@rendershot/mcp-server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Rendershot screenshot and PDF generation API. Lets AI agents (Claude, Cursor, etc.) capture screenshots and generate PDFs directly as tool calls.

Source: github.com/Rendershot/rendershot-mcp-server

Quick start

No installation needed — run with npx:

RENDERSHOT_API_KEY=your_key npx @rendershot/mcp-server

Claude Desktop setup

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rendershot": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@rendershot/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "RENDERSHOT_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code setup

Add to your MCP settings:

{
  "rendershot": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@rendershot/mcp-server"],
    "env": {
      "RENDERSHOT_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
    }
  }
}

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
RENDERSHOT_API_KEY	Yes	—	Your Rendershot API key
RENDERSHOT_BASE_URL	No	https://api.rendershot.io	API base URL (override for self-hosting)

Tools

take_screenshot

Capture a screenshot of a URL or HTML string. Returns a base64-encoded image.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
url	string	—	Page URL to screenshot (one of url/html required)
html	string	—	Raw HTML to render (one of url/html required)
format	png | jpeg	png	Output image format
quality	1–100	85	JPEG quality (ignored for PNG)
viewport_width	1–3840	1280	Viewport width in pixels
viewport_height	1–2160	720	Viewport height in pixels
full_page	boolean	false	Capture the full scrollable page
wait_for	string	dom_content_loaded	load | dom_content_loaded | network_idle | commit | CSS selector
delay_ms	0–10000	0	Extra delay after page load (ms)
ai_cleanup	fast | thorough	—	Remove cookie banners/popups before capture. fast uses JS heuristics (1 credit); thorough adds an LLM pass (3 credits)
headers	{ [name]: value }	—	Custom HTTP headers sent with the render request. Max 30, values ≤ 2 KB. Host / Cookie / Content-Length / Sec-* / Connection rejected
cookies	array	—	Session cookies to inject. Each needs name, value, and one of domain / url. Optional: path, expires, http_only, secure, same_site (Lax | Strict | None). Max 50
basic_auth	{ username, password }	—	HTTP Basic auth. Sent on 401 challenge

generate_pdf

Generate a PDF from a URL or HTML string. Returns the PDF as a base64-encoded string.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
url	string	—	Page URL (one of url/html required)
html	string	—	Raw HTML (one of url/html required)
format	A3 | A4 | Letter | Legal	A4	Paper size
orientation	portrait | landscape	portrait	Page orientation
print_background	boolean	true	Print background graphics/colors
wait_for	string	dom_content_loaded	Same as screenshot
delay_ms	0–10000	0	Extra delay after page load (ms)
ai_cleanup	fast | thorough	—	Same as screenshot
headers	{ [name]: value }	—	Same as screenshot
cookies	array	—	Same as screenshot
basic_auth	{ username, password }	—	Same as screenshot

bulk_render

Submit up to 20 screenshot or PDF jobs in one call. All jobs run in parallel and results include base64 output per job.

Parameter	Type	Description
jobs	array (1–20)	Array of job objects, each with type: "screenshot" or type: "pdf" plus the same fields as the individual tools

Returns a JSON object with credits_used, credits_remaining, and a results array containing index, result (base64), and any error per job.

check_balance

Check remaining API credits and plan details. No parameters.

Notes

• All render calls use async mode internally and poll until the job completes (up to 5 minutes).
• Screenshots return MCP image content — agents can display them inline.
• PDFs return base64-encoded text; agents can save them to disk or pass them on.
• Errors from the API (rate limits, credit exhaustion, invalid URLs) surface as MCP errors with the original error code.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+

License

MIT