browser-automationdeveloper-tools

Chrome MCP

hangwin

by hangwin

Chrome extension-based MCP server that exposes browser functionality to AI assistants. Control tabs, capture screenshots

Chrome extension-based MCP server that exposes browser functionality to AI assistants. Control tabs, capture screenshots, extract page content, manage bookmarks, and access browsing history. 10,600+ GitHub stars.

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Both formats append explainx.ai attribution and the canonical URL for this MCP server listing.

Uses your existing Chrome browserWorks with any AI assistant10,600+ GitHub stars

best for

  • / Browser automation without separate tools
  • / AI-assisted web research and content extraction
  • / Automated testing using real browser environment
  • / Web scraping with existing authentication

capabilities

  • / Control Chrome tabs and navigation
  • / Capture page screenshots
  • / Extract webpage content and text
  • / Manage bookmarks and browsing history
  • / Automate browser interactions
  • / Access existing login sessions

what it does

Chrome extension that lets AI assistants control your browser directly - open tabs, take screenshots, extract content, and manage bookmarks using your existing Chrome setup.

about

Chrome MCP is a community-built MCP server published by hangwin that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Chrome extension-based MCP server that exposes browser functionality to AI assistants. Control tabs, capture screenshots It is categorized under browser automation, developer tools.

how to install

You can install Chrome MCP in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.

license

MIT

Chrome MCP is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.

readme

Chrome MCP Server 🚀

Stars License: MIT TypeScript Chrome Extension Release

🌟 Turn your Chrome browser into your intelligent assistant - Let AI take control of your browser, transforming it into a powerful AI-controlled automation tool.

📖 Documentation: English | 中文

The project is still in its early stages and is under intensive development. More features, stability improvements, and other enhancements will follow.


🎯 What is Chrome MCP Server?

Chrome MCP Server is a Chrome extension-based Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes your Chrome browser functionality to AI assistants like Claude, enabling complex browser automation, content analysis, and semantic search. Unlike traditional browser automation tools (like Playwright), Chrome MCP Server directly uses your daily Chrome browser, leveraging existing user habits, configurations, and login states, allowing various large models or chatbots to take control of your browser and truly become your everyday assistant.

✨ New Features(2025/12/30)

  • A New Visual Editor for Claude Code & Codex, for more detail here: VisualEditor

✨ Core Features

  • 😁 Chatbot/Model Agnostic: Let any LLM or chatbot client or agent you prefer automate your browser
  • ⭐️ Use Your Original Browser: Seamlessly integrate with your existing browser environment (your configurations, login states, etc.)
  • 💻 Fully Local: Pure local MCP server ensuring user privacy
  • 🚄 Streamable HTTP: Streamable HTTP connection method
  • 🏎 Cross-Tab: Cross-tab context
  • 🧠 Semantic Search: Built-in vector database for intelligent browser tab content discovery
  • 🔍 Smart Content Analysis: AI-powered text extraction and similarity matching
  • 🌐 20+ Tools: Support for screenshots, network monitoring, interactive operations, bookmark management, browsing history, and 20+ other tools
  • 🚀 SIMD-Accelerated AI: Custom WebAssembly SIMD optimization for 4-8x faster vector operations

🆚 Comparison with Similar Projects

Comparison DimensionPlaywright-based MCP ServerChrome Extension-based MCP Server
Resource Usage❌ Requires launching independent browser process, installing Playwright dependencies, downloading browser binaries, etc.✅ No need to launch independent browser process, directly utilizes user's already open Chrome browser
User Session Reuse❌ Requires re-login✅ Automatically uses existing login state
Browser Environment❌ Clean environment lacks user settings✅ Fully preserves user environment
API Access⚠️ Limited to Playwright API✅ Full access to Chrome native APIs
Startup Speed❌ Requires launching browser process✅ Only needs to activate extension
Response Speed50-200ms inter-process communication✅ Faster

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

  • Node.js >= 20.0.0 and pnpm/npm
  • Chrome/Chromium browser

Installation Steps

  1. Download the latest Chrome extension from GitHub

Download link: https://github.com/hangwin/mcp-chrome/releases

  1. Install mcp-chrome-bridge globally

npm

npm install -g mcp-chrome-bridge

pnpm

# Method 1: Enable scripts globally (recommended)
pnpm config set enable-pre-post-scripts true
pnpm install -g mcp-chrome-bridge

# Method 2: Manual registration (if postinstall doesn't run)
pnpm install -g mcp-chrome-bridge
mcp-chrome-bridge register

Note: pnpm v7+ disables postinstall scripts by default for security. The enable-pre-post-scripts setting controls whether pre/post install scripts run. If automatic registration fails, use the manual registration command above.

