The Tool Desk
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<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use SpatieBrowsershotBrowsershot;
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 80)
->windowSize(1440, 900)
->save(__DIR__ . '/page.jpg');For a complete document, add fullPage(). To capture JavaScript-rendered content, wait for a page-specific selector before saving. The browser, Node.js/Puppeteer, and PHP package must be installed and kept compatible in your deployment.
What PHP needs to create a webpage JPEG
PHP itself does not lay out modern webpages. A screenshot requires a rendering engine that executes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, fonts, images, and lazy-loading code. The usual architecture is:
- PHP starts or contacts a headless Chromium process.
- Chromium navigates to a URL (or renders supplied HTML).
- The page reaches a defined ready state.
- Chromium captures pixels and encodes them as JPEG.
- PHP saves the bytes or sends them in an HTTP response.
Spatie Browsershot is a high-level PHP wrapper around Puppeteer and headless Chrome. It accepts a URL or HTML and exposes the capture controls most applications need.
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Install and verify Browsershot
Application dependencies
Install Browsershot with Composer, then install the Node.js dependencies required by the version you selected. The exact PHP, Node.js, Chromium, and Puppeteer compatibility requirements vary by package release, so pin versions and check the release requirements before deploying.
composer require spatie/browsershotYour server also needs a usable Chrome or Chromium executable and permission for the PHP process to launch it. In containers, install the browser and its system libraries in the image rather than relying on a developer workstation.
A minimal smoke test
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use SpatieBrowsershotBrowsershot;
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 80)
->save(__DIR__ . '/smoke-test.jpg');
echo "Wrote smoke-test.jpgn";If this fails, test Chromium directly on the same host and inspect the process error before adding screenshot options. A browser executable that works interactively can still fail under a web-server user because of permissions, sandbox policy, missing fonts, or missing shared libraries.
Save a JPEG with deterministic dimensions
JPEG quality is a number from the image encoder’s quality scale; choose it deliberately because higher quality produces larger files. The viewport controls what responsive layout Chromium uses, while deviceScaleFactor() controls pixel density.
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use SpatieBrowsershotBrowsershot;
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 85)
->windowSize(1440, 900)
->deviceScaleFactor(2)
->save(__DIR__ . '/page-retina.jpg');A larger device scale factor creates more pixels at the same CSS viewport and therefore usually a larger file. Keep the viewport and scale fixed when screenshots are compared in tests or used in a visual archive.
Capture the full page, a region, or one element
Full document
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 80)
->windowSize(1440, 900)
->fullPage()
->save(__DIR__ . '/full-page.jpg');fullPage() expands the capture beyond the initial viewport so content below the fold is included. Very tall pages can consume substantial memory; for reports or archives, consider capturing sections separately.
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Rectangular clipping
Use clip($x, $y, $width, $height) to capture coordinates in CSS pixels relative to the page. Set the viewport first so responsive changes do not move the target unexpectedly.
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 82)
->windowSize(1440, 900)
->clip(120, 180, 900, 500)
->save(__DIR__ . '/region.jpg');One DOM element
select($selector) captures the element identified by a CSS selector. Prefer a stable ID or data attribute over a presentation class.
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Browsershot::url('https://example.com')
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 85)
->select('[data-report-card]')
->save(__DIR__ . '/report-card.jpg');Wait for JavaScript and lazy-loaded content
Navigation finishing does not mean application rendering is complete. Single-page apps, charts, web fonts, and images may appear after the initial response. Wait for a selector that your application adds only when the required content is ready.
Browsershot::url('https://example.com/dashboard')
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 80)
->windowSize(1440, 900)
->waitForSelector('[data-screenshot-ready]')
->fullPage()
->save(__DIR__ . '/dashboard.jpg');A readiness selector is more reliable than an arbitrary sleep because it tracks application state. When no selector exists, use a documented delay or JavaScript-aware wait supported by your Browsershot version. For pages that load images only after scrolling, use full-page capture and verify that the lazy-loading implementation actually responds to the browser’s scroll behavior.
Return JPEG bytes from a PHP endpoint
Writing a temporary file is unnecessary when the caller needs an HTTP image. Browsershot can return screenshot bytes; send them with the JPEG content type and a cache policy appropriate to your application.
<?php
require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';
use SpatieBrowsershotBrowsershot;
$url = 'https://example.com';
$bytes = Browsershot::url($url)
->setScreenshotType('jpeg', 82)
->windowSize(1440, 900)
->fullPage()
->screenshot();
header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');
header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($bytes));
echo $bytes;For APIs that need text transport, base64Screenshot() returns a base64 representation. It is larger than binary output, so use it only when the receiving protocol requires base64.
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Security controls for URLs and HTML
Never pass unrestricted user input directly to a renderer. A screenshot service can be abused as a server-side request forgery primitive or made to read internal resources.
