Exit Codes
Every run exits with one of the codes below. Nonzero exits print a description of the failure to stderr.
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Success. Informational flags such as --help and --version also exit 0. |
| 1 | Unknown or internal error not covered by a more specific code. |
| 2 | The render exceeded its process timeout, or the command line failed to parse: an unknown flag or an invalid value. |
| 3 | Arguments rejected by ZShot’s own validation, including flags that require a higher license tier. |
| 4 | Interrupted by SIGINT or SIGTERM. |
| 5 | Environment setup failed: CEF startup, display, proxy configuration, a refused --chromium-preference, loading a blocklist or adblock list, or a --web-bot-auth key URL that cannot be fetched or holds no usable key. |
| 6 | The page rendered but encoding the output failed. |
| 7 | The page failed to load. |
| 8 | Access disallowed by the site’s robots.txt. |
| 9 | LLM navigation with --navigate did not achieve its goal. |
| 11 | The primary output was written, but a HAR, WARC, or network-log output failed to write. |
| 12 | The render succeeded but streaming the payload to stdout with -f - failed. |
| 13 | A captured resource body could not be spilled to disk. The request is cancelled rather than producing a partial archive. |
| 14 | A credential helper failed: not found or changed since startup, non-zero exit, timeout, or a bad HTTP response. The message names the credential and the reason. |
| 15 | A URL-backed navigator file could not be fetched: a bad HTTP status, timeout, size limit, blocked address, or empty body. The message names the file and the reason. |
| 16 | The page is a PDF, which ZShot renders only as download, warc, wacz or har. A navigator session that reaches a PDF ends with it. |
In --server mode these codes apply to server startup; failures of
individual render requests are reported in the HTTP response instead.