> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.payback.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is recorded

> Exactly what payback captures for a turn, and at the end of a session, in a recorded repository.

With passive income on, the hook runs when you send a prompt and when the agent stops. For each turn inside a repository the [allow list](https://docs.payback.sh/repositories.md) covers, it records:

* **The repository's tree before the prompt and after the agent stops**, so the change can be replayed exactly. Tracked and untracked files, up to 5 MB each; files matching secret patterns are never included (see [What is never recorded](https://docs.payback.sh/never-recorded.md)).
* **The transcript of that turn**: your prompt, the agent's messages, and the tools it called with their output.
* **The model name**, the effort setting where the agent reports one, and timestamps.
* **The repository's remote URL, branch and commits** at the start and end, packaged with the snapshot as a git bundle.

Each turn is one capture. A turn that changed no files is still a capture, marked `qa` (a question, a review, an explanation); turns that changed files are marked `edit`. Both are uploaded.

At the end of a session in a recorded repository, the full session transcript is recorded as well. Nothing is recorded, not even a transcript, for sessions outside a git repository with a GitHub origin.

## Timing

The hook writes everything locally and never waits on the network. Uploads happen in the background: right after a turn ends, and on a timer every 15 minutes for anything left. Your agent never slows down.

Under the `public` policy, a turn is uploaded only after our server has confirmed the repository is public on GitHub; see [the visibility check](https://docs.payback.sh/repositories.md#the-visibility-check).

## Transcript retention in your agents

Claude Code and Gemini CLI delete their own transcripts after 30 days by default. Turning on passive income raises that limit so sessions are still there when they're offered for review.


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