Screenshot API for PHP
Capturing website screenshots from PHP usually means running and scaling a headless browser yourself. With Snapraven you skip all of that — call the screenshot API from plain PHP with cURL.
What you can build with PHP
Add link thumbnails to a plain-PHP site, build a small directory of site previews, or run a cron script that refreshes captured images — with nothing but core cURL.
Example in PHP
$ch = curl_init('https://api.snapraven.app/v1/screenshot?url=' . urlencode($target));
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['x-api-key: ' . SNAPRAVEN_KEY]);
$png = curl_exec($ch);
That's the entire integration. Snapraven renders the page in a real Chromium browser and
returns a PNG or JPEG. Add fullPage=true
for the full scrollable page, or width/height for custom viewports.
💡 Tip for PHP
Cache the captured file to disk and serve that, refreshing on a cron, so you’re not calling the API on every page request.
Why developers use Snapraven with PHP
- ✓ No headless Chrome to install, run, or scale.
- ✓ A single HTTP request — works anywhere PHP can make a fetch.
- ✓ Full-page capture, custom viewport, PNG or JPEG.
- ✓ Free tier with 100 requests per month to start.
PHP screenshot API — FAQ
Do I need a framework?
No — core PHP with cURL works. The same call drops into Laravel, Symfony, or WordPress if you use one.
How do I keep pages fast?
Save the image once, serve the cached file, and refresh it on a schedule with cron.
Other guides
Not a developer? Capture screenshots with no code in the dashboard — paste URLs and download a ZIP.