How it works

Four steps, and every one can be run again.

Stepthrough doesn't make one-off screen recordings. It keeps a script for every walkthrough, and that script lets you re-record the video whenever your product changes.

01 — The brief

Describe what the video should show

A guide starts with a topic and a brief: a few sentences on what the walkthrough should show, written by whoever knows the answer. If a help article already covers it, the article can be the brief.

You can also choose who acts in the video (the persona) and which app it opens on. Everything else is worked out during the first take.

New guide

Title

Invite a teammate

Brief

Show a workspace admin how to invite a teammate and choose their role.

Persona · Workspace adminOpens on · Your product

02 — The take

An agent uses your product and records it

Stepthrough opens your product in a real browser, signs in as the persona and works through the brief. It clicks, types, waits for pages to load and narrates what it's doing. The whole session is recorded.

The footage is only part of the result. Each take leaves a script: the walkthrough written down, with each step described in plain English as well as by what it targets on the page. The plain-English description lasts; the page details can be repaired on the next run.

If a take isn't right, pin notes to the moments that need to change and take it again from the same script. Your notes take priority, and you choose which take the guide keeps. If a run gets stuck, it can pause and send a live link so someone can show it the way.

A take leaves behind

The recordingContinuous video of the whole session
A timelineEvery action, page and line of narration
Page snapshotsCaptured at each scene boundary
The scriptEditable visually or as YAML

03 — The cut

The recording becomes a finished video

A cut turns a take into something you can publish. Narration is voiced and timed to the recording, long waits are sped up, failed attempts are removed, and moving to another app gets a transition that names where you've gone.

One take can be cut many times, with a different voice, a different pace or new title cards, without using the product again.

A cut delivers

MP4 video1920×1080 by default
CaptionsWebVTT, matching the narration
Chapter marksTimed to the final video
Publish descriptionTitle, link and chapter list to paste
Optional cardsIntro title, chapter dividers, end card with QR code

04 — The re-render

When the product changes, the video follows

Every guide records which apps its walkthrough passes through. When one of them changes, each guide that touches it is flagged stale with a one-line reason, so you can see what's out of date without checking every video.

Re-render a guide and Stepthrough follows its existing script with the live page in view. It keeps the walkthrough and adapts to anything that moved. Re-render every stale guide at once, and the library is current again without anyone recording a screen.

Each re-render is labelled with what happened, so you know which videos to publish straight away and which need a look.

Every re-render reports an outcome

VerifiedThe same walkthrough, step for step.
HealedThe app changed and the walkthrough adapted.
RevisedChanged on purpose, following your notes or a new brief.
DivergedIt became a different walkthrough, so it waits for your review.
DriftedIt could not finish, so the guide is flagged for attention.

Key terms

The words you'll see in the app

Guide: One help topic, such as “Invite a teammate”. It holds the brief, every take and the script currently in use.
Take: One run through your product: the recording, a timeline of every action and the script that run produced.
Script: The walkthrough written down: chapters, scenes, narration and steps. Editable, and what makes re-rendering possible.
Cut: The deliverable: a narrated video with captions, chapters and a publish description. One take can have many cuts.
App: Something a walkthrough can use: your own product, or a third-party tool your customers use alongside it.
Persona: Who is acting on screen and how they sign in to each app, so every recording shows the right account.

Getting started

What you need

A product that runs in a browser, and an account recordings can use, ideally in a demo or staging environment.
A topic and a brief, or a help article you'd like turned into a video.
A place to publish, such as YouTube, your help centre or anywhere else that plays an MP4.

Book a demo Pricing

Questions first? Email hello@stepthrough.ai.