CRAFTtrail
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Questions, answered plainly

CRAFTtrail documents the human decision trail behind AI-assisted creative work — who briefed it, what was generated, what a person chose and changed, who approved it. These are the questions people ask most, including the ones about what it cannot do.

Last updated 12 August 2026

Basics

What is CRAFTtrail actually for?

It documents the human decisions behind AI-assisted creative work. Who briefed it, what was generated, what a person chose and changed, who checked it, who approved it. The output is one certificate per asset that shows the process existed — with hashes of the evidence, so nobody has to take your word for it.

It says BETA. What does that actually mean?

It works and it is free, but it is young and it will change. Nothing here is a trial that expires and there is no bill coming. What we ask in return is that you tell us what breaks or what's missing — Report & suggestions in the top bar. That is genuinely how this gets built.

Do you track what I do in the app?

No. We count five things — the app being opened, an asset created, a certificate issued, a backup made, and the beta notice shown. Each sends one word and nothing else: no name, no client, no asset, no IP kept, no identifier. What we hold is a number per day, like "14 openings on 12 August". We do it because your work never reaches us, so otherwise we cannot tell whether anyone is using this at all. It is a headcount, not a trail.

Where is my data stored?

In this browser, on this machine. Records and notes are in local storage; evidence images are in IndexedDB. None of it is sent to us and we cannot read it. That is why backing up matters — see the backup questions below.

What are the seven steps?

Brief, generate, curate, edit, QA, approve, publish. Each one takes a short note and any evidence you attach. An asset becomes certifiable once the chain is complete — the certificate reflects exactly what you recorded, no more.

Do I have to fill in every step?

No. You can certify at any point and the certificate will show only the steps that were completed. A partial record is honest; an invented one is not. It simply carries less weight.

Evidence & capture

How do screenshots get into an asset?

Two ways. Attach files directly on the asset detail, or use the Chrome capture extension and its keyboard shortcut. Captures land in the Inbox.

What is Recording mode?

Turn an asset On and every capture you take goes straight to that asset's current step, stamped with the time — no filing afterwards. It switches itself off after three hours idle, so you don't come back tomorrow and file yesterday's work into the wrong record.

Why is the Inbox showing captures I didn't file?

Those were taken while nothing was armed. Open one to preview it, then file it to an asset or start a new asset from it. If AI assistance is on, CRAFTtrail will suggest where it belongs.

What is the hash next to each piece of evidence?

A SHA-256 fingerprint, computed in your browser the moment you attach the file. Change one pixel and the fingerprint changes completely. It is what lets someone confirm later that the image on the certificate is the image you attached — you can check any file yourself with shasum -a 256 filename.

AI assistance

Do I need to connect an AI provider?

No. The app works fully without one. AI assistance only drafts step notes and suggests where captures belong — it never decides anything and never writes to a record without you.

Whose AI account is used?

Yours. You connect your own provider key or proxy. Requests go from your browser to your provider under your own contract with them — not through our account, not billed to us, and not our decision what you send.

Is AI on by default?

For UK and EU accounts, no — it is off until you turn it on. For US accounts it defaults on. Either way there is a single master switch in AI setup, and the certificate records whether a note was written by a person, drafted by AI and edited, or drafted by AI and left as-is.

Backup & recovery

If I clear my browser, do I lose everything?

Yes — permanently. There is no server copy to restore from. Use Back up regularly. The zip contains every certificate, every record and every evidence image, and it restores in one step.

What is actually inside a backup?

One folder per asset, containing its certificate, its record as JSON, and an evidence/ folder with the real image files. Plus a RESTORE/ folder the app uses to put everything back exactly as it was, including re-attaching each image to the step it came from.

Can I back up automatically?

Connect a folder in the Back up panel — including one that syncs to Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive — and CRAFTtrail writes a fresh backup there once a day when you open it. It never prompts you unasked, so if you revoke folder permission it simply stops.

How do I restore?

Back up → Restore from a backup… → choose the zip. It tells you what is in the backup and what will be replaced before anything happens. Restoring replaces everything currently in this browser, so back up first if there is work here you want to keep.

Certificates & clients

What do I hand to a client?

Export a delivery bundle from the asset. It contains the certificate, the record, the evidence and a manifest of hashes — everything a client or auditor needs to check the work independently, with nothing that requires our involvement.

Does this make us compliant with the EU AI Act?

Not on its own — no tool can do that. Article 50 places marking duties on AI providers and disclosure duties on deployers. CRAFTtrail helps with the part you own: showing the human process behind the asset, and recording what was disclosed. Talk to your own counsel about your obligations.

Trouble

The capture extension shortcut does nothing.

Open chrome://extensions, confirm the CRAFTtrail Capture card is enabled, then check chrome://extensions/shortcuts — Chrome silently drops a shortcut if another extension claims it first. Captures only work on normal web pages, not on Chrome's own settings pages.

Draft with AI returns an error.

Check AI setup: the master switch is on, and either a proxy URL with its token or an API key is filled in. If you are using an OpenAI key for image descriptions, a restricted key will not work — vision needs a key with full model access.

Something is wrong and it isn't listed here.

Use Report & suggestions in the top bar. Say what you were doing just before it happened — that one detail resolves most reports. We answer as soon as we can.

Still stuck?

Open the app and use Report & suggestions in the top bar, or email contact@craftframe.agency. Questions asked often enough end up on this page.

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