Set up HCTI in Zed

Capture a webpage or turn HTML/CSS into a PNG, WebP, or PDF with HTML/CSS to Image.

You’ll need: an HCTI account with image credits. Sign in through your browser when connecting—no API key to copy.

1. Open Settings → AI → MCP Servers.
2. Select Add Server → Add Remote Server.
3. Enter https://mcp.hcti.io as the URL and name the server hcti.
4. Complete the OAuth prompt in your browser.

Alternatively, merge this entry into your Zed settings file, available through zed: open settings file:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "hcti": {
      "url": "https://mcp.hcti.io"
    }
  }
}

Leave authentication headers unset so Zed can use OAuth. Check for the Server is active indicator, then open the Agent Panel and ask “Use HCTI to check my image usage and account limits”. This remote connection does not need a local mcp-remote process. See Zed’s MCP guide.

Send this prompt after connecting:

Use HTML/CSS to Image to screenshot https://example.com as a PNG.
Set viewport_width to 1440 and device_scale to 1. Return the image URL.

Open the returned image URL to view your screenshot. Replace https://example.com with your own public URL.

Try a small card with explicit text, colors, and dimensions:

Use HCTI to render this HTML and CSS as a PNG at device_scale 1.
HTML: <div class="card">Hello from HCTI</div>
CSS: .card { width: 1200px; height: 630px; display: flex;
align-items: center; justify-content: center; background: #172554;
color: white; font: 64px sans-serif; }
Return the hosted image URL.

The result is a dark blue card with centered white text. Edit the text or CSS and render again to refine it.

Include your HTML and CSS files in the Agent Panel context, then ask:

Read the attached HTML and CSS. Make the markup self-contained, render it as a PNG with HCTI at device_scale 1, and return the image URL.

Zed supplies the file content to the assistant, which sends the rendering input to HCTI. A local file path or localhost URL alone is not enough for the hosted renderer.

Available tools

These core tools work across MCP clients. Access depends on the permissions approved for your connection. Ask your assistant to use HCTI by name.

Account usage

Screenshots and rendering

Template management

See rendering parameters and the Template Editor for image options and reusable designs. The complete tools reference also covers proxies, storage destinations, Open Graph configurations, and required permissions.

For a permission-denied error, reconnect and approve the required access before retrying. Usage checks and maximum batch-size checks require usage:read.

Check the status indicator in Settings → AI → MCP Servers. If the server is active but tools are missing from the conversation, check the Agent Panel profile and enable the HCTI tools. Mention HCTI explicitly in your prompt.

HCTI fetches webpages from its hosted service. Use a publicly accessible URL; it cannot reach your computer’s localhost. For HTML/CSS rendering, supply the file contents and accessible assets rather than local file paths. Check your HCTI dashboard for available image credits.

See shared MCP troubleshooting for authentication and rendering errors, or choose another client.