Carbon Screenshots CLI

Carbon

Carbon is a tool for generating screenshots of code. It allows for quite a bit of customization and sharing that customization is achieved by exporting your config settings. Once you have that config file you can use it with the Carbon Now CLI to easily create code screenshots that consistently follow your configuration.

Download settings

Once you've finished customizing your settings in the browser, click the gear wheel > Misc > Export config and save the file.

Store your settings

When you use the Carbon Now CLI for the first time it will create a file at ~/carbon-now.json. If that file doesn't exist you can safely create it now. In that JSON file add a key, calling it whatever you like. You'll later use this name in the CLI command. As the value for that key, enter the settings you previously downloaded. You can have multiple config settings and call them individually.

Here's an example config that I use.

Use the CLI with your preset

Documentation. After you've installed the package:

npm i -g carbon-now-cli

You can run a command like the following:

# carbon-now [path to file] -p [preset name] -l [path to save images]

carbon-now dashboard/dashboard.component.html -p material -l ~/Desktop/images

Why

The web interface works great, there are plugins for editors like VSCode, an npx command, and an interactive mode in the CLI. However, I like being able to consistently and easily use the same settings anytime I need to generate an image. This way also makes it easy to save and version control multiple settings and share these settings with the community or other team members if we're trying to be consistent on a project or article.