Guides / C#

Take website screenshots in C#

Maintaining your own headless-browser fleet for screenshots means babysitting Chromium versions, memory leaks, fonts, and proxy rules. RasterKit turns all of that into a single HTTPS call: send a URL from your C# code, get back finished image bytes.

The engine runs real Chromium, so modern CSS, web fonts and JavaScript-rendered pages come out exactly as users see them. Flags like full_page, device=mobile, dark_mode and block_cookie_banners handle the cases that make DIY screenshotting painful.

1. Get an API key

Sign up free (magic link, no card) — your key is shown right after sign-in. You get 100 renders/month free across screenshots, PDFs, and images.

2. Make the request

using System.Text;

var client = new HttpClient { Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60) };
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("x-api-key",
    Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("RASTERKIT_API_KEY"));

var body = new StringContent(
    """{"url": "https://example.com", "full_page": true, "format": "png"}""",
    Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");

var res = await client.PostAsync("https://rasterkit.com/v1/screenshot", body);
var bytes = await res.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync();
if (!res.IsSuccessStatusCode)
    throw new Exception($"Render failed: {(int)res.StatusCode} {Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes)}");

await File.WriteAllBytesAsync("screenshot.png", bytes);
Console.WriteLine("Saved screenshot.png");

The response body is the file itself — no JSON envelope to unwrap, no second download request. Errors come back as JSON with a stable error code.

3. Tune the output

The Screenshot API reference documents every parameter. The ones people reach for first:

Use cases

FAQ

How do I capture the full page, not just the viewport?

Pass "full_page": true. RasterKit auto-scrolls the page first so lazy-loaded images and infinite-scroll content are included.

Can I screenshot pages that need JavaScript?

Yes — every render runs in real Chromium with JS enabled. Use wait_until: "networkidle", wait_for_selector, or delay_ms for late-rendering apps.

How fast is it?

Typical p50 is 1.5–3 s for a normal page (sync request). Add cache_ttl and repeated captures of the same URL return instantly and free.

Related guides

Get your free API key →