Record a test

What to record

Recording is one of the two ways to create a test: you walk through the scenario once, and GUI Test Studio generates the test from the recording, visually, ready to run and to edit at any time.The other way is to describe the workflow in a prompt, and your AI assistant records it for you.Prefer to work without AI?Record it: nothing else is needed.

The home page of GUI Test Runner-Recorder shows both ways side by side, in its Create a new test card: Record it yourself, with the red Record button, and Create Test From Prompt.Click Record.Before every recording, the app asks what you want to test.

The question shows five pictures, one per choice: the entire screen, an app, a web app, an area of the screen and a phone.Click a picture and its settings appear under the row; then click the red Record button.The first time, a short guide walks you through the five.

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Several monitors: which screen

On a computer with several monitors, one more question comes first: Which screen should this test use? The monitors are drawn as they stand on your desk.Click one to record that monitor alone, or All screens for an app that opens its windows on any of them.The one you click lights up for a moment on the real screen, so you know which it is.

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It is asked once per session; the recordings after it keep the answer.Tick Don't ask again to keep your choice for good: it then lives in Settings, Preferences, Recording Defaults, in the Screen card as Record On, with the switch that brings the question back.

A test runs on the screen GUI Test Runner-Recorder is on, so the browser or app it opens appears where you are working.A test recorded on another monitor keeps running there.To run it elsewhere, or on all screens, change Run On in the test's Project Settings.See Run a test.

The five choices, and when to pick each

The entire screen

Everything on your main monitor can get checks.Pick it for a first test, when your scenario goes through several apps or windows, or when you are not sure.

An app

Pick it when your scenario stays inside one desktop application.Only that app's windows, dialogs and menus get automatic checks, so a notification from another program never ends up in your test.

Choose the app in the list of open apps, or click Browse... for a program that is not open yet.Tick the box that starts the app at the beginning of the test and closes it at the end, and every run starts from a fresh app.

A web app

Pick it when what you test is a website or a web app.Type its address and choose the browser.The page opens in a clean full-screen window, without your tabs or sign-ins, and the recording starts once the page has loaded.The test then opens and closes the browser by itself on every run.

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Tick Also generate this test for other browsers and devices to get the same test for Chrome, Edge and Firefox, phones, tablets and other screen sizes as well, made right after you save.See Every browser and device from one recording.

An area of the screen

Pick it when only one part of the screen matters: a panel, a form, a game's view.Click Pick on Screen... and draw the area.Automatic checks come from inside it only.

A phone (Android)

Pick it when what you test is an Android app.Plug the phone in over USB: its screen appears in a window on yours, and what you do in that window happens on the phone.The question says when the phone is ready, or what is still missing.

Not sure?Start from what you test

While you record

The app steps aside and counts down three seconds, so you can start your scenario calmly.

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When GUI Test Runner-Recorder opens a web app or starts an app for you, there is no countdown.It asks you to keep off the mouse and the keyboard, and recording starts the moment the page or the app is up.

A small toolbar sits near the bottom of the screen while you record.It is never part of the recording, and you can drag it out of your way.

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Mouse clicks, drags, scrolling and keyboard typing are all recorded, and so is a game controller when you switch it on in the Preferences.

Every key you press keeps the keyboard layout it was typed in.A test that switches layouts along the way, from French to English for example, types each key in its own layout when it runs.If the computer running the test does not have one of those layouts, the report says so; that alone is never a failure.

Habits for a reliable test

A test replays exactly what you did.A few habits during the recording make it pass every time.

Keys to remember

You can change these keys in Settings, Preferences.

Recording a phone

Turn on USB debugging on the Android phone, plug it in, and allow the computer once on the phone's screen.The question shows the steps when the phone is not ready yet.See Web, phones, virtual machines and games.

When you stop

The app comes back and asks what this test should verify, then where to save it.Continue with Choose what a test verifies.

The other way: describe the test

Create Test From Prompt, beside Record, opens a window where you write what the test should do, pick an example to start from, and send it to your AI assistant: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, ChatGPT with Codex or VS Code, or create it with a local AI model, one we provide or one you bring.The assistant then performs the steps on your screen, verifies as it goes and saves the same kind of test.See Create a test from a prompt.