Image output

Dog rates social card

Simple social card example showing highlighted yellow text

Simple social card example showing highlighted yellow text + an image. You can customize the colors, images and tagline for use in your own social cards. Looks great for grabbing attention on Twitter and Facebook posts.

Interactive example

Edit and render this image

Change the HTML, CSS, or API options. The browser preview updates as you edit; select Image to render the final output through the API.

Content

Adjust how content is rendered by adjusting these settings.

Url ?

Pass a publicly available URL and the API will screenshot it. This overrides any HTML. (Only applies when a URL is provided)

Google Fonts ?

Google fonts to be loaded. Example: Roboto. Multiple fonts can be loaded like this: Roboto|Open Sans. You must also set the font-family in your CSS to use the loaded font.

Selector ?

A CSS selector for an element in the HTML. We’ll crop the image to this specific element.

Transparent Background ?

Remove the background of the rendered image.

Image size & Viewport

By default images are cropped to the outermost HTML element or the chosen selector. Adjust viewport and sizing settings below.

Full Screen ?

Take a screenshot of the entire screen (Only applies when a URL is provided)

Device Scale ?

Adjusts the pixel ratio for the screenshot. The default is 2 which is equivalent to a 4K monitor.

Viewport ?

Height

Width

Set the height and width of Chrome's viewport. Setting a viewport disables automatic cropping.

Landscape Viewport

Set the viewport to landscape orientation.

Mobile Viewport

Instructs the viewport to behave as if it's being viewed from a mobile device.

Touch Viewport

Instructs the viewport to behave as if it is being viewed on a device supporting touch events.

Timing

By default the API generates a screenshot once everything is loaded. If the page executes JavaScript, you may want extra time before the image is rendered.

Ms Delay ?

Adds extra time for JavaScript to execute. Use this if you're seeing a blank image and are using JavaScript.
Default: 0. Start with 500 if needed.

Max Wait Ms ?

Sets a limit on time to wait until the screenshot is taken. Use this if your page loads a lot of extra irrelevant content, and you want to reduce the render time.

Render When Ready? ?

Check to control when the image is generated.
Call ScreenshotReady() from JavaScript in your code to trigger the image generation.

Browser Context

These settings will impact how Chrome is started, giving you more control when taking screenshots.

Color Scheme ?

Set Chrome to render assuming the user has explicitly set their browser to Light or Dark mode.

Media Type

Set Chrome to render as if it's being set to print or screen mode.

Timezone ?

Render your image with Chrome set to a specified timezone.

Block Consent Banners ?

Attempt to block cookie/consent banners from displaying (Only applies when a URL is provided)

Identify as HCTI

Send X-HCTI-SCREENSHOT: 1 with the top-level page navigation (Only applies when a URL is provided)

Example code

Use this request in your app

Choose a language and copy a complete request using this example's HTML, CSS, and API options.

// dotnet add package HtmlCssToImage

using HtmlCssToImage;
using HtmlCssToImage.Models;
using HtmlCssToImage.Models.Requests;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text.Json.Nodes;

// In an application, use IHttpClientFactory through dependency injection:
// https://www.nuget.org/packages/HtmlCssToImage.DependencyInjection
using var httpClient = new HttpClient();
var client = new HtmlCssToImageClient(
    httpClient,
    new HtmlCssToImageOptions(
        Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("HCTI_API_ID")!,
        Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("HCTI_API_KEY")!));

var request = new CreateHtmlCssImageRequest
{
    Html = """
           <div class="p-4 text-center mt-4" style="width: 500px">
             <span class="tweet-text mb-4">
               This is Little Bear. He tolerates baths because he knows how phenomenal his
               floof will appear afterwards. 13/10
             </span>
             <div class="mt-2 p-4">
               <img src="https://docs.htmlcsstoimage.com/assets/images/dog.jpg" class="rounded-circle shadow border mt-4" width="100px">
             </div>
             <h4 class="mt-2">
               WeRateDogs
             </h4>
             <span class="text-muted">@dog_rates</span>
           </div>
           
           <!-- Include external CSS, JavaScript or Fonts! -->
           <link href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.0/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-9aIt2nRpC12Uk9gS9baDl411NQApFmC26EwAOH8WgZl5MYYxFfc+NcPb1dKGj7Sk" crossorigin="anonymous">
           
           <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Roboto:wght@700" rel="stylesheet">
           """,
    Css = """
          .tweet-text {
            background-color: #fff2ac;
            background-image: linear-gradient(to right, #ffe359 0%, #fff2ac 100%);
            font-weight: bolder;
            font-size: 32px;
            font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;
            padding: 4px;
          }
          """,
};

using var result = await client.CreateImageAsync(request);
if (result.Success && result.Response is not null)
{
    Console.WriteLine(result.Response.Url);
}

Read the C# Docs NuGet package

From code to screenshot

How HCTI examples work

HTML/CSS to Image renders HTML and CSS in hosted Chrome, then captures the result as an image or PDF. Each example combines real source code with the API options used for the render, so it is both a working demo and a starting point for your own request.

Edit the source and options above to test changes in the browser, then render through the API to see the production result.

Common questions

Can I use the HTML and CSS from these examples?

Yes. Open an example to inspect and edit its complete HTML, CSS, and render options. Use it as a starting point, then send the resulting request from your application.

What is the difference between an example and a template?

Examples are complete API requests built from HTML and CSS. Templates are saved, reusable designs created in the visual editor and rendered repeatedly with different variable values.

Does HCTI create screenshots and PDFs?

Yes. HCTI can render HTML and CSS or capture a public webpage as an image, and it can generate PDFs when you need document output instead of a screenshot.