Recording Mode Claude Code mod: screen recording without leaking secrets

The Claude Code recording mode mod, Recording Mode, is a community mod by Nate Herk (nateherkai), one of four plugins in his claude-code-mods collection. It is built for Claude Code screen recording: you run /rec before you hit record, and while it is on the transcript is drawn with sensitive text masked, and a pulsing red ● REC marker sits above the prompt as a reminder.

While it is on, the mod masks these in prompts, replies, command output and tool rows: API keys and tokens, values from any .env file in the project folder or its parents, emails, names, phone numbers, street addresses, card, account and ID numbers, money, and figures that sit next to business words such as revenue, margin or payroll. Results from mail, chat, task, calendar and finance tools are drawn as ••• hidden while recording. /rec strict also masks every large figure and percentage.

It also acts on Claude. Reads of private files (.env, credentials, SSH and cloud keys, Claude's memory folder, and paths that look like payroll, invoices, contracts or budgets) and calls to finance tools are denied, and a note is added to each prompt asking Claude to keep names, amounts and plans out of its replies. The author's README says everything stays on your machine.

The recording starts Claude Code with the mod loaded in the small demo project and runs /rec. A toast says Recording mode is on and a red ● REC appears above the prompt and in the footer. Then it sends a prompt with a made-up email, card number and revenue figure; in the transcript they show as •••@•••, •••• •••• •••• •••• and $•••, and Claude answers that it will not repeat them. Last it sends read .env, which Claude refuses because private files stay closed while recording. The clip ends with /rec off, after which the same prompt is drawn unmasked.

Use any of the methods in the install block; they install straight from the author's own nateherk-mods marketplace. After installing into a session that is already open, run /reload-plugins, then run /rec.

The plugin is a function-hooks module, hooks/register.mjs, plus a pure masking library, hooks/privacy.mjs. /rec writes a small JSON flag, and every session checks it every 3 seconds, so turning it on in one window covers the others. The tool gate, from register.mjs:

on('tool.call', async ($, e, next) => {
  if (!rec.on) return next(e)
  const hit = financeTool(e.tool, config.closedTools) ? 'finance tools' : privatePathHit(toolCallTargets(e).join('\n'), config.privatePaths)
  if (!hit) {
    if (businessSource(e.tool, e, config.businessTools)) businessCalls.add(e.tool_use_id)
    return next(e)
  }
  blocked += 1
  return { deny: `Recording mode is on, so "${hit}" stays closed ...` }
})

Masking itself is done in ui.render hooks for user and assistant messages, command output, tool input and tool results, so the text on screen is rewritten but the conversation Claude receives is not. .env values are read into memory when recording starts, matched anywhere on screen and never written anywhere. Names are learned from emails and contact fields (for example From: lines) and kept in memory only.

/rec config creates ~/.claude/mods-data/recording-mode/config.json with example values:

• keepNames: your own name or brand, shown even while recording.
• names: people whose names are always masked.
• privatePaths: folders or file names Claude may not open, matched anywhere in a path in any case.
• businessTools: tool or command names whose results are drawn as hidden.
• closedTools: tool names Claude may not call.

Save the file and run /rec again. The patterns themselves (SECRET_PATTERNS, PRIVATE_PATHS and the rest) are constants at the top of privacy.mjs if you want to edit them.

We read every file the plugin can execute before running it: plugin.json, hooks/hooks.json, register.mjs and privacy.mjs. There is no package.json, install script, binary or bundled code, and no network, shell or process calls.

• Writes files ($.fs.write): only when you run a command. /rec and /rec off write ~/.claude/mods-data/recording.json (the on/off flag), and /rec config creates ~/.claude/mods-data/recording-mode/config.json. These are outside the plugin's own store, and they are shared by every session on the machine, which is how the flag spreads to other windows.
• Reads files: the flag and config, and .env and .env.local in the working folder and up to three parent folders. .env values are kept in memory to mask them and never stored or sent.
• Intercepts tool calls and adds text to prompts: while on, tool.call can deny a call, and prompt.submit appends a note asking Claude to keep personal and business details out of replies. Both only act while recording is on, and both match what the README says. The three gating hooks have no .catch; validate lists this as a note, not a warning.
• Background timer: $.clock.every polls the flag every 3 seconds, only inside a running session.
• No telemetry, no daemon, no env writes; it reads only HOME and USERPROFILE.

claude plugin validate passed with no errors and no warnings in the plugin; it only reports that the plugin has no icon. The author ships no tests, and claude plugin test found none. The mod is MIT licensed with a LICENSE file in the repository.

Checked with Claude Code 2.1.310 on macOS (validate, a static read and a recorded session). If something is not masked or hidden:

• Run /rec again if it toasted "off": a bare /rec while it is on turns it off. The red ● REC marker shows the current state.
• Masking is pattern based. A key without a known prefix, or a figure with no business word nearby, may stay visible; try /rec strict.
• Recording does not mask your terminal title, window list or other apps, only the Claude Code transcript.
• If /rec is taken by another command, the mod registers /recording instead.
• After editing the config file, run /rec again so it is reloaded.