What LeetCode Records: Contests, Interview, and Mock Tests

LeetCode does not proctor anything. As of September 9, 2026, no LeetCode documentation describes webcam capture, screen recording, tab tracking, or a lockdown application on any part of the platform. The integrity tooling LeetCode does document applies to one surface, its rated contests, and consists of a plagiarism checker, a keystroke-level Code Replay, and human review. The other two surfaces, LeetCode Interview and Mock Assessment, are a live call and a practice tool. Most "LeetCode online assessments" are not on LeetCode at all.

This article is the inventory: which LeetCode surface you are on, what that surface records, and where the employer-run assessment you were sent actually lives.

Three surfaces, none of them a proctored test

Contests. Weekly and Biweekly Contests are rated competitions run by LeetCode. They have written rules, a detection tool, and penalties. They have no camera, no screen share, and no browser lock.

LeetCode Interview. An interviewer-run live session. The launch post describes it as "Video and voice chat along with code collaboration. See, hear, and code with your candidates all in one place," with "No downloads or IDE required." The interviewer sees your code as you type and gets Judger results. Nothing in the product page or launch post describes recording, playback, or integrity signals.

Mock Assessment. A Premium practice feature. LeetCode's Premium overview describes it as the ability to "practice mock interviews targeting a specific company." Nobody but you sees the result.

"LeetCode OA." When a recruiter or a forum post says a company's online assessment is "LeetCode," it almost always means the questions resemble LeetCode problems. The test itself runs on HackerRank, CodeSignal, or a similar vendor with its own proctoring, and the invitation domain is how you tell.

What contests record

The contest rules, last updated September 26, 2024, prohibit multiple accounts, similar code across accounts, leaking solutions before the contest ends, and external help: "The use of code generation tools or any external assistance for solving problems is strictly prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, actions such as inputting problem statements, test cases, or solution code into external assistance tools."

Detection is similarity plus review. LeetCode's July 2024 fairness post says "we review each cheating report flagged by our plagiarism detector one by one, with careful attention from human reviewers," which is why rankings take days to finalize. The May 2024 fairness announcement states that penalties are applied "WITHOUT PRIOR WARNINGS."

Penalties are fixed: first violation is a contest score of zero, LeetCoins reset, and a one-month contest and Discuss ban; second is "permanent account deactivation without appeal."

Code Replay is the one behavioral record LeetCode keeps. The release notes introduced it in May 2025 as a way to "replay your contest performance from the Contest Ranking," and in May 2026 added "editor activity status information for greater visibility into the contest experience." It replays what happened inside the editor. It is not documented as tracking other tabs or applications.

What LeetCode Interview captures

The session is a WebRTC call with a shared editor. The interviewer sees, hears, and reads your code in real time and gets "comprehensive test results with real-time code evaluation." That is the documented scope. Whether the employer records the call on their side is a question for the employer, not LeetCode; LeetCode documents no stored recording.

What the privacy policy says LeetCode collects

LeetCode's privacy policy, last modified December 13, 2017, is short. It lists "personally identifiable information, in the form of Persistent Identifiers, including IP Address" and session cookies, and states that "no other personal information is collected." It does not mention audio, video, screen content, keystrokes, or biometrics. A 2017 policy predates Code Replay, so it should be read as a floor, not a complete inventory.

The terms of service, last modified April 5, 2024, add one identity clause: "You agree, as needed, to offer proof of identity in completing the services to ensure that you match the details on the account."

Specific LeetCode questions

• Is LeetCode proctored?
• Does LeetCode detect cheating?
• Does LeetCode track tab switching or copy-paste?
• What is a LeetCode online assessment, really?
• Does LeetCode record your screen or webcam?

What this means for candidates

Find out which surface you are on before worrying about what it watches. A contest watches your code and its history, and bans without warning. A LeetCode Interview link puts a person on a call with you. A Mock Assessment is yours alone. And if the invitation domain is not leetcode.com, read that vendor's rules instead; for the largest one, start with what HackerRank proctoring detects and records.