Shotanvil

What shotanvil MCP server does

The shotanvil MCP server provides access to an API for capturing web pages and rendering inline HTML. Its documented API has two primary operations: GET /take accepts a target URL and returns a rendered page, while POST /render-html accepts HTML in a JSON request body and returns the rendered result.

The /take operation supports PNG, JPEG, WebP, and PDF output. It can capture only the visible viewport or the full scrollable page. When requested, it can also return JSON containing a base64-encoded image together with extracted text and metadata instead of returning raw image bytes.

How it works

The API is available at https://api.shotanvil.com. A URL capture uses the url query parameter and requires an http or https target. HTML rendering sends markup to /render-html with Content-Type: application/json.

Authentication is checked through either an X-Payment header for x402 pay-per-call access or an API key. API keys can be supplied in the X-Api-Key header or with the access_key query parameter.

The shotanvil MCP server can pass rendering controls such as viewport dimensions, full-page capture, dark-mode emulation, ad blocking, cookie-banner hiding, cache duration, and cache bypass. API keys have both per-second and daily limits. When a limit is exceeded, the API returns HTTP 429 and includes retry_after_s in the response.

Setup and configuration

Set an API key, for example in SHOTANVIL_API_KEY, and send it with requests using the X-Api-Key header. The repository also includes runnable shell and Node.js examples for screenshot requests. API keys are obtained from shotanvil.com; x402 access uses the payment header instead of an API key.

The repository contains an openapi.json file describing request and response schemas. It is a point-in-time copy of the live specification at https://api.shotanvil.com/openapi.json, so integrations should compare it with the live document before relying on it for current behavior.

Tools and capabilities

The documented API operations support these tasks:

• Capture a URL as PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF.
• Render supplied inline HTML.
• Capture a page at a selected viewport size.
• Capture the full scrollable page.
• Emulate dark mode.
• Block ad-network requests.
• Hide common cookie-consent banners.
• Read extracted text and metadata through the JSON response format.
• Inspect current daily usage through GET /usage.

Limitations and notes

Confirm how an MCP host maps these API operations before deploying it as an MCP integration.

Target URLs must use HTTP or HTTPS. Viewport width is limited to 320–3840 pixels, and viewport height to 240–2160 pixels. Cache duration accepts values from 0 to 86,400 seconds. Invalid API keys return 401 rather than falling back to another access mode. Rate-limit responses return 429, and both per-second and daily quotas apply.

The OpenAPI file may drift as the live API changes. It should be refreshed and reviewed rather than edited manually when current schemas are needed.