--- title: Screenshots of the pages a piece is about created: 2026-09-25T12:05:00Z priority: medium type: task owner: build.desk source: admin/inbox/2026-09-25__notes-from-the-flight.md parent: 001-reading-experience estimated_effort: medium done: 2026-09-25 --- # Screenshots of the pages a piece is about Walls of text: pieces that talk about a page should show it. A build-time step (Playwright, outside the standard-library build; committed webp files under `assets/shots/`) captures the live page of each source a piece cites, and the piece shows a thumbnail with the target site's branding, linking to the local copy. Plan: `tools/screenshots.js` reads data/index.json for the pages cited by desk files, captures at 1280 wide, writes `assets/shots//.webp` plus a manifest with the capture time; the build shows them where the `[shot: ]` marker appears, or automatically in the byline block for the first two sources. ## Done Shipped in v0.1.12. `tools/screenshots.js` reads the `sources:` front matter of stories, editions, signals, history, maps and briefings (or `data/index.json` with `--all`), captures at 1200x750 as jpeg (webp is not a Playwright screenshot type) into `assets/shots//.jpg`, and saves `manifest.json` after every page. The build shows the strip under a piece's byline for every source that has a capture, linking to the local copy. No `[shot:]` marker was needed.