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A screenshot API should make a failed request understandable to both a developer and a program. Return an HTTP status that matches the failure, use a stable RFC 9457 problem-details envelope, identify every invalid input with machine-readable pointers and codes, explain a safe correction, and include an opaque support identifier. Keep implementation details, credentials, and sensitive values out of the response.
The contract a client should receive
Validation errors are part of an API’s public contract, not incidental strings emitted by a framework. A client should be able to decide whether to fix its request, retry later, authenticate, or report an outage without parsing changing prose.
RFC 9457’s application/problem+json format is a strong baseline. It defines standard members for the problem category, short title, HTTP status, occurrence-specific detail, and instance identifier. Add documented extensions for field-level errors rather than inventing a second envelope.
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Content-Type: application/problem+json
{
"type": "https://api.example.com/problems/validation-error",
"title": "Request validation failed",
"status": 422,
"detail": "Correct the listed request values and try again.",
"errors": [
{
"pointer": "#/url",
"code": "invalid_format",
"detail": "Provide an absolute HTTP or HTTPS URL."
},
{
"pointer": "#/viewport/width",
"code": "out_of_range",
"detail": "Choose a width within the documented limit."
}
],
"instance": "urn:request:7f4c2d9e"
}The URI in type should identify a documented problem category that remains stable across wording changes. title is short and consistent for that category. detail describes this occurrence and tells the caller what to correct. The status member must equal the actual HTTP response status.
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The field names above are illustrative. A real screenshot service must substitute its own documented request paths, constraints, status policy, and problem-type URI. Do not imply that every screenshot API accepts url, viewport, or these limits.
Point to the invalid value precisely
Every item in the extension should identify where the problem occurred. JSON Pointers are useful for JSON requests: #/url identifies a top-level property, while #/options/0/selector identifies a value inside an array. For form-encoded or query requests, document an equivalent path convention, such as a parameter name, and use it consistently.
- pointer: the request location, never a vague label such as “input.”
- code: a stable identifier such as
required,invalid_format,out_of_range, orconflict. - detail: a concise corrective instruction for this value.
- optional metadata: safe constraint information, such as an inclusive minimum, maximum, or allowed enum values.
Clients should branch on type, code, and pointer values—not on the wording of detail. RFC 9457 specifically cautions that clients should not parse the detail member; structured extensions are the appropriate place for machine-readable data.
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Write messages that help the caller recover
Name the violated rule
“Width is invalid” forces guesswork. “Choose a width between 320 and 4,096 pixels” states the rule and the action. If a value is malformed, show the accepted shape: “Use an absolute URL beginning with http:// or https://.”
Describe the interface, not the implementation
Do not expose stack traces, database messages, browser internals, proxy addresses, or dependency names. A caller needs to know what to change, not which validator class threw an exception. RFC 9457 describes detail as corrective guidance rather than debugging information.
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Handle secrets and private inputs carefully
Never echo API keys, Authorization headers, signed URLs, cookie values, or complete private page URLs into an error body. If a URL itself may contain sensitive query data, identify it with a pointer and a generic message. Log a redacted representation server-side instead.
Return all known validation failures together
When a request has several independent errors, return them in one response. A client can correct the complete set in one edit-and-submit cycle instead of discovering one failure per request. Preserve deterministic ordering—for example, request order or a documented schema order—so tests and user interfaces remain predictable.
Stop at a safe boundary when validation depends on secrets, authorization, or expensive rendering. For example, reject malformed JSON before schema validation, and reject unauthorized access without revealing whether a private target URL exists. “Return all errors” does not require disclosing information the caller is not allowed to learn.
Choose HTTP statuses by semantics
| Situation | Possible status | What the body should explain |
|---|---|---|
| Malformed syntax, such as invalid JSON | 400 Bad Request | What structure could not be read and how to submit valid syntax. |
| Missing or invalid credentials | 401 Unauthorized | Required authentication scheme or a safe authentication correction. |
| Authenticated caller lacks permission | 403 Forbidden | That the operation is not permitted, without leaking protected details. |
| Well-formed request violates field or domain rules | 422 Unprocessable Content, where adopted by the contract | Each invalid field and its correction. |
| Conflict with current resource state | 409 Conflict | The state conflict and a safe way to resolve it. |
| Unexpected server or capture failure | 5xx | A general explanation, retry guidance when appropriate, and an occurrence identifier. |
This table is a design guide, not a universal mandate. Select codes according to their defined HTTP semantics, document the supported set, and use each consistently. Do not return a successful status with an error-shaped body. If a response contains status, it must match the wire status.
