Code Screenshot Generator

Code screenshots show up everywhere — pull request descriptions, blog posts, conference slides, Twitter threads, internal incident retros. A bad code screenshot (low contrast, wrong syntax color, cropped lines, default OS chrome) costs the reader real effort. A good one is instantly readable and looks like the project's brand. This tool produces the latter.

What makes a good code image

• Sufficient contrast. Text needs at least 4.5:1 contrast against the background to read on retina screens at small sizes.
• Right syntax theme. Light themes work better in formal documents; dark themes work better on Twitter and dark-mode docs.
• Readable line length. Aim for 60–80 characters wide. Longer lines either wrap (ugly) or get cut off (worse).
• Padding. Don't crop right to the text edge. Leave 24–32 pixels of breathing room.
• No Mac chrome unless intentional. The fake "traffic light" buttons can imply this is a screenshot of a real terminal — sometimes you want that, often you don't.

When to use code screenshots vs. text blocks

For docs and blog posts, prefer real <pre> code blocks — they're searchable, copyable, and accessible. Use screenshots for:

• Social posts where the platform won't render code well (Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack previews).
• Slides where you want a single self-contained image asset.
• Comparisons where you need before/after side-by-side and the formatting matters visually.
• Portfolio pieces or case studies where polish trumps copy-paste.

Common pitfalls

• Embedding secrets. Tokens, JWTs, internal URLs sometimes survive the screenshot. Always blur or redact before publishing.
• Wrong language detection. Most highlighters guess based on first line. If the highlighting looks off, manually pick the language.
• Tiny export resolution. A 1024×512 image gets pixelated on retina. Export at 2x or higher.
• Screenshots of screenshots. Re-encoding compresses text further. Always work from the source.

Why client-side rendering matters

This tool builds the image in your browser using HTML2Canvas — your code never reaches our servers. That's important when the snippet you're sharing comes from a private repo, contains stack traces from production, or includes internal class names you'd rather not have logged anywhere. For deeper guidance on safe code-sharing, see why pasting code into chat tools is risky.

Frequently Asked Questions