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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/osctorand/lightshotscrape/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Prerequisites

Before installing Lightshot Scrape, ensure you have the following installed:
1

Python 3.x

Download and install Python 3.x from python.org
2

pip package manager

pip is included with Python 3.4+. Verify installation:
pip --version

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Python CLI installation

The Python CLI is the core component and is required for both standalone use and the Windows GUI.
1

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/osctorand/lightshotscrape.git
cd lightshotscrape
2

Create a virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv .venv
Activate the virtual environment:
.venv\Scripts\activate
3

Install dependencies

Install the required Python packages:
pip install requests beautifulsoup4 cloudscraper
These packages provide:
  • requests - HTTP library for making web requests
  • beautifulsoup4 - HTML parsing and scraping
  • cloudscraper - Cloudflare bypass functionality
4

Verify installation

Test the installation by running:
python lightshotscrape/singleImage.py

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Windows GUI installation

The Windows GUI provides a desktop interface for the Python scraper. It requires the Python CLI to be installed first.
The Windows GUI only works on Windows and requires .NET 8.0 or later.
1

Install .NET 8.0 SDK

Download and install the .NET 8.0 SDK for Windows
2

Complete Python CLI installation

Follow all steps in the Python CLI installation section above, ensuring you create a virtual environment at .venv in the project root
3

Build the GUI application

Navigate to the GUI directory and build:
cd lightshotscrape-gui
dotnet build
4

Run the application

dotnet run
Or run the built executable from:
lightshotscrape-gui/bin/Debug/net8.0-windows/lightshotscrape-gui.exe

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Dependency details

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Python dependencies

The Python CLI requires the following packages:
PackagePurposeImport in code
requestsHTTP requestsimport requests
beautifulsoup4HTML parsingfrom bs4 import BeautifulSoup
cloudscraperCloudflare bypassimport cloudscraper
Install all at once: 
pip install requests beautifulsoup4 cloudscraper

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.NET dependencies

The Windows GUI uses:
  • .NET 8.0 Windows (net8.0-windows)
  • Windows Forms - Built-in UI framework
  • System.Diagnostics - For process management
The GUI launches Python scripts using the virtual environment’s Python executable: 
process.StartInfo.FileName = rootdir + "\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe";
process.StartInfo.Arguments = rootdir + "\\lightshotscrape\\singleImage.py ";

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Troubleshooting

The Windows GUI expects a virtual environment at .venv in the project root. Ensure you create it there:
python -m venv .venv
Activate your virtual environment and reinstall dependencies:
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install requests beautifulsoup4 cloudscraper
The GUI uses relative paths from the project root. Ensure your directory structure is:
project-root/
├── .venv/
├── lightshotscrape/
│   └── singleImage.py
└── lightshotscrape-gui/
    └── Form1.cs

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Next steps

Usage guide

Learn how to use the CLI and GUI to scrape images

Configuration

Configure save paths and scraping modes

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