TutorialsNode.jsAPIGetting started

Capture screenshots from Node.js with nothing but fetch

No SDK required. A copy-paste helper for Node 18+, with typed options, error handling and downloading the file.

Ruby Le

Project Manager

· Jun 24, 2026· 2 min read

Node 18 and later ship with a global fetch, which is all you need to call Snapopa. This tutorial builds a small helper you can drop into any project.

1. Get an API key

Create a key under API Keys in the dashboard and export it:

export SNAPOPA_API_KEY="sk_..."

2. The helper

type CaptureOptions = {
  url: string
  format?: 'png' | 'jpeg' | 'webp' | 'pdf'
  isFullPage?: boolean
  viewport?: { width?: number; height?: number }
}

export async function capture(options: CaptureOptions) {
  const res = await fetch('https://api.snapopa.com/capture', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.SNAPOPA_API_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(options),
  })

  const body = await res.json()
  if (!res.ok || !body.success) {
    throw new Error(body.error?.message ?? `Capture failed with ${res.status}`)
  }
  return body.data as { uuid: string; fileUrl: string; fromCache: boolean }
}

3. Use it

const shot = await capture({ url: 'https://example.com', format: 'webp', isFullPage: true })
console.log(shot.fileUrl)

4. Save the file locally

import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'

const file = await fetch(shot.fileUrl)
await writeFile('example.webp', Buffer.from(await file.arrayBuffer()))

Skipping the JSON step

If you only want the bytes, set responseType to file and the API returns the image directly:

const res = await fetch('https://api.snapopa.com/capture', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.SNAPOPA_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ url: 'https://example.com', responseType: 'file' }),
})
await writeFile('example.png', Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()))

Next steps

Add responseCache to avoid paying twice for the same page - see response caching.
Try the same request in the dashboard Playground, which can also generate this code for you.