- Allow-list schemes and hostnames; normally permit only
httpsand approved domains. - Reject loopback, link-local, private-network, metadata-service, and Unix-socket targets.
- Limit URL length, redirects, response size, navigation time, and screenshot dimensions.
- Keep cookies, Authorization headers, and custom HTML isolated per request.
- Run Chromium with a restricted operating-system user and a container or sandbox appropriate to your environment.
- Sanitize HTML supplied by users; scripts in that HTML execute in the browser context.
Alternative PHP approaches
chrome-php/chrome
The lower-level chrome-php/chrome library exposes Chrome protocol controls directly. Its screenshot options include JPEG format, quality, clipping, and full-page capture using captureBeyondViewport together with getFullPageClip(). Choose it when you need protocol-level control and are willing to manage more browser lifecycle details yourself.
Raw Puppeteer
Puppeteer’s Page.screenshot() returns image bytes or base64 according to its options and offers extensive browser-side JavaScript control. It is the underlying Node API, so a PHP application needs a Node integration boundary such as a worker, queue job, or internal service. It is useful when page interaction is more complex than Browsershot’s PHP interface.
Compare these choices on four practical axes: fidelity on JavaScript-heavy pages, the operational work of installing Chromium and Node, control over viewport/full-page/element capture, and the JPEG quality and file-size policy your application needs.
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Or skip the browser setup
ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server. One GET request returns PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF, while its browser handles the rendering infrastructure.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpimport requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for response and option details. Before capture, it accepts cookie or consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each cleanup step can be disabled. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and response headers identify the page verdict and billing status. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf for Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients.
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“Chrome failed to launch” or missing executable
Install Chromium and its shared libraries in the runtime image, then configure the executable path required by your Browsershot release. Confirm that the PHP worker user can execute it. Do not diagnose this only from a browser session running as your own user.
The output is blank or only shows a spinner
The page was captured before its application state became ready, or a script failed. Add a readiness selector, inspect browser console and network errors, and verify that required API requests are reachable from the server. A fixed delay is a fallback, not a substitute for a meaningful ready signal.
Images or fonts are missing
Check that assets are publicly reachable from the capture host, HTTPS certificates validate, and the browser user can resolve DNS. Wait for a selector that depends on the images or fonts being present. If authentication is required, provide narrowly scoped cookies or headers rather than embedding secrets in a public URL.
Full-page capture is cut off
Some layouts use nested scrolling containers instead of the document body. Capture the relevant element, remove or adjust its fixed height with custom CSS, or capture sections with clip(). Also check for an application that virtualizes rows and therefore never places all content in the DOM.
JPEG is too large or visibly degraded
Lower the encoder quality, reduce the viewport or device scale, and remove unnecessary full-page area. If text sharpness is more important than file size, increase quality or use PNG/WebP where your delivery requirements permit; keep JPEG when broad compatibility is the priority.
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Requests hang in production
Set a navigation and overall job timeout, cap page dimensions, and move captures to a queue worker rather than blocking a short web request. Log the target host, elapsed stages, browser exit status, and whether the failure occurred during navigation or encoding. Retry transient network failures with a limit, not indefinitely.
Operational checklist
- Pin compatible PHP, Browsershot, Node.js, Puppeteer, and Chromium versions.
- Use a fixed viewport, device scale, JPEG quality, and readiness condition for reproducible output.
- Validate and restrict every URL or HTML input.
- Record capture failures separately from successful files and monitor disk or object-storage usage.
- Test pages with consent banners, popups, lazy images, authentication, long documents, and responsive breakpoints.
- Choose synchronous bytes for small interactive responses and queued jobs for expensive full-page captures.
Frequently asked questions
Can PHP capture a webpage without JavaScript?
It can fetch HTML, but that does not reproduce a browser screenshot for pages whose content is created or styled by JavaScript. Use a Chromium-based renderer when visual fidelity matters.
Is JPEG suitable for text-heavy screenshots?
JPEG is compact and widely supported, but its lossy compression can soften small text or introduce artifacts. Tune quality and compare the result at the final display size.
Can I screenshot private pages?
Yes, if the browser receives the required session cookies or headers and your security design permits it. Treat those credentials as secrets and prevent untrusted users from selecting arbitrary private URLs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does fullPage() include content loaded only after scrolling?
It requests a document-sized capture, but pages that virtualize or lazily insert content may require an application-specific scroll or readiness strategy.
Which JPEG quality should I choose?
Start around 80–85, then compare visual clarity and byte size using representative pages; the best value depends on text density, photographs, and your delivery limits.
Should screenshot jobs run inside a web request?
Small captures can, but full documents and slow third-party pages are safer in a queue worker with explicit timeouts and retries.
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