Quickstart

1. Install the SDK

pip install tzafon

npm install @tzafon/lightcone

2. Get your API key

Sign up at lightcone.ai and copy your API key from the dashboard.

Set it as an environment variable:

export TZAFON_API_KEY=sk_your_api_key_here

Add this to your .env file so it persists across terminal sessions.

3. Create a browser and take a screenshot

quickstart.py

from tzafon import Lightcone

client = Lightcone()

with client.computer.create(kind="browser") as computer:
    computer.navigate("https://wikipedia.org")
    computer.wait(2)

    result = computer.screenshot()
    print(computer.get_screenshot_url(result))
    # The session terminates automatically when the block exits

quickstart.ts

import Lightcone from "@tzafon/lightcone";

const client = new Lightcone();
const computer = await client.computers.create({ kind: "browser" });

await client.computers.navigate(computer.id!, { url: "https://wikipedia.org" });

const result = await client.computers.screenshot(computer.id!);
console.log(result.result?.screenshot_url);

await client.computers.delete(computer.id!);

The TypeScript SDK returns optional types for fields like id. The non-null assertion (!) is safe here because id is always present after successful creation. You’ll see this pattern throughout the TypeScript examples.

The Python SDK has a high-level client.computer.create() wrapper with automatic cleanup via with. The TypeScript SDK also has a high-level ComputerSession class with the same convenience methods — see the Computers page for details. The examples in these docs use the lower-level client.computers resource for explicitness.

Run it:

python your_script.py

npx tsx your_script.ts

You should see a screenshot URL printed to the console. Open it in your browser to see the captured page.

The output looks something like:

https://screenshots.tzafon.ai/abc123-def456.png

What just happened?

1. Created a sandboxed Chromium browser session in the cloud
2. Navigated to Wikipedia
3. Captured a screenshot and got back a URL
4. Terminated the session (automatically in Python, explicitly in TypeScript)

The whole process takes about 3–5 seconds.

Customize the session

You can configure the session when you create it:

with client.computer.create(
    kind="browser",
    timeout_seconds=3600,
    inactivity_timeout_seconds=120,
    display={"width": 1280, "height": 720, "scale": 1.0},
) as computer:
    # ...

const computer = await client.computers.create({
  kind: "browser",
  timeout_seconds: 3600,
  inactivity_timeout_seconds: 120,
  display: { width: 1280, height: 720, scale: 1.0 },
});

Parameter	Description
kind	"browser" for web automation, "desktop" for full Linux desktop
timeout_seconds	Maximum session lifetime (default: plan-dependent)
inactivity_timeout_seconds	Idle timeout before auto-termination (default: plan-dependent)
display	Viewport dimensions and scale factor
persistent	Save cookies/storage for reuse across sessions (default: false)
use_advanced_proxy	Route through residential proxy for stealth (default: false)

Next steps

• Computers — understand sessions, lifecycle, and all available actions
• Automate a browser — end-to-end browser automation walkthrough
• Run an agent — let AI complete tasks autonomously
• How Lightcone works — architecture and the three API layers