Code Examples

Take Screenshots with Python

Ready-to-copy Python code for capturing website screenshots, generating PDFs, and processing pages at scale. Uses requests.

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Python Node.js TypeScript Go PHP Ruby Java C#Rust Swift Kotlin cURL R Elixir

Quick Start

Screenshot in Python — minimal example

The simplest way to capture a screenshot. Just a URL and your API key.

Pythonquickstart

import requests

resp = requests.get("https://api.screenshotdev.com/v1/screenshot", params={
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "access_key": "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY"
})
with open("screenshot.png", "wb") as f:
    f.write(resp.content)

Full Example

Production-ready Python script

Complete working script with options for viewport, format, full page capture, and error handling.

Pythonfull example

import requests
import sys
from pathlib import Path

API_KEY = "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY"
BASE = "https://api.screenshotdev.com/v1/screenshot"

def take_screenshot(
    url: str,
    format: str = "webp",
    width: int = 1280,
    full_page: bool = False,
    dark_mode: bool = False,
) -> bytes:
    resp = requests.get(BASE, params={
        "url": url,
        "access_key": API_KEY,
        "format": format,
        "width": width,
        "full_page": full_page,
        "dark_mode": dark_mode,
    })
    resp.raise_for_status()
    return resp.content

if __name__ == "__main__":
    url = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else "https://example.com"
    img = take_screenshot(url, format="webp", width=1440, full_page=True)
    Path("screenshot.webp").write_bytes(img)
    print(f"Saved screenshot.webp ({len(img)} bytes)")

Advanced

More Python examples

PDF generation, batch processing, webhooks, CSS/JS injection, and S3 upload.

PDF Generation

Pythonpdf

import requests

resp = requests.get("https://api.screenshotdev.com/v1/pdf", params={
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "access_key": "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
    "format": "a4",
    "landscape": False,
    "margin": "20px",
})
resp.raise_for_status()
with open("page.pdf", "wb") as f:
    f.write(resp.content)

Batch Screenshots

Pythonbatch

import requests
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor

API_KEY = "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY"
urls = [
    "https://example.com",
    "https://github.com",
    "https://news.ycombinator.com",
]

def capture(url: str) -> tuple[str, int]:
    resp = requests.get("https://api.screenshotdev.com/v1/screenshot", params={
        "url": url,
        "access_key": API_KEY,
        "format": "webp",
    })
    resp.raise_for_status()
    filename = url.split("//")[1].replace("/", "_") + ".webp"
    with open(filename, "wb") as f:
        f.write(resp.content)
    return filename, len(resp.content)

with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=5) as pool:
    for name, size in pool.map(capture, urls):
        print(f"  {name} ({size:,} bytes)")

Async with Webhooks

Pythonwebhooks

import requests

resp = requests.post("https://api.screenshotdev.com/v1/screenshot", json={
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "access_key": "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
    "webhook_url": "https://your-app.com/api/webhooks/screenshot",
    "format": "webp",
    "full_page": True,
})
resp.raise_for_status()
job = resp.json()
print(f"Job queued: {job['id']}")
# Your webhook endpoint will receive the result when ready

Custom CSS/JS Injection

Pythoninject

import requests

resp = requests.get("https://api.screenshotdev.com/v1/screenshot", params={
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "access_key": "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
    "inject_css": "body { font-family: 'Inter', sans-serif; } .ad, .banner { display: none; }",
    "inject_js": "document.querySelectorAll('[data-cookie-banner]').forEach(el => el.remove())",
    "block_ads": True,
})
resp.raise_for_status()
with open("clean.webp", "wb") as f:
    f.write(resp.content)

S3 Upload

Pythons3

import requests
import boto3

# 1. Capture the screenshot
resp = requests.get("https://api.screenshotdev.com/v1/screenshot", params={
    "url": "https://example.com",
    "access_key": "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
    "format": "webp",
})
resp.raise_for_status()

# 2. Upload to S3
s3 = boto3.client("s3")
s3.put_object(
    Bucket="my-screenshots",
    Key="captures/example-com.webp",
    Body=resp.content,
    ContentType="image/webp",
)
print("Uploaded to s3://my-screenshots/captures/example-com.webp")