Make support tracing safe and useful
Include an opaque instance or correlation identifier that support staff can map to server logs. It should contain no credentials or user data. Document where callers should provide that identifier when opening a support request. Log the same identifier with validation context, redaction, timing, and the upstream capture outcome.
Do not treat the identifier as a secret or as permission to retrieve logs. Rotate or expire any lookup mechanism separately, and ensure logs do not store full Authorization headers, cookies, or signed links.
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Your reference documentation should define:
- the media type and envelope members;
- stable problem-type URIs and application error codes;
- pointer syntax for JSON, query, and form requests;
- which statuses can occur for each endpoint;
- whether multiple errors are returned and their ordering;
- localization policy—keep codes stable and treat human detail as display text;
- redaction rules for URLs, headers, cookies, and authorization data;
- the lifetime and support workflow for correlation identifiers.
Publish representative examples for malformed input, multiple field failures, authentication errors, authorization failures, conflicts, and server-side capture failures. Contract tests should assert status, media type, required members, pointer format, and stable codes while allowing detail wording to improve.
Client behavior: a practical handling pattern
A robust client first checks the HTTP status and content type, then parses the problem envelope. It should display or log each field error using the pointer and detail, map stable codes to form controls, and avoid retrying deterministic validation failures. Retry only when the status and documented policy indicate a transient condition.
async function callScreenshot(request) {
const response = await fetch('/v1/shot', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {'content-type': 'application/json'},
body: JSON.stringify(request)
});
if (response.ok) return response;
const contentType = response.headers.get('content-type') || '';
if (contentType.includes('application/problem+json')) {
const problem = await response.json();
for (const item of problem.errors || []) {
showFieldError(item.pointer, item.code, item.detail);
}
reportOccurrence(problem.instance);
throw new Error(problem.title || 'Screenshot request failed');
}
throw new Error(`Screenshot request failed with HTTP ${response.status}`);
}Keep a fallback for nonconforming responses. A gateway, timeout, or HTML error page should not crash a client that assumes every failure is JSON.
Screenshot-specific edge cases
URL validation versus page failure
Reject an absent, malformed, or disallowed URL as a request validation problem. A syntactically valid URL whose page returns a bot check, times out, or fails to load is a capture outcome, not necessarily a field error. Give those cases distinct problem types or result headers so callers do not endlessly “fix” a valid URL.
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Conflicting rendering options
When options are individually valid but incompatible—for example, a requested output mode that cannot use a transparent background—point to the conflicting fields. Use a stable conflict code and explain the permitted combinations.
Large or asynchronous jobs
Validate the submission synchronously where possible. If a job is accepted, return the documented success status and job identifier; report rendering-time failures through the job status or webhook contract using the same problem vocabulary. Do not turn a completed job into a second, undocumented error format.
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Clients parse changing sentences
Cause: no stable codes or pointers. Fix: add documented machine-readable fields and treat detail as human guidance.
Only the first invalid field is returned
Cause: validation stops at the first exception. Fix: collect independent schema errors, while preserving authorization and privacy boundaries.
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Cause: middleware rewrites the status after the body is built. Fix: generate the envelope from the final status and test both values together.
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Support cannot locate an incident
Cause: no correlation identifier or it is not logged consistently. Fix: generate a safe opaque identifier, return it as instance, and include it in structured server logs.
Error responses leak secrets
Cause: generic exception serialization or URL echoing. Fix: use an allowlist of public fields, redact sensitive values before logging, and replace internal exceptions with documented problem types.
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If you need a production screenshot while keeping validation and capture outcomes distinct, ScreenshotNeo provides a single HTTP call. Before capture it accepts cookie or consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each cleanup step can be disabled. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and the response identifies the page verdict and billing result in X-Page-Verdict and X-Billed headers.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpSee the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options and response behavior. The same request in Python is:
import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)Node.js:
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);ScreenshotNeo also offers an MCP server with take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. Create a free ScreenshotNeo account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should validation details be localized?
Keep problem types, pointers, and codes language-neutral and stable. Localize the human-facing title or detail in a client or documented server locale without changing those machine-readable members.
Can an API keep an existing custom error format?
Yes. RFC 9457 is a useful interoperability baseline, but it need not replace a domain format that already gives clients stable categories, field locations, corrective details, and safe tracing.
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Treat it as a request-level problem, show the general detail, retain the occurrence identifier, and avoid guessing which input to change.
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