Screenshot API

@screenshot-api render a full-page screenshot of our staging homepage at https://staging.acme.com and return the image URL

Screenshot rendered successfully. The full-page capture is stored at https://api.screenshotapi.net/results/abc123def456.png (1920x4800px). The page loaded in 2.3 seconds with all assets fetched. No custom filename was specified, so the system generated a unique identifier. The image will remain accessible at this URL according to your account's retention policy.

This example shows the core single-screenshot workflow. The MCP returns a stored URL, not inline image data, so your AI can reference it but won't display it directly in chat. Rendering costs one API credit per request. If you need the same URL repeatedly, pass a custom filename to overwrite the stored file instead of generating new ones.

@screenshot-api start a bulk job to capture screenshots of the 30 competitor URLs in our market-research CSV file and give me the job UUID

Bulk screenshot job created successfully. Job UUID: 7f8e9a1b-2c3d-4e5f-6a7b-8c9d0e1f2a3b. The CSV containing 30 URLs has been uploaded and queued for processing. Each URL will be rendered with your account's default viewport and format settings. Use the job UUID to poll status or download results once complete. Estimated processing time: 5-8 minutes depending on page complexity and current queue depth.

This demonstrates the asynchronous bulk workflow for high-volume screenshot jobs. The MCP uploads your CSV and returns a tracking UUID immediately, but screenshots process in the background. You'll need to poll job status separately or wait for completion before downloading the result CSV. Bulk jobs are billed per URL rendered, so verify your credit balance before large runs.

@screenshot-api check the status of bulk job 7f8e9a1b-2c3d-4e5f-6a7b-8c9d0e1f2a3b and if it's done, summarize which URLs failed and why

Job 7f8e9a1b-2c3d-4e5f-6a7b-8c9d0e1f2a3b is complete. Status: 27 succeeded, 3 failed. Failed URLs: (1) https://competitor-x.io timed out after 30 seconds, (2) https://beta.rival-y.com returned 403 Forbidden, (3) https://old.vendor-z.net has an invalid SSL certificate. The 27 successful screenshots are available in the result CSV, which can now be downloaded. All failures consumed API credits despite not producing images.

This pairs the status-check tool with AI reasoning to surface actionable insights from bulk job results. The MCP provides raw success/failure counts; the AI interprets them into a human-readable summary. Note that failed renders still cost credits, so pre-validate URLs when possible. The result CSV contains image URLs for successful renders only.

When Screenshot API beats manual QA for UI changes

A 6-person dev team ships feature branches twice a week and needs to catch layout breaks before merge. Screenshot API's Render Screenshot tool lets you snapshot staging URLs at different viewports and compare them to prod baselines in your CI pipeline. The custom filename feature means you can overwrite the same reference file each run without cluttering storage. This works well if you're checking under 20 pages per deploy—beyond that, the per-screenshot cost adds up and a dedicated visual testing service with diff algorithms becomes cheaper. If your team already runs Playwright or Cypress, you probably don't need this MCP. But if you're pre-automation and doing manual spot-checks in browsers, Screenshot API gives you programmatic snapshots without writing test infrastructure.

Bulk CSV jobs for agency deliverable screenshots

A 3-person agency delivers monthly SEO reports to 40 clients and needs fresh homepage screenshots for each deck. The Create Bulk CSV Job tool lets you upload a spreadsheet of client URLs Friday afternoon and pull the results Monday morning via Download Bulk Results. The async job model means you're not blocking on API calls or managing retry logic for slow-loading sites. This is the right call if you're screenshotting more than 10 URLs at once—single Render Screenshot calls work fine for one-offs, but anything over that threshold benefits from the bulk queue. The trade-off is you lose real-time feedback, so if you need to adjust parameters mid-run or handle auth-walled pages interactively, you'll want the synchronous render tool instead.

Rendering user-reported bugs as stored images

A 5-person support team triages bug reports in Linear and needs to archive what the user saw at the time of the ticket. Screenshot API's Render Screenshot tool takes the reported URL and stores a timestamped image you can link directly in the ticket thread. The extracted content links option also pulls text or metadata if you need to search across archived states later. This MCP makes sense if you're handling 15-plus visual bug reports per week and your team doesn't already use a session replay tool like LogRocket. If users are submitting their own screenshots, you don't need this. But if you're chasing down intermittent UI states or third-party embed failures, programmatic capture beats asking users to screenshot again. The API key auth means any team member can trigger renders without sharing credentials.