You open a review you published last week, go to add one more pinned screenshot, and the edit controls are gone. The link still works for the people you sent it to, but you cannot touch it. That is the 7-day read-only rule doing exactly what it says. Here is what changed, what still works, and how to get editing back the moment you need it.
What happens to my review after 7 days?
Seven days after you create a review, it goes read-only for you, the owner. Editing stops. So do exports (HTML, PDF, Word), Send to GitHub, and agent access over the MCP connection. You can still open the review and read it, but you cannot change a comment, add a screenshot, or re-export it.
Nothing is deleted. The review is intact, every item, every pin, every comment. It is frozen for you, not gone. If you created it without signing in, a separate 30-day window applies: an anonymous review is kept for 30 days unless someone signs in and saves it to an account. The 30-day window for anonymous reviews is worth understanding if you never attached an email.
Can the people I sent the link to still see it?
Yes. Read-only applies to you, the owner, not to the people holding the link. The shared /r/<slug> link keeps working after day 7. So does the clean /s/<slug> reading page. Viewers can still open the review, scroll the screenshots, and comment on individual items. Comments left before and after the cutoff all stay visible.
If you want to see what they see, read what your client sees on a review link. The short version: a cold reader never notices the cutoff. Their experience does not change on day 8.
What exactly stops working for me on day 8?
Four things switch off for the owner of a read-only review:
- Editing. You cannot add items, change comments, re-crop a still, or move a pin.
- Exports. PDF, Word, and HTML exports stop. The markdown at
/r/<slug>/markdownthat an agent reads is part of this too. - Send to GitHub. Pushing the review to a repo as an issue is off.
- Agent access. An AI assistant reading the review through the Cobalt MCP server loses access to it.
What does not stop: the shared link, the reading page, and viewer comments. Those keep running regardless of your plan.
How do I reopen a read-only review to edit it again?
Upgrade to Pro. It is $5 a month or $50 a year. Pro keeps every review editable and exportable with no 7-day cutoff, and it reopens any review that already went read-only the moment you subscribe. You do not re-create anything or migrate it. The review you were looking at becomes editable again, with every item, pin, and comment exactly where you left them.
Once you are on Pro, re-export the PDF, push it to GitHub, let your agent read the markdown again, or just add the screenshot you came back for. If you are deciding whether the monthly price is worth it for how you work, the full pricing breakdown lays out what Pro covers and what stays free. Pro cancels any time from your account.
Do I have to pay to try any of this?
No. Capturing, annotating, and publishing reviews is free to try, with no password and no credit card. You get unlimited reviews and unlimited screenshots on the free tier. Cobalt asks for an email only when a review is ready, so it has somewhere to send the link. The 7-day read-only rule is the one thing the free tier does not escape, and Pro is the only thing it changes.
That is the whole trade, said plainly. You can run as many reviews as you want for nothing, and each stays fully yours for a week. Pay $5 if you need them editable past that or you want to reopen old ones. If you are new to the capture-and-share flow itself, the Cobalt Capture overview walks through going from a screen to a shareable review in a browser tab, no install.
Should I upgrade before day 7 or wait?
Either works, because Pro reopens read-only reviews instantly. If you already know a project will run longer than a week, subscribe up front so nothing ever locks. If you are the kind of reviewer who fires off a quick capture and forgets about it, wait. Most one-off reviews never need an edit after they are sent, and the people holding the link never lose access. You only pay when a review you thought was done turns out to need another pass.
A practical rhythm: let short-lived reviews expire into read-only and leave them there, since the links keep working. The day one of them needs reopening, upgrade and keep going. If this is your first time capturing and publishing, start with a new review and see how far the free tier gets you before the question of day 8 ever comes up.