---
title: "How to Screenshot a Twitter Embed"
description: "Capture a live Twitter or X embed as a PNG using the HTML API. Code, ms_delay timing and the caching pitfalls."
url: "https://html2img.com/docs/examples/twitter-embed/"
---
# How to Screenshot a Twitter Embed via API
Render a Twitter (X) embed as a PNG using the HTML to Image HTML endpoint. Useful for newsletters, blog inserts and archives where the live embed cannot run.
> **Note**
>
> If you want a pre-built version of this, use the [Tweet mockup card template](https://html2img.com/templates/tweet-mockup-card/) or the [Twitter post template](https://html2img.com/templates/twitter-post/) and skip the embed widget entirely. Send the username, handle, body and timestamp as JSON. To build one in your browser, open the [Twitter card tool](https://html2img.com/tools/twitter-card/).
## HTML and CSS
```html
```
```css
body { margin: 0; padding: 16px; background: white; }
.twitter-tweet { margin: 0 !important; }
```
## ms_delay
Add a 1 second delay so the embed widget has time to render before capture. The Twitter widget script does not expose a stable selector, so [ms_delay](https://html2img.com/docs/parameters/ms_delay/) is the right tool here. See also [wait_for_selector](https://html2img.com/docs/parameters/wait_for_selector/) for cases where you control the markup.
## Code examples
### cURL
```bash
curl -X POST https://app.html2img.com/api/html \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"html": "",
"css": "body { margin: 0; padding: 16px; background: white; } .twitter-tweet { margin: 0 !important; }",
"width": 550,
"height": 321,
"ms_delay": 1000
}'
```
### PHP
```php
$response = file_get_contents('https://app.html2img.com/api/html', false, stream_context_create([
'http' => [
'method' => 'POST',
'header' => "X-API-Key: " . getenv('HTML2IMG_API_KEY') . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json\r\n",
'content' => json_encode([
'html' => '',
'css' => 'body { margin: 0; padding: 16px; background: white; } .twitter-tweet { margin: 0 !important; }',
'width' => 550,
'height' => 321,
'ms_delay' => 1000,
]),
],
]));
$url = json_decode($response, true)['url'];
```
### Node.js
```javascript
const response = await fetch('https://app.html2img.com/api/html', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'X-API-Key': process.env.HTML2IMG_API_KEY,
'Content-Type': 'application/json',
},
body: JSON.stringify({
html: '',
css: 'body { margin: 0; padding: 16px; background: white; } .twitter-tweet { margin: 0 !important; }',
width: 550,
height: 321,
ms_delay: 1000,
}),
});
const { url } = await response.json();
```
### Python
```python
import os
import requests
response = requests.post(
'https://app.html2img.com/api/html',
headers={'X-API-Key': os.environ['HTML2IMG_API_KEY']},
json={
'html': '',
'css': 'body { margin: 0; padding: 16px; background: white; } .twitter-tweet { margin: 0 !important; }',
'width': 550,
'height': 321,
'ms_delay': 1000,
},
)
url = response.json()['url']
```
## How it works
1. We use Twitter's official embed code to render the tweet.
2. The CSS sets a white background and clears the default margin.
3. The API request includes both HTML and CSS plus an `ms_delay` of 1 second.
4. A fixed `width` of 550 matches Twitter's preferred embed width.
## Common pitfalls
- **Embed widget never loads.** Twitter's widget script can be blocked by ad blockers or rate limited. Use the [Tweet Mockup Card template](https://html2img.com/templates/tweet-mockup-card/) for stable, reproducible output.
- **Tweet is from a private or deleted account.** The widget renders an empty box. Verify the URL is publicly accessible before rendering.
- **`ms_delay` is too short.** A flaky network can push the widget past 1 second. Bump to 2000ms if your renders fail intermittently.
## See also
- [JavaScript integration guide](https://html2img.com/integrations/javascript/)
- [PHP integration guide](https://html2img.com/integrations/php/)
- [css parameter](https://html2img.com/docs/parameters/css/), [ms_delay parameter](https://html2img.com/docs/parameters/ms_delay/)