PHP

Quick Start

Set your API key

Add to your .env or configuration:

SCREENSHOTAPI_KEY=sk_live_your_key_here

Take a screenshot

<?php

$apiKey = getenv('SCREENSHOTAPI_KEY');
$params = http_build_query(['url' => 'https://example.com']);

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_URL            => "https://screenshotapi.to/api/v1/screenshot?{$params}",
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ["x-api-key: {$apiKey}"],
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HEADER         => true,
]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
$httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
$headerSize = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_SIZE);
curl_close($ch);

$headers = substr($response, 0, $headerSize);
$body = substr($response, $headerSize);

if ($httpCode !== 200) {
    die("Error {$httpCode}: {$body}");
}

file_put_contents('screenshot.png', $body);

// Parse credits remaining from headers
preg_match('/x-credits-remaining:\s*(\d+)/i', $headers, $matches);
echo "Credits remaining: " . ($matches[1] ?? 'unknown') . "\n";

Client Class

A reusable client class with all screenshot options:

<?php

class ScreenshotAPI
{
    private string $apiKey;
    private string $baseUrl;

    public function __construct(string $apiKey, string $baseUrl = 'https://screenshotapi.to')
    {
        $this->apiKey = $apiKey;
        $this->baseUrl = $baseUrl;
    }

    public function capture(string $url, array $options = []): array
    {
        $params = ['url' => $url];

        $optionMap = [
            'width'           => 'width',
            'height'          => 'height',
            'fullPage'        => 'fullPage',
            'type'            => 'type',
            'quality'         => 'quality',
            'colorScheme'     => 'colorScheme',
            'waitUntil'       => 'waitUntil',
            'waitForSelector' => 'waitForSelector',
            'delay'           => 'delay',
        ];

        foreach ($optionMap as $key => $param) {
            if (isset($options[$key])) {
                $value = $options[$key];
                $params[$param] = is_bool($value) ? ($value ? 'true' : 'false') : $value;
            }
        }

        $query = http_build_query($params);
        $ch = curl_init();
        curl_setopt_array($ch, [
            CURLOPT_URL            => "{$this->baseUrl}/api/v1/screenshot?{$query}",
            CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ["x-api-key: {$this->apiKey}"],
            CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
            CURLOPT_HEADER         => true,
        ]);

        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
        $headerSize = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_SIZE);
        curl_close($ch);

        $headerStr = substr($response, 0, $headerSize);
        $body = substr($response, $headerSize);

        if ($httpCode !== 200) {
            $error = json_decode($body, true);
            throw new \RuntimeException(
                "ScreenshotAPI error {$httpCode}: " . ($error['message'] ?? $error['error'] ?? $body)
            );
        }

        $headers = $this->parseHeaders($headerStr);

        return [
            'content'           => $body,
            'content_type'      => $headers['content-type'] ?? 'image/png',
            'credits_remaining' => (int) ($headers['x-credits-remaining'] ?? 0),
            'screenshot_id'     => $headers['x-screenshot-id'] ?? '',
            'duration_ms'       => (int) ($headers['x-duration-ms'] ?? 0),
        ];
    }

    private function parseHeaders(string $headerStr): array
    {
        $headers = [];
        foreach (explode("\r\n", $headerStr) as $line) {
            if (str_contains($line, ':')) {
                [$key, $value] = explode(':', $line, 2);
                $headers[strtolower(trim($key))] = trim($value);
            }
        }
        return $headers;
    }
}

// Usage
$api = new ScreenshotAPI(getenv('SCREENSHOTAPI_KEY'));

$result = $api->capture('https://github.com', [
    'width'   => 1280,
    'height'  => 720,
    'type'    => 'webp',
    'quality' => 85,
]);

file_put_contents('github.webp', $result['content']);
echo "Credits remaining: {$result['credits_remaining']}\n";
echo "Duration: {$result['duration_ms']}ms\n";

Common Patterns

Laravel Controller

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Http\Response;

class ScreenshotController extends Controller
{
    public function show(Request $request): Response
    {
        $request->validate(['url' => 'required|url']);

        $api = new \ScreenshotAPI(config('services.screenshotapi.key'));

        try {
            $result = $api->capture($request->input('url'), [
                'type'    => 'webp',
                'quality' => 80,
            ]);

            return response($result['content'])
                ->header('Content-Type', $result['content_type'])
                ->header('Cache-Control', 'public, max-age=3600');
        } catch (\RuntimeException $e) {
            return response()->json(['error' => $e->getMessage()], 502);
        }
    }
}

WordPress Shortcode

<?php

function screenshotapi_shortcode($atts): string
{
    $atts = shortcode_atts([
        'url'    => '',
        'width'  => 1440,
        'height' => 900,
    ], $atts);

    if (empty($atts['url'])) {
        return '<p>Error: URL is required</p>';
    }

    $api = new ScreenshotAPI(get_option('screenshotapi_key'));

    try {
        $result = $api->capture($atts['url'], [
            'width'  => (int) $atts['width'],
            'height' => (int) $atts['height'],
            'type'   => 'webp',
        ]);

        $dataUri = 'data:' . $result['content_type'] . ';base64,' . base64_encode($result['content']);
        return '<img src="' . $dataUri . '" alt="Screenshot of ' . esc_attr($atts['url']) . '">';
    } catch (\RuntimeException $e) {
        return '<p>Screenshot failed: ' . esc_html($e->getMessage()) . '</p>';
    }
}

add_shortcode('screenshot', 'screenshotapi_shortcode');

Error Handling

try {
    $result = $api->capture('https://example.com');
} catch (\RuntimeException $e) {
    if (str_contains($e->getMessage(), '402')) {
        echo "Out of credits — purchase more at screenshotapi.to\n";
    } elseif (str_contains($e->getMessage(), '403')) {
        echo "Invalid API key — check your configuration\n";
    } else {
        echo "Screenshot failed: {$e->getMessage()}\n";
    }
}

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