HAR Export

## Why it matters

Sometimes you need to share a tag session with a colleague or come back to it later. Exporting to HAR makes that easy. HAR is the standard format every major browser developer tool and proxy (Chrome DevTools, Firefox, Charles Proxy, Fiddler) understands. Once you've exported a session, anyone can open it in their own tool to inspect the same requests you saw, without having to recreate the scenario on their machine.

HAR also lets you archive tag sessions for compliance or debugging. If a conversion didn't fire or a campaign tagged incorrectly, you can export the session and analyse it offline.

## How it works

When you click HAR export in Scalpel Tags, the extension writes a JSON file in the HAR 1.2 format. The file contains every hit Scalpel captured: the URL, the method (GET or POST), query parameters, request headers, response status, and timing. Each hit becomes one entry in the entries array.

Scalpel adds a _scalpel field to each entry with the decoded provider name (GA4, Google Ads, etc.), the account ID, and the event name. This extra field helps you quickly identify which vendor each hit belongs to, even after you've closed Scalpel Tags.

The exported HAR is a static snapshot. You can download it, send it to a colleague, or keep it as a record. Open it in Chrome DevTools (DevTools > Network tab > drag and drop the HAR file) and you see the exact same requests and responses Scalpel captured. Click any entry to see the full request body and parameters.

## What does not matter

The HAR file is generated entirely in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server. Your captured requests stay local until you save the file.

You don't need a server or API to export HAR. It's a client-side download.

The HAR file is read-only once exported. You can't edit it inside Scalpel; open it in DevTools or a text editor if you need to modify it.

## Code example

A minimal HAR entry for a GA4 hit:

{
  "log": {
    "version": "1.2",
    "creator": {"name": "Scalpel Tags", "version": "0.2.1"},
    "entries": [
      {
        "startedDateTime": "2025-07-19T10:30:45.123Z",
        "time": 45,
        "request": {
          "method": "POST",
          "url": "https://www.google-analytics.com/g/collect?v=2&tid=G-XXXXXXX",
          "queryString": [{"name": "v", "value": "2"}, {"name": "tid", "value": "G-XXXXXXX"}],
          "postData": {"text": "cid=123.456&en=page_view&sid=1726234567890"}
        },
        "response": {
          "status": 204,
          "statusText": "No Content"
        },
        "_scalpel": {
          "provider": "GA4",
          "account": "G-XXXXXXX",
          "event": "page_view"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
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Each entry has the full request (URL, method, query parameters, body) and response (status code). The _scalpel extension decodes the provider and event name so you don't have to parse the URL.

## How Scalpel shows it

The export button lives in the panel toolbar. Click it and your browser downloads a .har file with today's date and a timestamp. The file contains every hit Scalpel captured since you opened the panel, grouped with their decoded provider, account, and event information in the _scalpel field.