# Capturing Screenshots & PDFs

**Browser Swarm** enables you to capture high-quality screenshots and generate PDFs of web pages during your automated browser sessions. These features are essential for visual testing, documentation, and archiving purposes.

***

### 🖼️ Capturing Screenshots

You can capture screenshots using your preferred automation framework. For optimal performance and flexibility, we recommend using the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP).

#### Example with Playwright

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Node.js" %}

```javascript
import { chromium } from 'playwright-core';
import { BrowserSwarm } from 'browser-swarm-sdk';
import fs from 'fs';

const bs = new BrowserSwarm({ apiKey: process.env.BROWSER_SWARM_API_KEY });

(async () => {
  const session = await bs.sessions.create({
    projectId: process.env.BROWSER_SWARM_PROJECT_ID,
  });

  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(session.connectUrl);
  const context = browser.contexts()[0];
  const page = context.pages()[0];

  await page.goto('https://example.com');

  const client = await context.newCDPSession(page);
  const { data } = await client.send('Page.captureScreenshot', {
    format: 'jpeg',
    quality: 80,
    fullPage: true,
  });

  const buffer = Buffer.from(data, 'base64');
  fs.writeFileSync('screenshot.jpeg', buffer);

  await browser.close();
})();
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Python" %}

```python
from browser_swarm import BrowserSwarm
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
import os
import base64

bs = BrowserSwarm(api_key=os.environ["BROWSER_SWARM_API_KEY"])

session = bs.sessions.create(project_id=os.environ["BROWSER_SWARM_PROJECT_ID"])

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.connect_over_cdp(session.connect_url)
    context = browser.contexts[0]
    page = context.pages[0]

    page.goto("https://example.com")

    client = context.new_cdp_session(page)
    screenshot_data = client.send("Page.captureScreenshot", {
        "format": "jpeg",
        "quality": 80,
        "fullPage": True
    })

    image_data = base64.b64decode(screenshot_data['data'])
    with open('screenshot.jpeg', 'wb') as f:
        f.write(image_data)

    browser.close()
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

***

### 📝 Generating PDFs

Generating PDFs of web pages is straightforward with **Browser Swarm**. This is particularly useful for saving receipts, reports, or any page content in a portable format.

#### Example with Playwright

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Node.js" %}

```javascript
import { chromium } from 'playwright-core';
import { BrowserSwarm } from 'browser-swarm-sdk';
import fs from 'fs';

const bs = new BrowserSwarm({ apiKey: process.env.BROWSER_SWARM_API_KEY });

(async () => {
  const session = await bs.sessions.create({
    projectId: process.env.BROWSER_SWARM_PROJECT_ID,
  });

  const browser = await chromium.connectOverCDP(session.connectUrl);
  const context = browser.contexts()[0];
  const page = context.pages()[0];

  await page.goto('https://example.com');

  const pdfBuffer = await page.pdf({
    format: 'A4',
    printBackground: true,
  });

  fs.writeFileSync('page.pdf', pdfBuffer);

  await browser.close();
})();
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Python " %}

```python
from browser_swarm import BrowserSwarm
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
import os

bs = BrowserSwarm(api_key=os.environ["BROWSER_SWARM_API_KEY"])

session = bs.sessions.create(project_id=os.environ["BROWSER_SWARM_PROJECT_ID"])

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.connect_over_cdp(session.connect_url)
    context = browser.contexts[0]
    page = context.pages[0]

    page.goto("https://example.com")

    pdf_bytes = page.pdf(format="A4", print_background=True)
    with open("page.pdf", "wb") as f:
        f.write(pdf_bytes)

    browser.close()
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

***

### 💡 Best Practices

* **Use CDP for Performance**: Leveraging the Chrome DevTools Protocol can result in faster and more reliable screenshot captures.
* **Full-Page Screenshots**: Set `fullPage: true` to capture the entire scrollable area of the page.
* **PDF Formatting**: Adjust the `format` parameter (e.g., 'A4', 'Letter') and set `printBackground: true` to include background graphics in PDFs.
* **Error Handling**: Implement appropriate error handling to manage scenarios where page loading or rendering might fail.

***

By integrating these capabilities into your automation workflows, **Browser Swarm** enhances your ability to document and analyze web content effectively.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://browserswarm.gitbook.io/docs/capturing-screenshots-and-pdfs.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.