# Record Tutorials and Demos Without Uploading Anything

Record a product demo or tutorial in Chrome and keep the file on your computer. RecBaba edits locally — upload is a button you press later.

Category: Workflow. Published 2026-08-28.

![A laptop on a desk with local film on the machine, not in a distant cloud.](https://www.recbaba.com/blog/cover-local-tutorials.jpg)

> **Key takeaway:** Stop means the file is on this computer. Trim, crop, overlay text, and export MP4 with no account. Share is a later button — skip it and RecBaba has no copy.

A tutorial often includes a dashboard, a customer name, or a settings page you would not paste into a public cloud. Cloud-first recorders treat “stop” as “upload.” RecBaba treats “stop” as “the file is on this computer.” You can still share later. You do not have to.

> The default after stop is local storage, not someone else’s bucket. That is the product, not a setting buried in a privacy page.

![RecBaba local editor with a timeline, text overlays, and Export MP4 — labeled as on this computer.](https://www.recbaba.com/screenshots/editor.png)

*The editor opens the take from local storage. Export MP4 writes to Downloads. Opening this view never starts an upload.*

## Record the demo as a Chrome tab

For a website or web app, record the tab. The overlay stays on the page you are showing, so you are not cutting away to a separate recorder window. Mic and tab audio mix locally. If you want a spotlight or click rings, those are editor effects applied on export — they do not change the captured file while you talk.

## Edit without creating an account

When you stop, the editor opens the recording from local storage. Trim the fumble at the start. Cut the section where you opened the wrong menu. Add a text overlay. Export MP4 to Downloads. None of that starts an upload, and none of it requires an account. Auto captions and music mixing are Pro and Max, and they still run on this computer.

![Local RecBaba recordings list on this device, separate from shared cloud recordings.](https://www.recbaba.com/screenshots/recordings.png)

*Recordings on this computer stay on this computer. Shared links, if you create any, are a separate list.*

## When a link is actually useful

Sometimes a teammate should watch in the browser instead of downloading a file. That is the Share button. RecBaba will ask you to log in or create an account if you are not signed in, then upload that one file and give you a private link. You can add a password, set an expiry, block downloads, and revoke the link. There is no public gallery and search engines are asked not to index shares.

If the tutorial should never leave the building, skip Share. Hand someone the MP4. RecBaba has no copy.

> **Local-first is not a license to publish secrets:** Keeping the file on your machine means we do not have it. It does not mean the content is safe to send. Blur or crop passwords, customer names, and internal tools before the MP4 leaves your desk.

## What this is not

- It is not a meeting bot that joins Zoom for you.
- It is not an automatic cloud library of every take.
- It is not a watermarked “free plan” export. The file is yours.