Everything you need
to audit like a pro.
Setup, every v2.0 capability, advanced workflows, and answers to the questions we get most often. Each topic is a focused article — pick the one you need.
Getting started
Install, find your way around the side panel, and understand what each permission is doing.
Installing Pixel Auditor
Add it from the Chrome Web Store, pin the icon, open the side panel.
→ 01.02The interface, top to bottom
Header bar, four tabs, action bar, drawer, and what every badge means.
→ 01.03Permissions explained
Why each Chrome permission is requested and what data it actually touches.
→ 01.04What's new in 2.5
v2.0The full changelog, condensed: PII, Consent Mode, simulator, SST, latency, saved runs.
→Detection
How Pixel Auditor finds tags, what platforms are covered, and how to read the Tags tab.
How detection works
JS globals, DOM scripts, network interception, JS hooks, MutationObserver re-scans.
→ 02.02Supported platforms & tag types
Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Microsoft — every signature, ID format, and detection method.
→ 02.03Tag status badges
Detected, fired, retired, duplicate — what each badge means and when you'll see it.
→ 02.04Server-side tracking detection
v2.0First-party proxies, hosted sGTM, vendor server APIs — classified, not enumerated.
→Live events
The Live Events tab — read the stream, filter, search, pause, and inspect payloads.
Reading the live event stream
Anatomy of an event row, severity left-bar, NEW and watched eye badges.
→ 03.02Event search & regex filter
v2.0Substring across all fields, or wrap in /…/ for a live JS regex.
Pause / Resume recording
v2.0Stop the stream when you need to inspect, without losing scrollback.
→ 03.04Inspecting event payloads
The drawer, parameter validation, funnel mismatches, routing summary.
→ 03.05Tag latency badge
v2.0What the green / yellow / red pill measures and when to worry.
→ 03.06Duplicate event detection
The 3-layer dedup chain, rapid-fire heuristic, common causes of duplicates.
→Audit & health
Score, cookies, and the Audit tab's tiered findings.
Consent Mode
The classifier, the simulator, and pre-consent violations.
Privacy & PII
The new PII leak detector — what it catches and how it tiers findings.
Workflows
Day-to-day patterns: watch, snapshot, save, dataLayer.
Watch for Event (multi-watch)
v2.0Per-site by default, global toggle, cross-tab notifications.
→ 07.02Snapshot & Diff
Capture state, browse, see exactly what's changed.
→ 07.03Saved Runs & comparison
v2.0Persist 10 audits per browser, side-by-side diff against the current state.
→ 07.04DataLayer Inspector
The dL tab, search, expanding pushes, the pending → silent state machine.
→Customization & reference
Theme toggle, troubleshooting, and getting unstuck.