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C# · Code recipe

Take a screenshot of a website in C#

Save a full-page PNG of any website, in .NET 8+ with HttpClient. Every program on this page runs as it stands — each one was run against a stub of the API before it was published.

By · Last updated: September 2026

TL;DR

To take a screenshot of a website in C#, POST its URL to https://urlpipe.dev/screenshot with sync set to true, decode the Base64 body with Convert.FromBase64String and write the bytes to a .png file. It is a full-page capture from real Chrome for 1 credit; leave sync out and the result goes to your webhook instead.

Free plan, no credit card. 1,000 credits a month.

One POST to /screenshot loads the page in real Chrome, scrolls it top to bottom so lazy images load, and captures the whole document — not just the fold. The image comes back Base64-encoded in a text/plain body, so the C# work is two lines: decode it with Convert.FromBase64String and write the bytes.

The request below also sets page_options.block_cookie_banners, because a consent dialog over the page is the most common reason a screenshot is useless. Every other knob — viewport, device scale, JPEG or WebP, one element by selector, dark mode — goes in screenshot_options.

Setup

Before you start

Nothing to add from NuGet: HttpClient and System.Text.Json are part of .NET. Each program below is a whole Program.cs for a console project.

Terminal
dotnet new console -o Screenshot && cd Screenshot
export URLPIPE_API_KEY="your_api_key"
# replace Program.cs with a program below, then:
dotnet run

The request

Save a screenshot as a PNG file

sync = true keeps the request open until the result is ready. PostAsJsonAsync serializes the anonymous object, and the property names go out as written, underscores included. HttpClient does not throw on a 4xx or 5xx, so check IsSuccessStatusCode. The body is Base64 text; Convert.FromBase64String gives the bytes back.

Program.cs
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Net.Http.Json;

// A sync call can take up to 60 s; HttpClient's default gives up at 100.
using var client = new HttpClient { Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(90) };
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
    new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("URLPIPE_API_KEY"));

var response = await client.PostAsJsonAsync("https://urlpipe.dev/screenshot",
    new { url = "https://example.com", page_options = new { block_cookie_banners = true }, sync = true });
var body = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
    Console.Error.WriteLine($"URLpipe answered {(int)response.StatusCode}: {body}");
    return 1;
}

var png = Convert.FromBase64String(body);
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync("screenshot.png", png);
Console.WriteLine($"Saved screenshot.png ({png.Length} bytes)");
return 0;

Run it: dotnet run

Async

The async variant: a token, a webhook and a poll

Leave out sync and the answer is a token, straight away. JsonNode reads one field without declaring a class for the response, and Task.Delay waits between polls without holding a thread.

Program.cs
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Text.Json.Nodes;

const string Api = "https://urlpipe.dev";

using var client = new HttpClient { Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30) };
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
    new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("URLPIPE_API_KEY"));

// No sync: the request is accepted at once and the work carries on without you.
var accepted = await client.PostAsJsonAsync($"{Api}/screenshot", new
{
    url = "https://example.com",
    page_options = new { block_cookie_banners = true },
    report_to = "https://your-app.com/webhooks/urlpipe",
    labels = new { customer = "acme" },
});
if (!accepted.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
    Console.Error.WriteLine($"URLpipe answered {(int)accepted.StatusCode}: {await accepted.Content.ReadAsStringAsync()}");
    return 1;
}
var token = JsonNode.Parse(await accepted.Content.ReadAsStringAsync())!["token"]!.GetValue<string>();
Console.WriteLine($"Accepted {token}");

// The result is POSTed to report_to when it is ready. Polling by token is the
// other way to collect it: no endpoint needed, and a backup for the webhook.
var response = await client.GetAsync($"{Api}/result/{token}");
for (var attempt = 1; attempt < 60 && (int)response.StatusCode == 202; attempt++) // 202: still processing
{
    await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));
    response = await client.GetAsync($"{Api}/result/{token}");
}

var body = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
switch ((int)response.StatusCode)
{
    case 200:
        break;
    case 202:
        Console.Error.WriteLine("Still processing after two minutes; try the token again later.");
        return 1;
    case 422:
        Console.Error.WriteLine($"The analysis failed: {JsonNode.Parse(body)?["error"]?.GetValue<string>()}");
        return 1;
    case 410:
        Console.Error.WriteLine("The result is past the 30-day window; send the request again.");
        return 1;
    default:
        Console.Error.WriteLine($"URLpipe answered {(int)response.StatusCode}: {body}");
        return 1;
}

var png = Convert.FromBase64String(body);
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync("screenshot.png", png);
Console.WriteLine($"Saved screenshot.png ({png.Length} bytes)");
return 0;

Run it: dotnet run

Errors

Handle errors and retries

A local function keeps the retry rules next to the call, and the exception type is declared after the top-level statements, where C# requires it. RetryAfter.Delta is the parsed Retry-After header, and a body that is not JSON (a 401 answers in plain text) leaves every field null.

