Use Cases

Built for Real-World Applications

From link previews to PDF generation — see how developers use CaptureAPI to power their applications with code examples.

Link Previews

Generate rich link previews for chat applications, social platforms, and content management systems. Show users a visual snapshot of any URL before they click.

✓Automatically capture thumbnails when users share links
✓Cache previews for faster subsequent loads
✓Support for custom viewport sizes to match your UI
✓Works with SPAs, dynamic content, and authenticated pages

Link Previews

// Generate a link preview thumbnail
const preview = await fetch(
  "https://captureapi.dev/api/v1/screenshot?" +
  new URLSearchParams({
    url: "https://github.com/vercel/next.js",
    width: "600",
    height: "400",
    format: "webp"
  }),
  { headers: { "X-API-Key": "cap_your_key" } }
);

Social Media Cards

Create dynamic Open Graph images for blog posts, product pages, and marketing campaigns. Every shared link gets a beautiful, branded preview card.

✓Generate OG images dynamically from page content
✓Customizable templates with your brand colors and fonts
✓1200x630px output optimized for Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook
✓No design tools needed — just an API call

Social Media Cards

// Generate an OG image for a blog post
const ogImage = await fetch(
  "https://captureapi.dev/api/v1/og?" +
  new URLSearchParams({
    title: "How to Build a REST API",
    description: "A complete guide for beginners",
    theme: "dark"
  }),
  { headers: { "X-API-Key": "cap_your_key" } }
);

Website Monitoring

Track visual changes on any website. Detect layout shifts, broken pages, and unauthorized content updates by comparing periodic screenshots.

✓Schedule periodic captures via cron jobs or webhooks
✓Compare screenshots pixel-by-pixel to detect changes
✓Alert on visual regressions before users report them
✓Full-page captures for comprehensive coverage

Website Monitoring

# Capture a full-page screenshot for monitoring
curl "https://captureapi.dev/api/v1/screenshot?\
url=https://your-site.com&\
fullPage=true&\
format=png&\
width=1280" \
  -H "X-API-Key: cap_your_key" \
  -o "snapshot-$(date +%Y%m%d).png"

PDF Reports

Convert HTML dashboards, invoices, and reports into professionally formatted PDF documents. Perfect for automated report generation and document workflows.

✓Convert any URL or HTML content to PDF
✓Control page size, margins, headers, and footers
✓Support for A4, Letter, Legal, and custom page sizes
✓Ideal for invoices, receipts, and financial reports

PDF Reports

import requests

# Generate a PDF invoice
response = requests.get(
    "https://captureapi.dev/api/v1/pdf",
    params={
        "url": "https://your-app.com/invoice/123",
        "format": "A4",
        "margin": "20mm"
    },
    headers={"X-API-Key": "cap_your_key"}
)

with open("invoice-123.pdf", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

Dynamic OG Images

Generate unique Open Graph images for every page on your site. No more generic social previews — each link gets a custom-designed card with your content.

✓Template-based generation with custom variables
✓Supports custom fonts, logos, and background images
✓Instant generation — no pre-rendering needed
✓Perfect for blogs, e-commerce, and SaaS platforms

Dynamic OG Images

// Next.js: dynamic OG image in metadata
export async function generateMetadata({ params }) {
  const ogUrl = new URL(
    "https://captureapi.dev/api/v1/og"
  );
  ogUrl.searchParams.set("title", params.title);
  ogUrl.searchParams.set("theme", "gradient");

  return {
    openGraph: {
      images: [{ url: ogUrl.toString() }]
    }
  };
}

Website Thumbnails

Generate thumbnails for website directories, portfolios, bookmark managers, and search results. Give users a visual preview of any URL.

✓Fast thumbnail generation at any resolution
✓WebP format for optimal file size
✓Custom viewport sizes for consistent layouts
✓Batch processing for large directories

Website Thumbnails

// Generate thumbnails for a website directory
const urls = [
  "https://github.com",
  "https://vercel.com",
  "https://nextjs.org"
];

const thumbnails = await Promise.all(
  urls.map(url =>
    fetch(
      `https://captureapi.dev/api/v1/screenshot?` +
      `url=${encodeURIComponent(url)}` +
      `&width=400&height=300&format=webp`,
      { headers: { "X-API-Key": "cap_key" } }
    )
  )
);

Ready to build?

Start capturing screenshots, generating PDFs, and creating OG images today. Free tier includes 200 screenshots/month.

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