds nice, but i tried with OSX 10.8 with Chrome Version 25.0.1364.172 and it didn't work. I quit out completely before doing each step, but the playback gives me nothing.
Ankur 9:34 AM on March 15, 2013
Nevermind, I thought it would playback recorded actions, but in actuality it is just basically only serving anything in the cache. I guess this could be described as "Demoing through Google Chrome Cache"
Brad 11:07 AM on March 15, 2013
This is a great way to force the person doing the demo to stay on script. Normally you don't have any control over them.
Jason 3:15 PM on March 15, 2013
Note that sometimes this doesn't work as expected. Consider ajax-ey features that expect fairly continuous, perhaps timestamped, connections to the server. For instance, I tried this against facebook. In playback I was able to log in and click around just like I did in record mode, but eventually the chat bar turned to "Disconnected". So, in many cases this will work, but as with all demos Try It First and YMMV.
Mefi 5:12 PM on March 17, 2013
How awesome is that, thanks!
Kristian J. 6:51 PM on March 17, 2013
In Windows, chrome can be started in record mode by pressing win-R (run program), enter: chrome --record-mode And press OK For playback mode: chrome --playback-mode
miller 10:17 AM on March 19, 2013
i love this