  1. Load Chrome Extension
    • Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions/
    • Enable "Developer mode"
    • Click "Load unpacked" and select your/dowloaded/extension/folder
    • Click the extension icon to open the plugin, then click connect to see the MCP configuration <img width="475" alt="Screenshot 2025-06-09 15 52 06" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/241e57b8-c55f-41a4-9188-0367293dc5bc" />

Usage with MCP Protocol Clients

Using Streamable HTTP Connection (👍🏻 Recommended)

Add the following configuration to your MCP client configuration (using CherryStudio as an example):

Streamable HTTP connection method is recommended

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-mcp-server": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:12306/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Using STDIO Connection (Alternative)

If your client only supports stdio connection method, please use the following approach:

  1. First, check the installation location of the npm package you just installed
# npm check method
npm list -g mcp-chrome-bridge
# pnpm check method
pnpm list -g mcp-chrome-bridge

Assuming the command above outputs the path: /Users/xxx/Library/pnpm/global/5 Then your final path would be: /Users/xxx/Library/pnpm/global/5/node_modules/mcp-chrome-bridge/dist/mcp/mcp-server-stdio.js

  1. Replace the configuration below with the final path you just obtained
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-mcp-stdio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "node",
        "/Users/xxx/Library/pnpm/global/5/node_modules/mcp-chrome-bridge/dist/mcp/mcp-server-stdio.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

eg:config in augment:

<img width="494" alt="截屏2025-06-22 22 11 25" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/48eefc0c-a257-4d3b-8bbe-d7ff716de2bf" />

🛠️ Available Tools

Complete tool list: Complete Tool List

<details> <summary><strong>📊 Browser Management (6 tools)</strong></summary>
  • get_windows_and_tabs - List all browser windows and tabs
  • chrome_navigate - Navigate to URLs and control viewport
  • chrome_switch_tab - Switch the current active tab
  • chrome_close_tabs - Close specific tabs or windows
  • chrome_go_back_or_forward - Browser navigation control
  • chrome_inject_script - Inject content scripts into web pages
  • chrome_send_command_to_inject_script - Send commands to injected content scripts
</details> <details> <summary><strong>📸 Screenshots & Visual (1 tool)</strong></summary>
  • chrome_screenshot - Advanced screenshot capture with element targeting, full-page support, and custom dimensions
</details> <details> <summary><strong>🌐 Network Monitoring (4 tools)</strong></summary>
  • chrome_network_capture_start/stop - webRequest API network capture
  • chrome_network_debugger_start/stop - Debugger API with response bodies
  • chrome_network_request - Send custom HTTP requests
</details> <details> <summary><strong>🔍 Content Analysis (4 tools)</strong></summary>
  • search_tabs_content - AI-powered semantic search across browser tabs
  • chrome_get_web_content - Extract HTML/text content from pages
  • chrome_get_interactive_elements - Find clickable elements
  • chrome_console - Capture and retrieve console output from browser tabs
</details> <details> <summary><strong>🎯 Interaction (3 tools)</strong></summary>
  • chrome_click_element - Click elements using CSS selectors
  • chrome_fill_or_select - Fill forms and select options
  • chrome_keyboard - Simulate keyboard input and shortcuts
</details> <details> <summary><strong>📚 Data Management (5 tools)</strong></summary>
  • chrome_history - Search browser history with time filters
  • chrome_bookmark_search - Find bookmarks by keywords
  • chrome_bookmark_add - Add new bookmarks with folder support
  • chrome_bookmark_delete - Delete bookmarks
</details>

🧪 Usage Examples

AI helps you summarize webpage content and automatically control Excalidraw for drawing

prompt: excalidraw-prompt Instruction: Help me summarize the current page content, then draw a diagram to aid my understanding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fBPdUBWVz0

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fd17209b-303d-48db-9e5e-3717141df183

After analyzing the content of the image, the LLM automatically controls Excalidraw to replicate the image

prompt: excalidraw-prompt|[content-analize](promp


FAQ

What is the Chrome MCP MCP server?
Chrome MCP is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server profile on explainx.ai. MCP lets AI hosts (e.g. Claude Desktop, Cursor) call tools and resources through a standard interface; this page summarizes categories, install hints, and community ratings.
How do MCP servers relate to agent skills?
Skills are reusable instruction packages (often SKILL.md); MCP servers expose live capabilities. Teams frequently combine both—skills for workflows, MCP for APIs and data. See explainx.ai/skills and explainx.ai/mcp-servers for parallel directories.
How are reviews shown for Chrome MCP?
This profile displays 36 aggregated ratings (sample rows for discoverability plus signed-in user reviews). Average score is about 4.6 out of 5—verify behavior in your own environment before production use.

