Co-Browse is built directly into the Velaro chat widget. When a visitor shares their screen, the agent gets a live, real-time view — no browser extension to install, no third-party service to configure, no screen share link to send.
The agent requests co-browse from inside the active conversation. The visitor gets a simple consent prompt. Once they accept, streaming starts — no page reload, no new tab, no extension prompt.
From inside any live conversation, the agent clicks Request Co-browse. A consent prompt appears in the visitor's chat widget — clear, simple, visitor-controlled.
The visitor clicks Allow. No download, no new tab, no browser extension. The Velaro widget already has everything it needs — screen sharing begins in seconds.
The agent's viewer opens showing a real-time, pixel-accurate replica of what the visitor sees. Canvas elements, custom fonts, dynamic content — all rendered accurately.
Most co-browse tools work fine until they hit a real page: a login form, a chart, a custom font. Velaro's engine handles them without special configuration.
Velaro captures and streams DOM events using rrweb — every mutation, scroll, click, and form change arrives at the agent's screen in under a second. Screenshot-based tools have 1–3s lag and miss dynamic content.
Velaro captures the visitor's actual fonts and replays <canvas> elements (charts, graphics, WebGL). The agent sees what the visitor sees — not a degraded version rendered in the agent's browser fonts.
Full snapshots are sent every 10 seconds as recovery checkpoints. If the stream briefly stalls or the agent reconnects, the viewer resyncs to the current state without requiring the visitor to re-accept.
Only the agent assigned to the conversation can open the viewer. Other agents don't see a popup, don't get the session ID, and can't access the config endpoint — enforced server-side, not just in the UI.
Both the visitor's recorder and the agent's viewer use SignalR auto-reconnect with exponential backoff. A brief network blip doesn't end the session — both sides reconnect and resume within seconds.
Every state change — requested, accepted, declined, stopped — is logged as a system message in the conversation thread. Supervisors reviewing transcripts see the full co-browse history without a separate log.
Visitors sharing their screen shouldn't expose passwords, PII, or internal data they didn't intend to share. Velaro gives site owners three levels of control, applied before any data leaves the visitor's browser.
Add sensitive to any element and its text content is replaced with placeholder characters before it's streamed to the agent. The element's position and size are still visible — useful for input fields and account numbers.
Add no-record to completely remove an element from the recording stream. The agent sees a blank region in its place. Ideal for sensitive panels, payment iframes, or anything that should never leave the browser.
Add ignore-record to include an element in the initial snapshot but suppress any future changes to it. Useful for live data feeds or counters that would otherwise flood the event stream.
Sharing never starts without the visitor clicking Allow. Requests older than 3 minutes are automatically discarded so a stale consent prompt doesn't appear if the visitor navigates away and back. The visitor can stop sharing at any time from their own UI.
Most co-browse products are separate tools bolted onto a chat platform. Velaro's is built in — same platform, same conversation, no extra vendors.
| Capability | Velaro Co-Browse | Typical Standalone Tool |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor installation required | ✓ No — chat widget only | Browser extension required |
| Stream technology | ✓ DOM event streaming (<1s latency) | Screenshot polling (1–3s lag) |
| Canvas element replay | ✓ Yes — charts, WebGL, graphics | Often not supported |
| Custom font rendering | ✓ Yes — fonts captured from visitor | Renders in agent's fonts |
| Privacy masking | ✓ 3 levels — text, element, suppress | Varies; often basic or unavailable |
| Assignment-based access | ✓ Only assigned agent views session | Typically broadcast to team |
| Drift recovery | ✓ Full snapshot every 10 seconds | Manual reconnect required |
| Audit trail in conversation | ✓ Every event logged in thread | Separate log or none |
| Integrated with live chat | ✓ Same platform, same conversation | Separate product, separate vendor |
| No third-party vendor dependency | ✓ Self-contained in Velaro backend | External SaaS dependency |
When a visitor says "it's not working" — seeing exactly what they see cuts resolution time faster than any transcript.
Visitors abandon carts because something looked broken or confusing. Co-browse lets agents see the exact state of the page — discount applied wrong, shipping option not loading, payment field not accepting input — and walk the visitor through it in real time.
Complex applications, enrollments, and onboarding flows produce support contacts when visitors get confused mid-form. Agents can see where they are, what's filled in, and guide them step by step — with sensitive fields masked automatically.
When a customer says their balance looks wrong or a transaction isn't showing, the agent can see the same account view — with account numbers, SSNs, and sensitive fields blocked from the stream before they leave the browser.
For software products, understanding a bug report requires seeing the exact state of the UI when it failed. Co-browse streams canvas-based charts, dynamic data panels, and live application states accurately — not a blurry screenshot.
Co-Browse is included in Velaro Professional. Start a free trial and run your first co-browse session today — no extensions, no third-party tools, no extra setup.