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Configure Multiplayer

Multiplayer is a full stack session recorder that captures everything you need to develop new features, fix bugs, and work with AI coding tools. Multiplayer collects front-end screens, user actions, backend traces, metrics, logs and full request/response content and headers - all auto-correlated in a single session.

Configuration overview​

To fully configure Multiplayer full stack session recordings follow these 3 steps:

⏰ Multiplayer is versatile by design, so there are multiple options you can choose per each of the above steps. In this choose-your-own-adventure approach, the expected configuration time is usually a few hours and you can get started the same day. If it’s taking longer than that or you encounter any blockers, contact us.

STEP 0 - Prerequisites​

There are no prerequisites to start using Multiplayer.

👀 If this is the first time you’ve heard about us, you may want to see full stack session recordings in action. You can do that in our free sandbox: sandbox.multiplayer.app

🙋 If at any point during this set up you’re blocked, contact us and we’ll walk you through the right configuration for your platform.

We especially recommend reaching out for step (2) if you’re running multiple collectors, custom pipelines, or enterprise-grade environments.

STEP 1 - Select your session recording capture method​

Multiplayer is versatile by design. You can select among 4 options how to capture your full stack session recordings:

All options support all recording modes:

  • On-demand
  • Continuous
  • Remote (coming soon - contact us if you’re interested in early beta).

And all full stack session recording features. In particular:

  • Full stack automatic correlation (when you connect your backend services)
  • Recording annotations
  • MCP-ready full stack context
  • Auto-generated, interactive test scripts

ℹ️ For a detailed step-by-step overview guide, please refer to: Full stack session recording features.

(1a) Chrome browser extension​

The Multiplayer browser extension requires zero code and is the fastest way to get started with Multiplayer session recordings (Chrome, Firefox, and Edge supported).

It’s ideal for developers, IT support, customer success, or PMs who need to quickly capture a bug, unexpected behavior, or new feature idea and share it with their team or add sketches, comments, and annotations on top of the replay.

Installation overview:

ℹ️ For a detailed step-by-step implementation guide, please refer to: How to use the browser extension.

(1b) JavaScript client library​

You’ll want to use the Multiplayer JavaScript Client Library when you need an in-app reporting feature for developers, QA, or end-users. It automatically records full stack session replays and captures their notes and feedback in an (optional and customizable) widget. It’s ideal for your own SaaS product or internal applications.

This approach also gives you fine-grained enterprise privacy controls and lets you scale issue reporting seamlessly across your organization without requiring anyone to install the browser extension.

Check live examples of the in-app widget:

Installation overview:

  • Login into your Multiplayer account. If you don't already have one, create a free trial at go.multiplayer.app.
  • Follow the steps in onboarding wizard:
    • Generate a Multiplayer API Key
    • Follow the installation quick start
    • Use the in-app widget to start recording

ℹ️ For a detailed step-by-step implementation guide, please refer to: How to configure the JavaScript client library.

(1c) CLI apps libraries​

The CLI apps libraries are designed for teams who need to capture full stack session recordings from command-line applications and backend services (Node.js, Go, Python, etc.).

Use them when you want visibility into workflows that don’t have a browser UI, for example, debugging APIs, scripts, or infrastructure tools.

Installation overview:

  • Login into your Multiplayer account. If you don't already have one, create a free trial at go.multiplayer.app.
  • Follow the steps in onboarding wizard:
    • Generate a Multiplayer API Key
    • Choose your preferred language and follow the setup guide

Full list of guides:

ℹ️ For a detailed step-by-step implementation guide, please refer to: How to configure CLI apps libraries.

(1d) Mobile​

To install Multiplayer session recording for mobile application we provide full support for both bare React Native and Expo applications.

ℹ️ For a detailed step-by-step implementation guide, please refer to: React Native support

STEP 2 - Connect your backend services​

To fully unlock the potential of full stack session recording, you need to connect your backend to Multiplayer, sending your application’s telemetry data (traces, logs, request/response and header information) to our platform.

The most efficient way to do this is by leveraging OpenTelemetry, an industry standard for collecting telemetry data.

🙋 If at any point during this set up you’re blocked, contact us and we’ll walk you through the right configuration for your platform. We especially recommend reaching out if you’re running multiple collectors, custom pipelines, or enterprise-grade environments.

(2.1) Generate a Multiplayer API Key​

Generate an API key to send your backend data to Multiplayer.

  • Login into your Multiplayer account. If you don't already have one, create a free trial at go.multiplayer.app and follow STEP 1 of the configuration step.
  • Follow the steps in onboarding wizard. At STEP 2 generate your API key.

ℹ️ In case you already generated an API key in STEP 1 (with the “JavaScript Client Library” or “CLI Apps” options) you can re-use that, and skip this step. If you prefer to have two separate API keys, you can also generate one now for the backend data.

ℹ️ For a detailed step-by-step overview guide, please refer to: Multiplayer API keys setup & best practices

(2.2) Route traces and logs to Multiplayer​

If your services don't already use OpenTelemetry, you'll first need to install the OpenTelemetry libraries.

Once your services are instrumented with OpenTelemetry follow the steps below.

You have 2 primary options for routing your backend data to Multiplayer:

  • (2.2a) Multiplayer exporter. This is a great choice for new applications or startups because it's simple to set up and doesn't require any additional infrastructure. You can configure our exporter to send all session recording data to Multiplayer while optionally sending a sampled subset of data to your existing observability platform.

  • (2.2b) OpenTelemetry Collector. We recommend this option for large, scaled platforms, because it provides more flexibility by having your services send all telemetry to the collector, which then routes specific session recording data to Multiplayer, while routing other data to your existing observability tools.

(2.3) Capturing request/response and header content​

In addition to sending traces and logs, we recommend that you capture request/response and header content to enrich your full stack session recordings. We offer two solutions for this:

  • (2.3a) In-service code capture libraries. We support libraries in multiple languages to capture, serialize, and mask request/response and header content directly within your service code. This is an easy way to get started, especially for new projects, as it requires no extra components in your platform.

  • (2.3b) Multiplayer Proxy. This option allows you to handle capturing this data outside of your services and it’s ideal for large-scale applications. It supports all languages, including those like Java that don't allow for in-service request/response hooks. The proxy can be deployed in various ways, such as an Ingress Proxy, a Sidecar Proxy, or an Embedded Proxy, to best fit your architecture.

STEP 3 - Set up your IDE connection with our MCP server​

With the Multiplayer MCP (Model Context Protocol), you can feed your copilots and AI IDEs the complete system context they need: user actions, traces, logs, requests, responses, header data, plus user annotations.

No missing data, no guesswork. Your AI tools can generate accurate fixes, tests, and features with minimal prompting.

Choose your preferred language and follow the setup guide:

ℹ️ For a detailed step-by-step overview guide, please refer to: Multiplayer MCP server

You did it! What’s next?​

You’ve successfully configured Multiplayer, congratulations! 🎉 Your session recordings are now capturing both frontend behavior and backend data.

👉 Want to go further? Check out: