How to capture screenshots of authenticated pages (login-required content)

Need to screenshot a dashboard, financial report, or paywalled page? The challenge is that Puppeteer and most screenshot APIs can't handle login flows — they need cookies, session management, or the ability to fill forms programmatically.

PageBolt's run_sequence endpoint solves this. It lets you automate a multi-step browser workflow: navigate → login → capture. All in one request.

The problem

Your dashboard is behind a login wall. You want to:

• Generate usage reports with screenshots
• Test that protected pages render correctly
• Capture analytics dashboards for reports
• Visually verify paywalled content

Most screenshot APIs fail here because they don't support form filling or session persistence.

The solution: PageBolt sequences

The run_sequence endpoint executes a series of browser actions in a single session, maintaining cookies and auth state between steps.

Code example

const PAGEBOLT_API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY';

async function captureAuthenticatedPage() {
  const response = await fetch('https://pagebolt.dev/api/v1/run_sequence', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'x-api-key': PAGEBOLT_API_KEY,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      steps: [
        {
          action: 'navigate',
          url: 'https://app.example.com/login'
        },
        {
          action: 'fill',
          selector: 'input[name="email"]',
          value: 'user@example.com'
        },
        {
          action: 'fill',
          selector: 'input[name="password"]',
          value: 'secure_password_123'
        },
        {
          action: 'click',
          selector: 'button[type="submit"]'
        },
        {
          action: 'wait',
          ms: 2000
        },
        {
          action: 'navigate',
          url: 'https://app.example.com/dashboard'
        },
        {
          action: 'screenshot',
          name: 'dashboard',
          fullPage: true
        }
      ]
    })
  });

  const result = await response.json();
  console.log('Screenshot captured:', result.outputs[0].screenshot);
}

captureAuthenticatedPage();

What's happening

1. Navigate to login — Browser lands on your login page
2. Fill credentials — CSS selectors target email/password inputs, values are entered
3. Submit form — Click the login button
4. Wait for redirect — Pause 2 seconds for auth to complete and page to load
5. Navigate to target page — Go to the dashboard or report URL
6. Capture screenshot — PageBolt returns the full-page screenshot as base64 or file

The entire session persists — cookies set during login remain active through the final screenshot.

Real-world use cases

Usage reports: Capture your Stripe dashboard or product analytics weekly and email them as PDFs.

// After running sequence and getting screenshot:
const pdfResponse = await fetch('https://pagebolt.dev/api/v1/pdf', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'x-api-key': PAGEBOLT_API_KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    html: `<img src="${screenshotDataUri}" width="100%" />`,
    format: 'A4'
  })
});

Visual regression testing: Screenshot authenticated pages in your CI/CD to detect layout breaks on protected pages.

Snapshot reports: Auto-generate visual snapshots of client dashboards for quarterly business reviews.

Pro tips

• Use environment variables for credentials — never hardcode passwords
• Add waits strategically — After form submission, wait 2–3 seconds for the page to load
• Test selectors locally — Use browser DevTools to find the correct input[name="..."] selectors before building your sequence
• Handle multi-step auth — If your app has 2FA, use additional fill steps for the OTP
• Reuse sessions — Multiple screenshots in one sequence share the same auth context, so you can capture 5 pages with one login

Rate limits & costs

Each run_sequence call costs 1 API request per screenshot output. Login sequences complete in 3–5 seconds total, so you can batch dozens of authenticated page captures efficiently.

Try it free — 100 requests/month, no credit card. Get started →