How Captures Work

Lifecycle overview

Every capture follows the same pipeline:

1. Validate and normalize the request.
2. Apply SSRF protection and access checks.
3. Acquire a browser context from the pool.
4. Render the page using your settings.
5. Store, cache, or return the output.

Sync vs async

• Sync: POST /v1/capture returns immediately when the render finishes.
• Async: POST /v1/jobs queues the render and returns a job id.

Response types

• json: metadata + storage URL.
• binary: raw bytes with Content-Type.
• empty: status only (use with storage).

Determinism

Consistency comes from controlling:

• Viewport and device settings.
• Wait conditions and timeouts.
• Resource blocking and reduced motion.
• Custom CSS or scripts.

Storage and caching

Storage and cache are separate layers:

• Storage is your durable destination.
• Cache accelerates repeated renders and saves usage.