# Local Inputs

Source: https://zshot-cli.com/reference/inputs/
Markdown: https://zshot-cli.com/reference/inputs/index.md
Section: [Reference](https://zshot-cli.com/reference/)

Besides `http(s)` URLs, ZShot renders content you provide directly:

- **`data:` URIs** — `data:text/html;base64,…` or percent-encoded, up to 10MB. Also accepted by the HTTP API's `url` parameter.
- **File paths** — a path to a local file.
- **Stdin** — pass `-` as the URL and pipe content in.

## Input MIME type

The browser picks a local file's type from its extension. Known extensions keep their registry type, and unknown extensions — component files like `.astro`, or files with no extension — are treated as `text/html`, so an HTML snippet renders as markup rather than a source listing. [`--input-mimetype`](/reference/flags/common/input-mimetype) declares the type explicitly for file and stdin input when the extension is misleading:

```sh
zshot card.astro -f card.md                        # unknown extension: rendered as HTML
zshot notes.html --input-mimetype text/plain -f notes.png   # shown as source text
```

A `data:` URI's declared type routes the same way: `data:image/png;base64,…` renders as an image, and an unrecognized or absent type renders as HTML.

## Snippet normalization

Local HTML content without a doctype is prepended with `<!DOCTYPE html><meta charset="utf-8">` before rendering, so a bare snippet like `<div>hi</div>` renders in standards mode with UTF-8 text. Content that carries any doctype loads byte-for-byte as given, as does all network content.

Details:

- The meta charset is skipped when the content declares its own charset, or when a non-UTF-8 charset is declared via a `data:` URI `;charset=` or `--input-mimetype`.
- A file rendered away from its original path gets a `<base href>` pointing at the file's directory, so relative images and stylesheets keep resolving.
- Non-UTF-8 local content is left untouched.

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  - [LLM Connections](https://zshot-cli.com/reference/llm_connections/)
  - [LLM Formatting](https://zshot-cli.com/reference/llm_formatting/)
  - **Local Inputs**
  - [Navigator](https://zshot-cli.com/reference/navigator/)
  - [Security](https://zshot-cli.com/reference/security/)
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Site index: https://zshot-cli.com/llms.txt