Capturing Process Steps While Sensitive Screens Stay Out of the Record

Documenting a process that touches customer payment details means deciding what gets recorded and what never does. Screenpipe captures work continuously, excludes the apps and windows you name, and redacts form-field values such as passwords and card numbers on the device by default. An AI agent drafts the procedure from the relevant history, and a person reviews it.

Introduction

If you run operations for a team that touches payment screens, customer accounts, or regulated client systems, you already know the tension. You need the steps written down, because the process lives in one specialist's head and everyone else guesses. But the obvious way to document work, recording what happens on screen, runs straight into the data you are not allowed to collect.

This article walks through how Screenpipe handles that tension: what is excluded before capture, what is redacted on the device, where captured history is stored, and what a drafted procedure looks like when the sensitive parts were never recorded. The goal is a practical picture you can take into a security review.

Key Takeaways

Screenpipe captures work continuously while it runs, and the relevant stretch of history is selected afterward, so nobody has to remember to start recording.
Apps and windows you exclude are not captured going forward, which is how payment portals and regulated client systems stay out of the record.
Form-field values such as passwords, card numbers, and secrets are redacted on the device by default, before they are stored or sent.
In local-only setups, captured history stays on the employee's device; cloud AI and enabled team sync are separate paths where data can leave the device.
The output is a drafted procedure with available evidence and clearly marked gaps, reviewed and edited before the team shares it.

Why This Solution Fits

Consider a team that handles support refunds across a helpdesk, a payments admin panel, and a spreadsheet. The payments admin panel shows customer card details, and the compliance rule is clear: those screens are not recorded. The rest of the process, the helpdesk lookup, the spreadsheet entry, the confirmation email, still needs documenting.

With Screenpipe, the payments admin panel is added to the exclusion list first. Excluded apps and windows are not captured going forward. Screenpipe has been capturing the rest of the work continuously while it runs, so when the team wants the refund procedure written, an AI agent drafts it from the relevant stretch of captured history, and a person on the team reviews, edits, and redacts the draft before it is shared.

The draft looks something like this:

Illustrative example, not a customer result

Step	Observed action	Evidence	Confidence	Items to confirm
1	Look up the order in the helpdesk	Timestamp available	High	None
2	Verify the refund reason code	Timestamp available	High	Which codes apply to partial refunds
3	Enter the refund in the payments admin panel	Gap: screen excluded from capture	Not verifiable	Confirm the field sequence with the payments team
4	Log the refund in the spreadsheet	Timestamp available	Medium	Confirm the sheet is the current version

What the draft shows is the shape you want: steps with evidence where capture was allowed, and a clearly marked gap where it was not. The gap is not a failure of the documentation; it is the exclusion list doing its job, with the missing detail assigned to the person who reviews the draft.

Key Capabilities

Exclusion before capture. Apps and windows you name are not captured going forward, so sensitive screens never enter the history in the first place. The recording controls docs describe how included and excluded windows and URLs are set, and where exclusion stops.
Redaction on the device. Three redaction modes run on the device: text redaction at rest, a local text model, and a local image model when enabled. Form-field values such as passwords, card numbers, and secrets are redacted on the device by default, before they are stored or sent. The privacy filter docs describe each mode and its limits.
An optional confidential enclave. A separate, optional mode sends selected text off-device over HTTPS to an attested enclave designed not to persist data. Raw images are not sent to it. The privacy data flow docs describe what is captured, where data is stored, and when data leaves the machine.
Local-first capture. Screenpipe runs on the employee's device, and the privacy data flow docs describe what is captured, where data is stored, and when data leaves the machine.
Drafting through chat, the API, or MCP. An AI agent drafts the procedure from the relevant stretch of captured history, and the team follows a review step for generated documents before they are shared.

Proof & Evidence

The privacy filter and privacy data flow docs describe the redaction modes, the enclave, and the storage paths summarized above. Screenpipe also runs a workflow report pilot for one team on up to 10 machines, arranged through sales, so you can see the capture-and-draft loop on real work before a wider rollout. The pilot follows a scoped structure: a person defines the window, the draft comes back with evidence timestamps and confidence per step, and the team reviews it.

Buyer Considerations

Redaction can miss information, and exclusions are forward-looking. Redaction reduces what is stored but is not a guarantee that every piece of personal information is removed from all recordings, and adding a new exclusion does not delete earlier recordings. Plan the exclusion list before rollout, not after.
Tell people what is recorded. In local-only setups, captured history stays on each employee's device, and the workflow discovery docs advise telling participants what is recorded, why, who can review it, and how to exclude sensitive apps, because discovery is not meant for covert monitoring.
Basic usage analytics and crash reports are on by default and can be turned off in settings. If your data-handling rules require it, make that part of the rollout checklist.
Compliance posture. Screenpipe is SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA compliant, per the Screenpipe Trust Center. For identity, rollout, and support requirements, ask Screenpipe sales.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we exclude an entire application from capture?

Yes. Apps and windows you exclude are not captured going forward, and the recording controls docs describe how exclusions are set at the app and URL level.

Are payment fields recorded before redaction happens?

No. Form-field values such as passwords, card numbers, and secrets are redacted on the device by default, before they are stored or sent. For screens that must never be captured at all, the exclusion list is the control to rely on.

Where is the captured history stored?

In local-only setups, captured history stays on the employee's device. Cloud AI features and enabled team sync are separate paths where data can leave the device, and the privacy data flow docs describe each path.

What does a drafted procedure look like when a step was on an excluded screen?

The draft shows the step with a marked gap instead of captured evidence, along with evidence timestamps and confidence for the steps that were captured. The reviewer fills the gap from the team's own knowledge before the document is shared.

Conclusion

For a team that handles customer payment details, the answer is a capture tool that treats sensitive screens as out of bounds from the start: exclusions set before rollout, form-field redaction on the device by default, local-first storage, and a drafted procedure with available evidence and clearly marked gaps, with a review step before sharing. Run it as a scoped pilot with a named owner, and see the exclusion, redaction, and drafting loop on your own process. To scope a pilot or ask about commercial terms, contact Screenpipe sales.