Capture screenshots, PDFs, and files

Fetch can hand back a picture of the page instead of its HTML: a screenshot of the viewport, the full page or one element, or a PDF of the rendered page. Point it at a file URL and it returns the file itself. Each one is binary content you write straight to disk. Uses: Fetch with screenshot, response_type=pdf and file downloads

Ask your AI agent

With the Zenrows MCP server connected to Claude, Cursor or any MCP client, paste this prompt. Your agent picks the right Zenrows tools and settings on its own.

Use Zenrows to take a full-page screenshot of https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/
and describe the layout of the product grid.

Take a full-page screenshot

Set js_render=true, screenshot=true and screenshot_fullpage=true. The response body is a PNG.

import requests

params = {
    "apikey": "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY",
    "url": "https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/",
    "js_render": "true",
    "screenshot": "true",
    "screenshot_fullpage": "true",
}

response = requests.get("https://api.zenrows.com/v1/", params=params, timeout=180)
response.raise_for_status()

with open("page.png", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

print(len(response.content), "bytes saved to page.png")

import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  apikey: "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY",
  url: "https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/",
  js_render: "true",
  screenshot: "true",
  screenshot_fullpage: "true",
});

const response = await fetch(`https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?${params}`, {
  signal: AbortSignal.timeout(180_000),
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`${response.status}: ${await response.text()}`);

const image = Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer());
await writeFile("page.png", image);
console.log(image.length, "bytes saved to page.png");

curl -o page.png "https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?apikey=YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scrapingcourse.com%2Fecommerce%2F&js_render=true&screenshot=true&screenshot_fullpage=true"

From the CLI, --screenshot saves the visible area:

CLI

zenrows fetch https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/ --screenshot --out page.png

Example output

531780 bytes saved to page.png

page.png is a PNG of the whole shop page, from the header to the footer.

Capture one element

Set screenshot_selector to a CSS selector, together with screenshot=true, and the image is cropped to that element. screenshot_format=jpeg with screenshot_quality keeps files small.

Python (Requests)

import requests

params = {
    "apikey": "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY",
    "url": "https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/product/abominable-hoodie/",
    "js_render": "true",
    "screenshot": "true",
    "screenshot_selector": ".product .summary",
    "screenshot_format": "jpeg",
    "screenshot_quality": "80",
}

response = requests.get("https://api.zenrows.com/v1/", params=params, timeout=180)
response.raise_for_status()

with open("product.jpg", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

print(len(response.content), "bytes saved to product.jpg")

Output: 50832 bytes saved to product.jpg, an 832 x 1030 image of the product title, price, options and Add to cart button.

Save the page as a PDF

Set js_render=true and response_type=pdf. The body is a PDF of the rendered page, ready to archive or pass to a document pipeline.

import requests

params = {
    "apikey": "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY",
    "url": "https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/product/abominable-hoodie/",
    "js_render": "true",
    "response_type": "pdf",
}

response = requests.get("https://api.zenrows.com/v1/", params=params, timeout=180)
response.raise_for_status()

with open("product.pdf", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

print(len(response.content), "bytes saved to product.pdf")

zenrows fetch https://www.scrapingcourse.com/ecommerce/product/abominable-hoodie/ --manual --js-render --output pdf --out product.pdf

Output: 190406 bytes saved to product.pdf, an 8-page PDF.

Download a file directly

When the URL points at a file, such as an image, a PDF or a CSV, Fetch returns the file itself. No extra parameters are needed.

import requests

params = {
    "apikey": "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY",
    "url": "https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tests/xhtml/testfiles/resources/pdf/dummy.pdf",
}

response = requests.get("https://api.zenrows.com/v1/", params=params, timeout=180)
response.raise_for_status()

with open("dummy.pdf", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

print(len(response.content), "bytes saved to dummy.pdf")
print("Credits billed:", response.headers["X-Request-Credits"])

import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  apikey: "YOUR_ZENROWS_API_KEY",
  url: "https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tests/xhtml/testfiles/resources/pdf/dummy.pdf",
});

const response = await fetch(`https://api.zenrows.com/v1/?${params}`, {
  signal: AbortSignal.timeout(180_000),
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`${response.status}: ${await response.text()}`);

const file = Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer());
await writeFile("dummy.pdf", file);
console.log(file.length, "bytes saved to dummy.pdf");
console.log("Credits billed:", response.headers.get("X-Request-Credits"));

Both print the same:

13264 bytes saved to dummy.pdf
Credits billed: 1

Customize it

Change	How
The visible area	`screenshot=true` without `screenshot_fullpage`, see Capture mode
Smaller images	`screenshot_format=jpeg` and `screenshot_quality=1` to `100`, see Image format and quality
Screenshot plus HTML in one response	Add `json_response=true`: the image comes back base64-encoded next to the HTML, see JSON Response
Remove a cookie banner before capture	Add `js_instructions` with `evaluate`, see Click, fill, and scroll before you scrape
Protected site	Add `premium_proxy=true`, see Scrape pages protected by anti-bot systems
Screenshots inside a multi-step browser flow	Use Browser, see Take screenshots and save pages as PDF

Troubleshooting

The saved file is HTML, not an image: the request had no screenshot=true. Send it together with screenshot_fullpage or screenshot_selector, and with js_render=true.
400 with code REQS004 on a PDF request: response_type=pdf renders the page. Add js_render=true, or --manual --js-render in the CLI.
The image opens as a broken file: the response was an error. Check the status code before writing the body, as the samples do with raise_for_status() and response.ok.
The element screenshot is empty or wrong: the selector matched a different or hidden element. Test the selector in your browser’s console with document.querySelector.
Content is missing from the capture: it loads late. Add wait_for with a selector of that content.

Click, fill, and scroll before you scrape

Act on the page before the capture.

Take screenshots and save pages as PDF

Capture any step of a multi-page browser session.

Scrape JavaScript-rendered pages

Wait for the content before you capture it.

Detect changes on any page and get alerted

Compare pages over time and act on the difference.

Start Here

Foundations Course

Fetch Recipes

Extract Recipes

Crawl Recipes

Batch Recipes

Browser Recipes

Pipelines

Use Cases

By Surface

Production

Capture screenshots, PDFs, and files

Ask your AI agent

Take a full-page screenshot

Example output

Capture one element

Save the page as a PDF

Download a file directly

Customize it

Troubleshooting

Click, fill, and scroll before you scrape

Take screenshots and save pages as PDF

Scrape JavaScript-rendered pages

Detect changes on any page and get alerted

​Ask your AI agent

​Take a full-page screenshot

​Example output

​Capture one element

​Save the page as a PDF

​Download a file directly

​Customize it

​Troubleshooting

​Related recipes

Click, fill, and scroll before you scrape

Take screenshots and save pages as PDF

Scrape JavaScript-rendered pages

Detect changes on any page and get alerted

Ask your AI agent

Take a full-page screenshot

Example output

Capture one element

Save the page as a PDF

Download a file directly

Customize it

Troubleshooting

Related recipes