---
title: "Share a session as a link"
description: "Copy a link that reopens the playground on the same scenario, frame, cluster and recorded actions, and see what the link keeps and what it leaves out."
url: https://monedula.dev/flock/docs/kafka-simulator/how-to/share-by-url/
---
The playground keeps its state in the address bar. Each time you move the playhead, select something or act on the cluster, it rewrites the URL, so a copied link reopens the view you are looking at.

## Steps

### 1. Go to the moment you want to share

Move the playhead to the frame the link should open on. In a scripted scenario the link stores that frame. In free play, or in a scenario you have forked into a sandbox, the link stores the actions recorded up to the frame you are on. An action you take from an earlier frame replaces everything that came after it.

### 2. Copy the link

Select **Share link** in the top bar. It copies the page's URL to your clipboard and confirms with "link copied ✓". On a narrow screen or a touch device the button sits in the **⋯** menu, under **share**. The address bar holds the same URL, so you can also copy it from there.

A link replays at most 2,000 actions. When the session has recorded more, the confirmation warns that only the first 2,000 will load. With the **auto-loop** on, every record the producer writes is an action, so a long session gets there; **Clear state**, above the canvas, empties the action list and keeps the cluster configuration.

### 3. Know what the link carries

The link is a set of query parameters:

| Parameter | What it holds |
| --- | --- |
| `scenario` | The scenario id, or `free` for free play. |
| `t` | The frame to open on. For a forked scenario, the frame you forked from. |
| `actions` | Every action you recorded: produced records, kills, restarts, config changes and the rest, each with its time. |
| `cluster` | The free-play topology, when it is not Single DC. |
| `size` | The free-play cluster shape, when you changed it: brokers, partitions, topics, clients, racks, regions, timing and seed. |
| `panels` | Which of the left, right and bottom panels are shown, when not all three are. |
| `select` | The canvas item you selected. |

The link does not carry the open right-panel tab, the canvas zoom or fullscreen. A scripted scenario opens on the **Steps** tab, and a sandbox, or a link with a selection, opens on the **Inspector**.


The terminal session is not in the link either. A command that changed the cluster is in the link the same way the matching button press would be.



The format of these links is public. The [playground URL format](/flock/docs/kafka-simulator/reference/url-format/) describes every parameter and the action grammar, for tools that generate links.


## Check it worked

Open the link in a new tab. The playground replays the recorded actions and opens on the state they lead to, with the same item selected. If the link carried more actions than the cap, a notice says the shared sandbox was truncated. If the playground cannot rebuild the session from the link, it says so and starts a blank sandbox instead.

## Related

- [Build a cluster in free play and break it](/flock/docs/kafka-simulator/tutorials/build-a-cluster-and-break-it/) ends by sharing a session.
- [Report an issue](/flock/docs/kafka-simulator/how-to/report-an-issue/) explains where a link like this helps most.