Get started

Connect your AI tool once, then ask for screenshots in plain words. No code. It works through MCP, the standard way AI tools reach outside services.

What you need

• An API key. Create one in the dashboard, under Connect.
• An AI tool that can add a remote MCP server over HTTP and send a header with it.

Every tool needs the same two things: the address of our server, and your key in the Authorization header. There is no sign-in window to go through.

Connect your tool

The lines below read your key from the environment variable LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY where the tool allows it. Set it first:

export LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY="your key"

The dashboard shows the same lines with your own key already in place, ready to copy.

Claude Code

One command in your terminal.

claude mcp add --transport http localscreenshot https://api.localscreenshot.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY"

Cursor

Paste into .cursor/mcp.json. Cursor reads the key from your environment.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localscreenshot": {
      "url": "https://api.localscreenshot.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}

Codex

One command in your terminal. Codex reads the key from your environment.

# Codex sends it as "Authorization: Bearer $LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY"
codex mcp add localscreenshot --url https://api.localscreenshot.com/mcp \
  --bearer-token-env-var LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY

Gemini CLI

One command in your terminal.

gemini mcp add --transport http \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY" \
  localscreenshot https://api.localscreenshot.com/mcp

VS Code

Paste into .vscode/mcp.json. VS Code asks for your key once and keeps it.

{
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "localscreenshot-key", "description": "localscreenshot API key", "password": true }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "localscreenshot": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.localscreenshot.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:localscreenshot-key}" }
    }
  }
}

Cline

Paste into cline_mcp_settings.json, with your key in place of the variable. This tool does not read environment variables in its settings.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localscreenshot": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://api.localscreenshot.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer $LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Zed

Paste into your Zed settings, with your key in place of the variable. This tool does not read environment variables in its settings.

{
  "context_servers": {
    "localscreenshot": {
      "url": "https://api.localscreenshot.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer $LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Other clients

For a client that takes a server address and a header.

Address:  https://api.localscreenshot.com/mcp
Header:   Authorization: Bearer $LOCALSCREENSHOT_API_KEY

Not ready yet

We have not checked how these connect, so we show no command for them: ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Windsurf, Replit, v0, Perplexity, Le Chat, DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen, n8n, Make, Zapier, LangChain, CrewAI.

Then ask

A few more things you can say:

• "Take a full page screenshot of example.com without the cookie banner."
• "Save example.com as a PDF."
• "Show me only the pricing table of example.com/pricing."
• "How many credits do I have left?"

What your AI gets

Three tools:

take_screenshot accepts the same options as the API, listed on Take a screenshot, except async and response: the server waits for the picture and decides how to hand it back.

• The image is scaled down to 1,568 pixels wide unless you ask for another max_width. That keeps it readable for a vision model without spending tokens for nothing.
• A PDF is not shown as a picture: your AI gets a short-lived link to download it.
• A very large image (over 4 MB) is not attached either: your AI gets its link.
• An error comes back as a plain sentence with its code, so your AI can tell you what happened. See Errors.

What it costs

The same as the API: 1 credit for a screenshot, 2 from a chosen country. A failed screenshot is not charged. The limits are per account, whichever way you come in.