Program.cs
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Text.Json;
using System.Text.Json.Nodes;

using var client = new HttpClient { Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(90) };
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
    new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("URLPIPE_API_KEY"));

string body;
try
{
    body = await Urlpipe("/screenshot", new { url = "https://example.com", page_options = new { block_cookie_banners = true }, sync = true });
}
catch (URLpipeException e)
{
    Console.Error.WriteLine($"URLpipe: {e.Message}");
    return 1;
}

var png = Convert.FromBase64String(body);
await File.WriteAllBytesAsync("screenshot.png", png);
Console.WriteLine($"Saved screenshot.png ({png.Length} bytes)");
return 0;

// POST a sync request and return the result body; retry the two 429s that clear by themselves.
async Task<string> Urlpipe(string path, object payload, int attempts = 5)
{
    for (var attempt = 0; attempt < attempts; attempt++)
    {
        using var response = await client.PostAsJsonAsync($"https://urlpipe.dev{path}", payload);
        var text = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
        var status = (int)response.StatusCode;
        if (status == 200) return text;
        if (status == 401) throw new URLpipeException("401: the API key is missing or wrong. Check URLPIPE_API_KEY.");

        JsonNode? error = null;
        try { error = JsonNode.Parse(text); } catch (JsonException) { } // not JSON: no fields
        var code = error?["error"]?.GetValue<string>() ?? "";
        var message = error?["message"]?.GetValue<string>();
        var detail = message is null ? code : $"{code}: {message}";

        if (status == 429 && code == "rate_limited")
            // Sending too fast: Retry-After says how long the window has left.
            await Task.Delay(response.Headers.RetryAfter?.Delta ?? TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1));
        else if (status == 429 && code == "concurrency_limit")
            // Every parallel slot on your plan is busy with your own requests.
            await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(Math.Pow(2, attempt)));
        else if (status == 504)
            // Still running on our side; the token collects it from GET /result/:token.
            throw new URLpipeException($"504 processing_timeout: collect it later with token {error?["token"]?.GetValue<string>()}");
        else
            // 403 email_unverified, 422 (a bad parameter, or a page that would not load),
            // 429 quota_exceeded: sending the same request again gets the same answer.
            throw new URLpipeException($"{status}: {detail}");
    }
    throw new URLpipeException($"429: still refused after {attempts} attempts");
}

class URLpipeException(string message) : Exception(message) { }

Run it: dotnet run

Details

What to know about /screenshot

  • The default viewport is 1350 × 797 and the capture follows the page down to 16,384 px; a taller page is cut there.
  • Every response carries an X-Result-Url header: a link to the same image that needs no API key and stays valid for 30 days. Often you can store that link instead of the file.
  • PNG is the default; "format": "jpeg" or "webp" in screenshot_options makes a long page far smaller.
  • It captures images, not PDFs, and it does not record video.
  • A screenshot of the same URL with the same options is served from the cache for 7 days by default, free. Set max_age to refresh sooner.

Other languages

Take a screenshot of a website in another language

More C#: every C# recipe

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Why is the screenshot response Base64 and not an image?
So the same body works in JSON, in a webhook payload and in an <img> data URI. Decode it with Convert.FromBase64String, or skip decoding and use the X-Result-Url header, a direct link to the image.
How do I take a mobile screenshot?
Set screenshot_options.viewport_width to a phone width such as 390 and device_scale_factor to 2 or 3. The viewport can be anything from 320 to 1920 pixels wide.
Can I screenshot one element instead of the whole page?
Yes: screenshot_options takes a CSS selector and captures just that element. A selector that matches nothing is a 422, and costs nothing.
Do I need an SDK to call URLpipe from C#?
No NuGet package: HttpClient and System.Text.Json are part of .NET, and the API is one POST per job.

Get a key and run it.

Free plan, no card. Paste your key into URLPIPE_API_KEY and every program on this page runs as it is.