This post is a lightly edited transcription of a video by Eliezer Steinbock, founder of Inbox Zero.
ScreenshotOne is a screenshot API for developers. The concept is refreshingly simple: call a URL and get a screenshot back.
From a URL to an image
The demo starts with a straightforward example: enter stripe.com, ask ScreenshotOne to render it, and receive an image of the homepage.
Once the screenshot is ready, you can save or copy it. That makes ScreenshotOne useful anywhere an application needs current website imagery without a manual capture step.
Why use a screenshot API instead of Puppeteer?
You can capture websites directly with tools such as Puppeteer. But doing so also means writing and maintaining the browser automation, then handling the infrastructure required to run it reliably.
ScreenshotOne turns that work into an API call. For a developer who needs screenshots as one part of a larger product or workflow, that simplicity is the main attraction.
More than a basic screenshot
The API also provides control over how the result is rendered. Depending on the workflow, developers can create:
- Regular or full-page scrolling screenshots.
- Captures sized for desktop or mobile layouts.
- Videos and PDF exports.
- Cleaner images with ads and banners blocked.
Final thoughts
ScreenshotOne does one focused job and makes it easy to add to a developer workflow. If you need to capture websites from code but do not want to operate the browser automation yourself, try ScreenshotOne and see whether it fits your application.
Eliezer Steinbock and Inbox Zero
Eliezer is the founder of Inbox Zero, an AI email assistant that organizes your inbox and calendar, drafts replies in your voice, and helps you reach inbox zero faster.
Inbox Zero is open source on GitHub, so developers can inspect the code or self-host the application.
