A Urlbox timeout can mean the page took too long to become ready, the capture did too much work, or your own client could not maintain the request. Start by checking the exact error and the options sent; then tune readiness and full-page behavior. If slow renders are routine, use Urlbox’s asynchronous workflow rather than holding a synchronous connection open or repeatedly retrying a heavy job.
First identify where the timeout happened
Do not assume every timeout is caused by a slow website. Urlbox CLI distinguishes timeout errors from network or DNS failures, rate limits, authentication errors, forbidden requests, and server errors. Read the complete API or CLI response, preserve its message and error code, and note the request options used. API error responses can include a requestId; keep it with the failing request in case you need Urlbox to investigate. See the API reference and CLI troubleshooting.
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When the response includes renderTime and queueTime, compare them: the former indicates time spent rendering and the latter time waiting in the queue. The values shown in Urlbox’s quickstart are illustrative, not a performance guarantee. See the quickstart.
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A synchronous request keeps the caller waiting for the render response. A client-side timeout or dropped connection may therefore happen even when the cause is not a page-load failure inside Urlbox. Check the error from your HTTP client as well as Urlbox’s response, and compare your client’s connection/read timeout with Urlbox’s render settings. For jobs that routinely take longer than your application can reasonably wait, use asynchronous rendering instead of simply extending the caller’s connection window.
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Check navigation timeout and page readiness separately
Urlbox documents timeout as the time to wait for the requested URL to load: the allowed range is 5,000–100,000 milliseconds, and the default is 30,000 ms. This is a render option, not a guarantee that every downstream caller or proxy will keep a connection open for that long. Confirm the actual value in the request before changing it. See Urlbox’s render options.
Readiness is controlled separately by wait_until. Its default is loaded; documented alternatives include domloaded, mostrequestsfinished, and requestsfinished. The two network-based conditions wait until there are no more than two connections, or zero connections, respectively, for at least 500 ms. A page that keeps analytics, polling, streaming, or other requests active can make the stricter condition wait longer than expected.
| Readiness option | What it waits for | When to consider it |
|---|---|---|
domloaded |
The DOM content-loaded event. | When the needed structure is available early and waiting for the full load event adds unnecessary time. |
loaded (default) |
The page load event. | When the page’s ordinary load completion is a suitable capture signal. |
mostrequestsfinished |
At most two network connections for at least 500 ms. | When most network activity should finish but a small number of persistent requests should not hold up the capture. |
requestsfinished |
Zero network connections for at least 500 ms. | Only when network quiet is important and the page is expected to become fully idle. |
For content that appears after the normal navigation event, use a specific wait_for selector or a bounded delay rather than blindly raising the navigation timeout. Check wait_timeout too; its default is 30,000 ms. By default, a missing wait_for selector or a wait_to_leave element that remains present until timeout does not necessarily fail the render. Urlbox documents options to make those conditions fail explicitly. This distinction helps separate “the page did not load” from “the page loaded, but the particular content I need was not ready.”
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Determine whether full-page capture is the expensive part
A full-page screenshot does more work than a viewport capture. Urlbox’s default stitch mode scrolls through the page to trigger lazy-loaded elements, captures sections, and joins them. That approach is designed for accuracy, but it adds work on long pages. The native mode uses browser-native full-page capture and is faster, though it may be less reliable across sites. See the full-page screenshots guide.
- Keep
stitchwhen content loaded during scrolling must appear in the image. - Try
nativewhen speed matters and the target page renders correctly with browser-native capture. - Consider
skip_scroll: trueto avoid the initial scroll. Urlbox says this may save a few seconds depending on page height, but it can omit lazy-loaded content. - Compare the output as well as elapsed time: a faster capture is not useful if it misses content your workflow needs.
Choose synchronous rendering, async, or retry based on the pattern
Use synchronous rendering when the caller can wait for the render to finish within its connection window. For work that routinely takes more than a few seconds—especially long full-page captures, video, or slow sites—Urlbox recommends asynchronous rendering. Its async endpoint returns a renderId and statusUrl; follow completion by polling the status URL or configuring a webhook. See the async rendering guide and API reference.
Retries address a different problem. Urlbox supports configured retry conditions, including timeouts and selected HTTP statuses, subject to plan availability. Its CLI guidance warns that heavy renders remain slow on each attempt; a render that exceeds its timeout fails rather than becoming faster through retries. Use retries for plausibly transient failures, not as a substitute for reducing capture work or moving a predictably long render to async. See retry options and the CLI guide.
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Decide whether an HTTP error page should count as a render
A render can complete while showing a target site’s 4xx or 5xx error page. If your application treats that as failure, configure fail_on_4xx, fail_on_5xx, or fail_on for the responses that matter. Retry configuration can also target selected status codes. If an error page is useful evidence, leave handling permissive and inspect the screenshot or response instead. See Urlbox’s options reference and common problems guide.
Troubleshoot by symptom
| Symptom | Likely distinction to check | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Urlbox reports a timeout. | The render exceeded its configured timeout, or a readiness wait kept it waiting. | Inspect timeout, wait_until, wait_for, wait_to_leave, and wait_timeout; align them with the actual content required. |
| Your HTTP client reports a timeout, but Urlbox provides no render response. | The caller may have stopped waiting before the render response arrived. | Check the client’s timeout and use async rendering for routinely long jobs. |
| The error says network or DNS rather than timeout. | The request may not have reached or resolved the target as expected. | Diagnose connection and DNS behavior rather than increasing the page render timeout. |
| The screenshot is incomplete or lazy-loaded images are missing. | Capture may have finished before content appeared, or full-page scrolling may have been skipped. | Use a suitable readiness signal and compare stitch with native; avoid skip_scroll when scrolling triggers needed content. |
| The screenshot shows a site error page, but the render succeeded. | Urlbox may return the page as a render unless HTTP failure options are enabled. | Set the relevant fail_on option if those responses must fail your workflow. |
| Retries keep taking too long or failing the same way. | The render may be consistently heavy rather than transiently broken. | Reduce capture workload or queue it asynchronously; reserve retrying for intermittent errors. |
| You receive rate-limit, auth, forbidden, or server errors. | This is a different error class from a slow page. | Use the full error message and code to investigate the corresponding limit, credentials, access, or service response; retain any requestId. |
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