UI Screenshots

Capture screenshots of web apps and graphical UIs during development to document visual changes.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Capture the current state of a running web app
• Document a UI before and after a code change
• Screenshot interactive states (tooltips, hovers, selected elements)
• Capture specific sections of a page without re-screenshotting

Prerequisites

pip install playwright Pillow -q
playwright install chromium

Core Workflow

1. Take a raw full-page screenshot

from playwright.async_api import async_playwright

async def capture(url="http://localhost:3000", out="screenshot-raw.png", width=1400, height=5000):
    async with async_playwright() as p:
        browser = await p.chromium.launch()
        page = await browser.new_page(viewport={"width": width, "height": height})
        await page.goto(url, wait_until="networkidle")
        await page.wait_for_timeout(4000)  # let charts/animations render
        await page.screenshot(path=out, full_page=True)
        await browser.close()

• Use a tall viewport (height=5000) so the page renders everything without scrolling
• wait_until="networkidle" + wait_for_timeout(4000) ensures async charts load
• full_page=True captures the entire scrollable content

2. View the raw image, then crop with PIL

Do NOT try to get perfect crops via Playwright's clip parameter. It's unreliable with full-page captures.

from PIL import Image

img = Image.open("screenshot-raw.png")
cropped = img.crop((left, top, right, bottom))  # adjust based on what you see
cropped.save("screenshot-final.png")

1. Take the raw screenshot
2. View it to see actual pixel positions
3. Crop with PIL based on what you see
4. View the result — if not right, re-crop (instant, no re-screenshot needed)

3. Iterate on crop, not on capture

• Re-screenshotting is slow (browser launch + page load + render wait)
• Re-cropping is instant (just PIL)
• Get one good raw capture, then slice it as many ways as needed

4. Interactive states

element = page.locator("selector").first
await element.hover()
await page.wait_for_timeout(1000)  # let tooltip appear
await page.screenshot(path="screenshot-hover.png", full_page=True)

For "selected" state without hover effect, move the mouse away after clicking:

await element.click()
await page.mouse.move(300, 300)  # move away so hover doesn't show
await page.wait_for_timeout(500)
await page.screenshot(path="screenshot-selected.png", full_page=True)

5. Section-specific captures

Crop different sections from a single full-page screenshot:

img.crop((0, 200, 920, 900)).save("screenshot-header.png")
img.crop((0, 900, 920, 1600)).save("screenshot-main.png")

Guidelines

1. Always capture before state BEFORE making any changes — if you forget, you have to revert code to get a before shot
2. Before/after pairs must use the same viewport width and crop — otherwise the comparison is useless
3. To get a "before" after you already changed code: use git checkout HEAD~1 -- <files> to revert, screenshot, then git checkout HEAD -- <files> to restore
4. For interactive states: capture before AND after for each state — don't assume the "normal" before covers all cases
5. Use device_scale_factor=1 in Playwright to force 1x pixels so screenshots match what users see at 100% zoom
6. Charts need extra wait time — Plotly, D3, etc. render asynchronously; 4s minimum after networkidle
7. Narrow viewport reveals rendering bugs — some border/alignment issues only appear at specific widths

Non-Web App Screenshots

For desktop apps (VS, WPF, WinForms, console apps, terminals) where Playwright can't reach.

mss + ctypes (recommended for desktop windows)

Find a window by title via Win32 API, capture its region with mss. Tested at ~33ms per capture.

import ctypes
from ctypes import c_int, Structure, byref, windll
import mss
from PIL import Image

user32 = windll.user32

def find_window(title_contains):
    """Find visible windows matching a title substring."""
    results = []
    WNDENUMPROC = ctypes.WINFUNCTYPE(ctypes.c_bool, ctypes.c_void_p, ctypes.c_void_p)
    def cb(hwnd, _):
        if user32.IsWindowVisible(hwnd):
            buf = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(256)
            user32.GetWindowTextW(hwnd, buf, 256)
            if title_contains.lower() in buf.value.lower():
                results.append((hwnd, buf.value))
        return True
    user32.EnumWindows(WNDENUMPROC(cb), 0)
    return results

def capture_window(title_contains, output_path):
    """Capture a window by title substring."""
    windows = find_window(title_contains)
    if not windows:
        raise ValueError(f"No window matching '{title_contains}'")
    hwnd = windows[0][0]

    class RECT(Structure):
        _fields_ = [('left', c_int), ('top', c_int), ('right', c_int), ('bottom', c_int)]
    rect = RECT()
    user32.GetWindowRect(hwnd, byref(rect))
    w, h = rect.right - rect.left, rect.bottom - rect.top

    with mss.mss() as sct:
        shot = sct.grab({'left': rect.left, 'top': rect.top, 'width': w, 'height': h})
        img = Image.frombytes('RGB', shot.size, shot.rgb)
        img.save(output_path)
        return img

# Usage:
capture_window('Visual Studio Code', 'vscode-capture.png')

Prerequisites: pip install mss pillow Limitation: Window must be visible (not behind other windows or minimized).

Electron apps (VS Code, etc.)

Node.js Playwright only — Python Playwright has no electron API. Captures via CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol), not from the screen — works even while minimized.

const { _electron: electron } = require('playwright');
const app = await electron.launch({
    executablePath: 'C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe',
    args: ['--new-window', '--disable-extensions', '--user-data-dir=' + tmpDir]
});
const window = await app.firstWindow();
await window.waitForLoadState('domcontentloaded');

// Minimize immediately — captures still work via CDP
await app.evaluate(({ BrowserWindow }) => {
    BrowserWindow.getAllWindows()[0].minimize();
});

await window.screenshot({ path: 'capture.png' }); // works while minimized!
await app.close();

Critical: --user-data-dir=<temp> is required or VS Code hands off to the existing instance and the launched process exits immediately.

Decision tree

Scenario	Tool	Notes
Web app (localhost)	Playwright	Proven, full DOM access
Electron app (VS Code)	Playwright Electron (Node.js)	Works minimized via CDP
Desktop app, visible window	mss + ctypes (find by title)	~33ms per capture
Desktop app, behind windows	Windows Graphics Capture API	Complex setup, Win10 1903+
Quick full-screen	mss	~68ms

Limitations

• Web capture requires a locally running app or accessible URL
• Desktop capture (mss) requires the window to be visible and unobstructed
• Electron capture requires Node.js Playwright (not Python)
• Some SPAs with heavy client-side rendering may need custom wait logic beyond networkidle