Preserve log in Chrome: keep network requests after a page reload

By default the Network panel shows one page at a time. Each time the main frame loads a new document, from a reload, a link, a form post or a server redirect, Chrome clears the list and starts over. That keeps the table short, but it throws away exactly the requests you need when debugging a login flow, an OAuth redirect or a form that posts and then redirects.

Chrome's Network features reference documents the checkbox under "Save requests across page loads". The Console has a separate Preserve log option in its own settings, so check both if you also want console messages to survive a reload.

Preserve log stops the clear on navigation. It does not change what DevTools records or how long it keeps it. These limits catch most people out:

• The log is gone when you close DevTools. Closing the DevTools window or the tab loses it. Export a HAR file first if you need the requests later.
• Requests that happened before you opened DevTools are missing. Chrome records network requests only while DevTools is open, so the first page load is lost unless you reload with DevTools already open.
• Everything ends up in one flat list. Chrome does not mark where one page load ends and the next begins, so after five reloads it is hard to tell which /api/me call belongs to which load. You have to work it out from the order of the document requests and the Waterfall.
• Single-page-app route changes never clear the log in the first place. A history.pushState route change is not a document load, so with or without Preserve log every route's API calls pile into the same list with no marker between them.

Disable cache sits next to Preserve log and is often used with it. When checked, Chrome skips the HTTP cache for every request while DevTools is open, so a reload shows what a first-time visitor downloads. The Chrome docs describe it as a way to emulate a first-time visitor.

The two settings do different jobs. Preserve log controls whether the list survives a reload. Disable cache controls whether the requests in that list hit the network or come from the cache. If a request you expected is missing after a reload, check whether it was served from the memory or disk cache before assuming it never ran.

Firefox has the same feature under a different name. The Firefox Network Monitor docs note that the request list is cleared each time you navigate to a new page or reload by default.

• Open the Network Monitor with Ctrl+Shift+E on Windows and Linux, or Cmd+Option+E on macOS.
• Click the gear icon at the right end of the Network toolbar.
• Select Persist Logs. Requests now stay in the list across reloads and navigations.

The Web Console has its own Persist Logs option in its settings menu. Firefox's version has the same limits as Chrome's: the list lives only while the toolbox is open, and nothing separates one page load from the next.

Netraptor is a Chrome extension that adds a Netraptor panel to DevTools. It works like the Network panel but keeps requests across reloads by default and labels every page load.

• Open the Netraptor panel and it pulls in the requests DevTools has already logged for the current page, so you do not need to reload first.
• Every reload or navigation starts a new group headed Reloaded or Navigated to, with the page path, the time and the number of requests it made. You can see at a glance which load a request came from.
• Single-page-app route changes through pushState, replaceState and the back and forward buttons also start a new group. Hash-only changes such as #top do not.
• Earlier page loads fold away when the page loads again, the way Chrome clears its list, but nothing is deleted. Click a group to expand it, or Alt-click to expand every earlier load. Check Netraptor's own Preserve log box to keep them all open.
• Clear (Cmd/Ctrl+L) hides earlier requests from the view without deleting them, so exports and the API Map still see everything.

Live capture stays in memory and holds the newest 5,000 requests. Like Chrome's log, it is gone when you close DevTools.

For requests you want to keep, turn on Keep history for this site in the toolbar popup or the History pill in the panel. Netraptor then saves that site's fetch and XHR calls to IndexedDB in your browser and keeps capturing with DevTools closed. Saved sessions keep their page-load groups and appear in the session picker next to the live one. Keep history saves API calls only, not scripts, styles or images. The Free plan keeps the last three sessions and Pro keeps all of them.

When you need to share a session, export it as a HAR file. See what a HAR file is and how to find every API endpoint of a web app for the next steps.