Chalk.ist

Chalk.ist turns a snippet of source code into a finished image. It removes the usual routine of screenshotting an editor window, which drags in whatever theme, sidebar and clutter happened to be on screen and returns a picture at whatever resolution the display was set to.

Everything happens in the browser. Code is typed or pasted into a live editor, highlighted as it goes, and every layer around it is adjustable while the result updates in front of you. The finished frame downloads as a PNG.

The controls cover both the code and the composition around it.

• Color themes: a theme picker sets the syntax colors, and a custom theme can be edited by hand.
• Typography: font family, ligatures, size and line height are all adjustable.
• Line detail: line numbers and line decorations mark up the part of the snippet that matters.
• Backdrops: dozens of solid and gradient backgrounds sit behind the window, with optional noise and particles.
• Window styling: opacity, rounding, controls, shadows, highlights and reflection shape the frame around the code.
• Presets: a finished configuration is saved and reapplied instead of rebuilt each time.

Nothing needs installing to use it, and a social badge or watermark can be switched on before export. The source is a small web project that runs locally with pnpm and a dev server, released under the MIT license by Kasper Mikiewicz, so a team that wants house themes can fork it and host its own version.