Use Cases

Web Research & Information Gathering

Fetch and extract information from websites automatically

Example

Research competitor pricing, scrape product reviews, monitor news mentions

Automate 5-10 hours/week of manual web research

Content Monitoring & Alerts

Track website changes, new content, price updates

Example

Monitor competitor blog for new posts, track stock availability, watch for pricing changes

Stay informed without manual checking, never miss important updates

Data Extraction & Aggregation

Extract structured data from multiple websites

Example

Compile product listings from 10 e-commerce sites, aggregate job postings, collect real estate data

Build datasets 100x faster than manual copying

API-less Integration

Interact with services that don't offer APIs

Example

Check form submissions, validate website functionality, test user flows

Automate interactions with any website, even without API

Implementation Guide

Prerequisites

  • Claude Desktop or Cursor with MCP support
  • Understanding of web scraping ethics and robots.txt
  • Rate limiting awareness to avoid overwhelming target sites
  • Knowledge of legal restrictions on data collection

Time Estimate

20-40 minutes including configuration and testing

Installation Steps

  1. 1.Install web automation MCP server via npm or pip
  2. 2.Configure allowed domains and rate limits in MCP config
  3. 3.Test with simple fetch: 'Get content from example.com'
  4. 4.Progress to extraction: 'Extract all product prices from this page'
  5. 5.Set up monitoring: 'Check this URL daily for changes'
  6. 6.Parse structured data: 'Create CSV from this table'
  7. 7.Respect robots.txt and rate limits always

Troubleshooting

  • 403 Forbidden: Website blocks bots—respect their wishes, use official API instead
  • Rate limit errors: Slow down requests, add delays between fetches
  • Stale data: Target site changed HTML structure—update selectors
  • Timeout errors: Site is slow or blocking—increase timeout, try different user agent
  • JavaScript-rendered content: Use headless browser MCP servers for dynamic sites

Best Practices

✓ Do

  • +Check robots.txt and respect crawl rules
  • +Rate limit requests: 1-2 requests/second maximum
  • +Use official APIs when available instead of scraping
  • +Identify your bot with descriptive user agent
  • +Cache results to minimize repeated requests
  • +Handle errors gracefully with retries and fallbacks
  • +Validate extracted data for accuracy

✗ Don't

  • Don't scrape sites that explicitly forbid it (robots.txt, ToS)
  • Don't overwhelm servers with rapid requests—use rate limiting
  • Don't scrape personal data without consent and legal basis
  • Don't ignore copyright on extracted content
  • Don't assume HTML structure is stable—handle changes
  • Don't use scraped data for commercial purposes without permission

💡 Pro Tips

  • Use CSS selectors or XPath for robust data extraction
  • Set up monitoring alerts for extraction failures (structure changed)
  • Implement exponential backoff for retries on failures
  • Store raw HTML for reprocessing if extraction logic changes
  • Combine with data analysis tools for insights from extracted data
  • Consider using official APIs or RSS feeds as more stable alternatives

Technical Details

Architecture

MCP server handles HTTP requests, HTML parsing, JavaScript rendering (if headless browser), and returns structured data to Claude.

Protocols

  • HTTP/HTTPS
  • WebSocket (for real-time sites)
  • Puppeteer/Playwright (for JavaScript sites)

Compatibility

  • Static HTML sites
  • JavaScript-rendered SPAs (with headless browser)
  • REST APIs
  • GraphQL endpoints

When to Use This

✓ Use When

Use for research automation, content monitoring, data aggregation from multiple sources, and when official APIs don't exist. Best for read-only information gathering.

✗ Avoid When

Avoid for sites with APIs (use API instead), sites that explicitly forbid scraping, when data is copyrighted, or for login-required content without proper authorization.

Integration

  • Scheduled monitoring with change detection
  • Multi-source data aggregation pipelines
  • Fallback to web scraping when API rate limits hit
  • Headless browser for JavaScript-heavy sites

Discussion

Product Hunt–style comments (not star reviews)
  • No comments yet — start the thread.

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Ratings

4.636 reviews
  • Evelyn White· Dec 8, 2024

    We evaluated Chrome MCP against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.

  • Diya Li· Nov 11, 2024

    According to our notes, Chrome MCP benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.

  • Ira Chawla· Oct 2, 2024

    Chrome MCP has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.

  • Yash Thakker· Sep 21, 2024

    Useful MCP listing: Chrome MCP is the kind of server we cite when onboarding engineers to host + tool permissions.

  • James Sharma· Sep 21, 2024

    Strong directory entry: Chrome MCP surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.

  • Michael Martinez· Sep 13, 2024

    Chrome MCP reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.

  • Lucas Johnson· Sep 5, 2024

    Useful MCP listing: Chrome MCP is the kind of server we cite when onboarding engineers to host + tool permissions.

  • Diego Gonzalez· Aug 24, 2024

    Chrome MCP reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.

  • Dhruvi Jain· Aug 12, 2024

    Chrome MCP reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.

  • Diya Sharma· Aug 12, 2024

    I recommend Chrome MCP for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.

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