capture-website-cli

Capture screenshots of websites from the command-line

It uses Puppeteer (Chrome) under the hood.

Install

npm install --global capture-website-cli

Note to Linux users: If you get a "No usable sandbox!" error, you need to enable system sandboxing.

Note to Apple silicon users: If you get a "spawn Unknown system error" error, try installing Rosetta by running softwareupdate --install-rosetta.

Usage

$ capture-website --help

  Usage
    $ capture-website <url|file>
    $ echo "<h1>Unicorn</h1>" | capture-website

  Options
    --output                 Image file path (writes it to stdout if omitted)
    --auto-output            Automatically generate output filename from URL/input
    --width                  Page width  [default: 1280]
    --height                 Page height  [default: 800]
    --type                   Image type: png|jpeg|webp  [default: png]
    --quality                Image quality: 0...1 (Only for JPEG and WebP)  [default: 1]
    --scale-factor           Scale the webpage `n` times  [default: 2]
    --list-devices           Output a list of supported devices to emulate
    --emulate-device         Capture as if it were captured on the given device
    --full-page              Capture the full scrollable page, not just the viewport
    --no-default-background  Make the default background transparent
    --timeout                Seconds before giving up trying to load the page. Specify `0` to disable.  [default: 60]
    --delay                  Seconds to wait after the page finished loading before capturing the screenshot  [default: 0]
    --wait-for-element       Wait for a DOM element matching the CSS selector to appear in the page and to be visible before capturing the screenshot
    --element                Capture the DOM element matching the CSS selector. It will wait for the element to appear in the page and to be visible.
    --hide-elements          Hide DOM elements matching the CSS selector (Can be set multiple times)
    --remove-elements        Remove DOM elements matching the CSS selector (Can be set multiple times)
    --click-element          Click the DOM element matching the CSS selector
    --scroll-to-element      Scroll to the DOM element matching the CSS selector
    --disable-animations     Disable CSS animations and transitions  [default: false]
    --no-javascript          Disable JavaScript execution (does not affect --module/--script)
    --module                 Inject a JavaScript module into the page. Can be inline code, absolute URL, and local file path with `.js` extension. (Can be set multiple times)
    --script                 Same as `--module`, but instead injects the code as a classic script
    --style                  Inject CSS styles into the page. Can be inline code, absolute URL, and local file path with `.css` extension. (Can be set multiple times)
    --header                 Set a custom HTTP header (Can be set multiple times)
    --user-agent             Set the user agent
    --cookie                 Set a cookie (Can be set multiple times)
    --authentication         Credentials for HTTP authentication
    --debug                  Show the browser window to see what it's doing
    --dark-mode              Emulate preference of dark color scheme
    --local-storage          Set localStorage items before the page loads (Can be set multiple times)
    --launch-options         Puppeteer launch options as JSON
    --overwrite              Overwrite the destination file if it exists
    --inset                  Inset the screenshot relative to the viewport or \`--element\`. Accepts a number or four comma-separated numbers for top, right, bottom, and left.
    --clip                   Position and size in the website (clipping region). Accepts comma-separated numbers for x, y, width, and height.
    --no-block-ads           Disable ad blocking
    --allow-cors             Allow cross-origin requests (useful for local HTML files)
    --wait-for-network-idle  Wait for network connections to finish
    --insecure               Accept self-signed and invalid SSL certificates

  Examples
    $ capture-website https://sindresorhus.com --output=screenshot.png
    $ capture-website https://sindresorhus.com --auto-output
    $ capture-website index.html --output=screenshot.png
    $ echo "<h1>Unicorn</h1>" | capture-website --output=screenshot.png
    $ capture-website https://sindresorhus.com | open -f -a Preview

  Flag examples
    --width=1000
    --height=600
    --type=jpeg
    --quality=0.5
    --scale-factor=3
    --emulate-device="iPhone X"
    --timeout=80
    --delay=10
    --wait-for-element="#header"
    --element=".main-content"
    --hide-elements=".sidebar"
    --remove-elements="img.ad"
    --click-element="button"
    --scroll-to-element="#map"
    --disable-animations
    --no-javascript
    --module=https://sindresorhus.com/remote-file.js
    --module=local-file.js
    --module="document.body.style.backgroundColor = 'red'"
    --header="x-powered-by: capture-website-cli"
    --user-agent="I love unicorns"
    --cookie="id=unicorn; Expires=Wed, 21 Oct 2018 07:28:00 GMT;"
    --authentication="username:password"
    --launch-options='{"headless": false}'
    --dark-mode
    --local-storage="theme=dark"
    --inset=10,15,-10,15
    --inset=30
    --clip=10,30,300,1024
    --no-block-ads
    --allow-cors
    --wait-for-network-idle
    --insecure
    --auto-output

FAQ

More here.

How do I capture websites with self-signed certificates?

Use the --insecure flag to bypass certificate validation.

I'm getting connection errors (ECONNREFUSED), what can I do?

Network connectivity issues can occur due to:

• Slow networks: Increase timeout with --timeout=60 (or higher)
• Corporate firewalls: May block network requests
• VPN/proxy issues: Try disabling VPN or configuring proxy settings
• IPv6 issues: Some networks have IPv6 connectivity problems

Try testing with a simple site first: capture-website https://example.com --output=test.png

How does --auto-output work?

It automatically generates filenames based on the input:

• URLs: example.com.png
• Files: index.png (from index.html)
• Stdin: screenshot.png

If a file already exists, it increments: example.com (1).png, example.com (2).png, etc.

How can I capture websites from a file with URLs?

Let's say you have a file named urls.txt with:

https://sindresorhus.com
https://github.com

You can run this:

# With auto-output (simpler)
while read url; do
  capture-website "$url" --auto-output
done < urls.txt

# Or with custom naming
while read url; do
  capture-website "$url" --output "screenshot-$(echo "$url" | sed -e 's/[^A-Za-z0-9._-]//g').png"
done < urls.txt

Related

• capture-website - API for this package
• pageres-cli - A different take on screenshotting websites