Export a HAR
Traffic captured on an iPhone or Android phone becomes a standard HAR 1.2 file in two clicks from the dashboard — one request, one host, one device or everything you have — ready for any HAR viewer, a bug report, or a teammate.
HAR is the one format every network tool reads, and it is the one thing a phone cannot produce on its own. Busymate DevTools solves that by never keeping the capture on the phone in the first place: every request the app records is written straight to your dashboard's store, so the export runs there, against the full history, without a cable or a sync step. The phone only has to have captured.
This guide covers the four export scopes the feed toolbar offers, what a full device export includes and deliberately does not, how to bring a HAR back in, and how to get the same file from an AI agent with one sentence.
What you
A phone that has captured something, and the dashboard open in a browser.
A paired iPhone or Android phone that has captured the session you want — VPN or PAC mode, either works.
For readable bodies, the hosts you care about on that device's SSL-proxy list at capture time. Encrypted hosts export as metadata only.
The dashboard feed open, with the device sidebar visible.
Somewhere to put a file that may contain live tokens — see the pitfalls before you share it.
Do it
Scope first, then export, then verify. The last step swaps the clicks for a sentence.
- 01
Capture the session on the phone
Turn capture on, run through the flow you want to hand over, and turn it off again if you want a clean boundary. Every request lands in the dashboard as it happens; there is nothing to pull off the phone afterwards. The connection mode in effect is snapshotted per request, so the export records how each one was captured.
- 02
Focus the feed on that device
Pick the phone in the device sidebar so the feed shows only its traffic, or open the dashboard through a link that already names the device. Use the search box to confirm the requests you expect are there — filter by host or path — and click one row to open the inspector and check that the body is readable where it should be.
Deep-link straight to one device's feed texthttps://dash.busymate.dev/?device=<device-uuid> - 03
Pick the scope from the export menu
The export menu sits in the feed toolbar. With a row selected it offers three narrow scopes: this request alone, every request to that host, or every request matching a wildcard around that host — the right choice for a bug report about one endpoint. Without a selection, or when you want the whole session, the same menu offers the device export and the all-devices export.
- 04
Export the device — or everything
Export device writes one HAR file with every persisted entry for that phone. It paginates the full history on the server, not just the rows currently loaded in your browser, so a long session comes out complete. Two things to know: the feed's filters are not applied — this is a complete dump by design — and a device with a deep history streams page by page, so the download may take a moment to assemble.
Export all devices does the same across every device in the workspace, which is the file to attach when the question is how several phones behaved together.
- 05
Verify it, and round-trip it if you want an archive
The file is standard HAR 1.2, so any HAR viewer opens it. The dashboard is one: choose a HAR file from the import control and the entries are persisted and broadcast, appearing in the feed exactly like live captures with the same pretty-printing and search. If a device filter is active when you import, entries that do not name a device are attributed to that device.
A useful habit is to export a device's HAR at the end of a session and re-import it into a fresh workspace, which keeps an archived copy you can browse later, with its own retention window.
- 06
Get the same file from an agent in one sentence
Once Claude Code or another MCP client is connected — or from BusyBro in the dashboard — the export is a prompt. Name the host and the time window and you get a HAR log scoped to exactly that, without touching the toolbar. Agent-driven exports run under your role's capabilities like every other action.
A prompt that produces a scoped HAR export textGive me a HAR export of every request to api.example.com captured today from my iPhone.
What can
Most surprises are about what an export deliberately does or does not include.
The device export contains rows my filter hid
Expected: the device and all-devices exports are complete dumps and ignore feed filters. For a narrower file, select a row and use the this-request, host or wildcard scope instead.
Some entries have headers but no body
Those hosts were not on the SSL-proxy list when they were captured, so only metadata exists. Add the host, capture the flow again, and export again — an export can only contain what was decrypted at the time.
The file contains live tokens
It will: a HAR is a faithful record and the export does not redact. Treat it like a credential, strip or rotate secrets before sharing, and prefer asking BusyBro to explain a flow when you only need the shape — its answers redact tokens and cookies.
Imported entries landed on the wrong device
Entries that do not name a device are attributed to whichever device filter was active during the import. Clear the filter, or select the intended device, before importing.
The download seems stuck on a busy device
Large histories stream page by page on the server before the file is offered; give it a moment. Narrow the scope to a host if you only need part of the session.
Questions
Which HAR version is it, and will other tools open it?
HAR 1.2, the standard shape with a log and its entries. Any HAR viewer, browser devtools import, or the dashboard's own import reads it.
Can I export from the phone itself?
The export runs in the dashboard, which you can open in the phone's browser — but since every request is already in your dashboard the moment it is captured, there is nothing on the phone to pull first.
How far back does a device export reach?
As far as the entries are still persisted under your workspace's retention window. Export at the end of a session if you want to keep it beyond that, and re-import it into an archive workspace.
A phone session,
Capture on the phone, scope it in the feed, and hand over a standard HAR — or ask an agent for one.