SnapRender

Screenshot any web page as an image (desktop or phone, cookie pop-ups blocked) or read it as markdown, with the SnapRender API. Use when the user wants to see, capture, compare or check how a website looks, or read a page.

SnapRender: see any web page

Real Chrome screenshots of any URL, saved as an image file you can look at and send to the user. Cookie consent pop-ups and ads are blocked by default. It also reads pages as clean markdown.

Setup (once)

1. Get a free key (200 captures a month, no card): https://snap-render.com/auth/signup
2. Put it in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

   json5

   { skills: { entries: { snaprender: { apiKey: "sk_live_..." } } } }
   

   OpenClaw then sets $SNAPRENDER_API_KEY for every run. If your agent runs commands in a sandbox, also set SNAPRENDER_API_KEY in the sandbox environment (skill keys are not passed into sandboxes).

Capture a page

Use the exec tool with curl, not the browser tool: one request, no browser to drive, and the result is a ready image file.

Replace TARGET_URL and keep everything else as is:

bash

mkdir -p snaprender && OUT="$PWD/snaprender/shot-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)-$$.jpg"
code=$(jq -n --arg url 'TARGET_URL' \
  '{url: $url, format: "jpeg", quality: 80, block_ads: true, block_cookie_banners: true}' \
| curl -sS -X POST "https://app.snap-render.com/v1/screenshot" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $SNAPRENDER_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d @- -o "$OUT" -w '%{http_code}')
if [ "$code" = 200 ]; then echo "saved $OUT ($(wc -c < "$OUT" | tr -d " ") bytes)"; else echo "error $code: $(cat "$OUT")"; rm -f "$OUT"; fi

Then:

• Send it to the user with the message tool, giving the printed path as the media file. Never paste image data into the chat.
• Look at it yourself with view_image and the same path when the user asks what the page shows, whether it looks broken, or to compare pages.

Rules:

• Build the JSON with jq --arg as above. Never put user input straight into the shell string or the JSON.
• Use $SNAPRENDER_API_KEY exactly as written. Never print or echo the key.
• Each capture gets its own file (named by time), so comparisons never overwrite each other.

Options

Add fields to the jq object, for example {url: $url, device: "iphone_15_pro", dark_mode: true, ...}.

Field	Values	Default
device	iphone_14, iphone_15_pro, pixel_7, ipad_pro, macbook_pro	desktop 1280x800
full_page	true captures the whole scrollable page	false
dark_mode	true	false
width, height	320-3840, 200-10000	1280, 800
format	jpeg, png, webp, pdf (match the file extension)	jpeg
quality	1-100 (jpeg, webp)	80 here
delay	ms to wait after load, up to 10000 (slow or animated pages)	0
hide_selectors	CSS selectors to hide, comma separated	none
click_selector	CSS selector to click before the capture	none
block_ads, block_cookie_banners	false to keep them	true
cache	true reuses a recent identical capture, free of charge	false

Common requests:

• "on my phone" or "mobile": device: "iphone_15_pro"
• "the whole page": full_page: true
• "desktop vs mobile": run the command twice, once with a device, and send both files
• "as a PDF": format: "pdf", and name the file .pdf

Read a page as markdown

For "what does this page say", summaries or quotes. Lighter on context than an image.

bash

jq -n --arg url 'TARGET_URL' '{url: $url, type: "markdown", max_length: 20000}' \
| curl -sS -X POST "https://app.snap-render.com/v1/extract" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $SNAPRENDER_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @- \
| jq -r 'if .content then .content else . end'

type can also be text, article (title, author, text), links (every link on the page) or metadata (title, description, social tags). Add selector: "main" to read one part of the page.

Watch a page for changes

SnapRender can capture a page on a schedule and compare each capture with the previous one, so nothing has to keep running on your side:

bash

jq -n --arg url 'TARGET_URL' '{url: $url, interval: "daily", change_threshold: 0.5, notify_email: true}' \
| curl -sS -X POST "https://app.snap-render.com/v1/schedules" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $SNAPRENDER_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @- | jq .

• interval: hourly, daily or weekly (the free plan has daily and weekly, for one page).
• change_threshold: percent of the page that must change to count as a change (0.5 is a good default).
• notify_email: true emails the account owner when the page changes.
• Later, GET /v1/schedules lists them and GET /v1/schedules/ID/captures shows each capture with the percent changed.

Credits left

bash

curl -sS "https://app.snap-render.com/v1/usage" -H "X-API-Key: $SNAPRENDER_API_KEY" | jq '{plan, usage}'

Errors and odd results

What you see	Meaning	What to do
error 401	Key missing or wrong	Check skills.entries.snaprender.apiKey, or the sandbox environment
error 429	Monthly quota or per-minute limit reached	Wait a minute, or upgrade at https://snap-render.com/pricing
error 400	Bad URL or option	Read the message and fix that field
The image shows a "verify you are human" or security check page	The site's firewall (often Cloudflare) blocks automated visits	Tell the user. If it is their own site, they can let SnapRender in: https://snap-render.com/docs/allow-snaprender
Blank or half-loaded image	Slow page	Retry with delay: 3000

Docs: https://snap-render.com/docs. Pricing: https://snap-render.com/pricing