A screenshot often explains a bug faster than a paragraph of text. GitHub gives you a couple of ways to add one to an issue, pull request, or README, and knowing both saves time when one fails.
Method 1 — drag and drop
In an issue or PR comment box, you can drag an image file directly into the text area, or paste it from your clipboard. GitHub uploads it and inserts the Markdown for you. This is the quickest option for one-off comments.
Method 2 — use a direct image link
Drag-and-drop does not work everywhere — for example in a committed README.md, in some Markdown editors, or when you want to reuse the same image across several places. In those cases, host the image and reference it by URL:
- Open the upload-image-get-link tool and add your screenshot.
- Copy the direct image link.
- Embed it with
in the README or comment.
Tips for good issue screenshots
- Crop to what matters — the error message, the broken layout, the console output.
- Annotate — an arrow or box makes the problem obvious. The browser extension can do this before upload.
- Add alt text — describe the image so it is useful even if it fails to load.
For committed docs, the direct-link method is more robust because the image lives at a stable URL rather than inside a single comment.