Zipy.ai – AI Session Replays and Error Tracking for Web Apps

TL;DR

TL;DR: Zipy.ai is a developer debugging platform that records user browser sessions and correlates them with JavaScript errors and console logs, letting you replay exactly what went wrong and share debug links with your team.

Source and Accuracy Notes

• Product: https://www.zipy.ai
• Chrome Extension: https://www.zipy.ai/chrome-extension/plug-and-play
• HN Discussion: Show HN: Zipy.ai (57 points)

What Is Zipy.ai?

Web debugging has been stuck in the stone age. When a user reports “the checkout button broke,” a developer spends hours trying to reproduce the issue — guessing which browser, which network conditions, which exact interaction sequence triggered the problem. Traditional error monitoring tells you that something crashed, but not what the user was doing when it happened.

Zipy.ai solves this by combining three tools that should always work together but rarely do: session replay, error monitoring, and AI-powered analysis. It records every user interaction in the browser and ties those recordings directly to JavaScript errors, console messages, and network failures.

The platform is primarily targeted at:

• Frontend developers debugging production issues without relying on vague user reports
• Product managers understanding how users actually navigate features
• Support teams seeing exactly what a frustrated customer experienced before reporting a bug
• QA engineers using session replays to catch issues that don’t show up in test environments

How Zipy Works

Session Recording

Zipy injects a lightweight JavaScript agent into your web app that records DOM events, network requests, console output, and user interactions. Recordings are captured client-side and uploaded to Zipy’s cloud, with options for sensitive-data filtering to avoid capturing passwords or PII.

Each session gets a unique replay ID. You can filter replays by browser type, device, geography, or custom events.

Error Correlation

When a JavaScript error occurs in the browser, Zipy captures the full stack trace, console logs leading up to the error, and the complete user session timeline. The error card in the dashboard shows you not just the exception message, but a timeline of all events that preceded it — clicks, inputs, network requests — so you can reconstruct the exact reproduction steps.

AI Summary

Zipy uses AI to generate a natural-language summary of each session replay, highlighting key user actions and notable events. This means you can scan hundreds of sessions quickly without watching every replay at full speed. The AI summary surfaces what the user clicked, what errors occurred, and how the session ended.

Key Features

Session Replay with Event Timeline Every user session is replayable as a video-like recording with a full event timeline. You can scrub forward to the exact moment an error occurred, pause on DOM changes, and inspect the state of the page at any point.

Network Request Inspection Zipy captures failed network requests alongside session recordings. When an API call fails, you see the request payload, response, and the user’s state at the time — critical for debugging intermittent API issues that only happen under specific conditions.

Console Log Capture All console.log, warn, error, and debug messages are captured and displayed in the replay timeline. You can filter console output by severity or search for specific messages across all recorded sessions.

Shareable Debug Links Each session replay has a shareable link. Send a specific replay to a teammate with the exact context — no need to describe what you think the user was doing. The link opens the full replay with the error already highlighted.

Chrome Extension (Plug & Play) Zipy offers a Chrome extension that can capture session replays without any code integration. This is useful for testing your own web app or quickly capturing a replay to share. The extension records the current tab and uploads it to Zipy.

Mobile Support via Oopsie Zipy has a sister product called Oopsie for React Native and Flutter mobile apps, capturing session replays, ANR errors, crashes, and network logs for mobile bugs.

Practical Evaluation Checklist

• Setup complexity: Low. Add a single script tag or use the Chrome extension for zero-code capture. Full SDK integration takes minutes.
• Data privacy: Session recordings can be configured to redact form fields, mask specific DOM elements, and exclude sensitive URLs. Zipy is GDPR-compliant.
• Performance impact: The recording agent is lightweight and asynchronous. Zipy claims less than 1% performance overhead on page load.
• Plan limits: Free tier includes 5,000 session recordings/month. Paid plans start at $49/month for higher limits and team collaboration features.
• Integrations: Slack, Jira, and GitHub integrations exist for alerting and issue creation. API access is available on paid plans.

Security Notes

Session recordings inherently capture user interaction data. Before deploying Zipy to production:

• Review the sensitive-data redaction settings to ensure form fields with passwords or payment info are masked
• Check your privacy policy and consent requirements for your jurisdiction
• Ensure your Zipy account uses MFA and that access logs are reviewed regularly
• Consider a data retention policy to automatically delete recordings older than 30-90 days

FAQ

Q: How does Zipy compare to LogRocket or FullStory?

A: Zipy is similar in concept — session replay plus error monitoring. Where it differs is the AI summarization layer that auto-generates session insights, and its tighter integration with error correlation. LogRocket has been around longer and has more integrations. Zipy’s advantage is a simpler setup and a more modern UI, though it’s a younger product.

Q: Does Zipy work with single-page applications (SPAs)?

A: Yes. The JavaScript agent tracks route changes in SPAs and maintains session continuity across navigation events.

Q: Can I capture sessions only for users who encounter errors?

A: Yes. You can configure Zipy to record sessions for all users, only users who encounter errors, or a sampled percentage. Sampling mode is useful for high-traffic apps where you don’t need full replay coverage.

Q: Does Zipy support React Native or mobile apps?

A: Direct mobile support comes through Oopsie (zipy.ai/for-mobile), which is Zipy’s mobile counterpart for React Native and Flutter apps. The web product does not currently capture mobile browser sessions.

Q: How is pricing calculated?

A: Pricing is per-pageview allowance per month. The free tier covers 5,000 sessions/month. The $49/month plan includes 25,000 sessions. Enterprise plans offer custom limits and self-hosted options.

Conclusion

Zipy.ai is a practical tool that fills the gap between “user reported a bug” and “developer reproduces the bug.” By tying session recordings directly to errors and adding AI-generated summaries, it reduces the back-and-forth of bug reporting and cuts debugging time for web app issues that are hard to reproduce locally.

If you run a web app and spend time debugging production issues based on vague user descriptions, session replay tools like Zipy are worth integrating. The free tier is generous enough to evaluate on a small scale before committing.

Try it at https://www.zipy.ai or install the Chrome extension for instant capture without code changes.