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How to Capture a Website Screenshot in Dark Mode with BrowserCat

Use Playwright with BrowserCat’s hosted Chromium browser to request dark mode and capture a website screenshot, while checking whether the site actually renders dark styling.
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Use Playwright to connect to BrowserCat’s hosted Chromium browser, request the dark color scheme before navigating, and then capture the page. That preference tells a site that dark styling is preferred; it does not force a site without dark-mode styling to turn dark.

What you need

  • A BrowserCat API key and the BrowserCat connection endpoint, wss://api.browsercat.com/connect. BrowserCat’s quick start describes its cloud sessions as Chromium in “new” headless mode. See the BrowserCat quick start.
  • Node.js and the playwright-core package. This example uses Playwright to control the remote browser; install the package in your project with npm install playwright-core.

Capture a dark-mode screenshot with BrowserCat

Set the color scheme before loading the URL so the page can see the preference during initial rendering. The following example connects, navigates, checks the preference reported to the page, and saves a full-page PNG. It combines BrowserCat and Playwright’s documented steps; it is an implementation pattern, not a claim of testing against a particular site.

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import * as pw from 'playwright-core';

async function captureDark(url) {
  const browser = await pw.chromium.connect(
    'wss://api.browsercat.com/connect',
    { headers: { 'Api-Key': process.env.BROWSERCAT_API_KEY } }
  );

  try {
    const context = await browser.newContext();
    const page = await context.newPage();

    // Ask the target page to use its dark color-scheme styles.
    await page.emulateMedia({ colorScheme: 'dark' });
    await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: 'networkidle' });

    const darkPreference = await page.evaluate(
      () => matchMedia('(prefers-color-scheme: dark)').matches
    );
    console.log({ darkPreference });

    await page.screenshot({ path: 'website-dark.png', fullPage: true });
  } finally {
    await browser.close();
  }
}

captureDark('https://example.com').catch(console.error);

Set BROWSERCAT_API_KEY in the environment before running the script. Playwright’s page.emulateMedia({ colorScheme: 'dark' }) requests dark color-scheme behavior, while fullPage: true captures beyond the current viewport. For a viewport-only image, omit fullPage. Playwright documents these controls in its Page API and emulation guide.

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Confirm the site actually rendered dark

The matchMedia('(prefers-color-scheme: dark)').matches check confirms that the page receives the dark preference. It does not prove that every part of the site adopted dark styling. Inspect the saved screenshot; if it is still light, look for a site-specific appearance control or account setting. Some sites rely on their own theme state instead of, or in addition to, the browser preference.

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Capture a component or adjust the preference

Capture one element

To capture a particular component rather than the whole page, use a Playwright locator screenshot, for example await page.locator('main').screenshot({ path: 'main.png' });. Replace main with a selector for the element you want. Playwright’s screenshot options and locator methods are documented in the Page API.

Set the preference on the context

If all pages in a browser context should use the same preference, Playwright also supports a colorScheme: 'dark' context option. The example uses page.emulateMedia() to make the per-page setting explicit. See Playwright emulation for the documented options.

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Troubleshooting

  • The image is light, but the preference check is true: the browser is reporting dark preference correctly, but the site may not provide matching styles or may use its own theme control. Inspect the page’s appearance setting and the captured output.
  • The check is false: ensure page.emulateMedia({ colorScheme: 'dark' }) runs before navigation and that the check runs on the same page. Playwright documents the color-scheme emulation API in its Page API.
  • The initial view is light but later content changes: set the preference before navigation as shown. If you change it after the page loads, application-specific state may persist; check the site control or reload after changing the preference.
  • A long page is cut off: use fullPage: true in page.screenshot(). For a single region, use a locator screenshot instead.
  • The browser connection fails: confirm that the API key is present in BROWSERCAT_API_KEY and that the connection uses BrowserCat’s documented endpoint and Api-Key header, as shown in the quick start.

BrowserCat’s scope and configuration

BrowserCat’s browser configuration documentation lists Chromium and Chrome as supported and describes Firefox and WebKit as roadmap items, so do not assume those backends are currently available. It also documents browser configuration through a BrowserCat-Opts header or query parameters, with headers taking precedence when both are supplied. The dark preference in this workflow is set through Playwright, not through a BrowserCat-specific dark-mode option established by the documentation. See BrowserCat browser configuration.

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Or skip the browser setup

For a straightforward screenshot request without setting up a remote browser and Playwright, ScreenshotNeo’s screenshot API accepts a URL and returns an image or PDF. Here is a cURL request:

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curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com -o shot.webp

See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options. ScreenshotNeo removes cookie banners, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are not billed. Its MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card required; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 screenshots. A dark rendering still depends on the target site responding to a dark color-scheme preference or providing its own theme control.

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