Playwright MCP server

MCP Server Playwright is a powerful Model Context Protocol server that gives large language models the ability to control web browsers. It provides capabilities for browser automation, allowing AI systems to navigate websites, capture screenshots, interact with web elements, and execute JavaScript in a real browser environment.

Installation Options

Via Smithery

The simplest way to install MCP Server Playwright for Claude Desktop:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @automatalabs/mcp-server-playwright --client claude

Using npx

You can install the package directly:

npx @automatalabs/mcp-server-playwright install

This command will:

• Check your operating system compatibility
• Create or update the Claude configuration file
• Configure the Playwright server integration

Using mcp-get

Alternative installation method:

npx @michaellatman/mcp-get@latest install @automatalabs/mcp-server-playwright

Configuration

The installation process automatically adds configuration to your Claude config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@automatalabs/mcp-server-playwright"]
    }
  }
}

The configuration file is located at:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Setting Up with Cursor

To use MCP Server Playwright with Cursor:

1. Install Playwright browsers if needed:

   npx playwright install
   

2. Install for Cursor:

   npx -y @smithery/cli install @automatalabs/mcp-server-playwright --client cursor
   

3. If the configuration file isn't created automatically:

   • On Windows, create a folder named Claude in %APPDATA%
   • Create claude_desktop_config.json with:

   {
     "serverPort": 3456
   }
   

4. Complete the remaining installation steps as described above

Available Tools

Navigation

browser_navigate

Navigate to any URL:

{
  "url": "https://stealthbrowser.cloud"
}

Screenshots

browser_screenshot

Capture screenshots:

{
  "name": "screenshot-name",     // required
  "selector": "#element-id",     // optional
  "fullPage": true              // optional, default: false
}

Interaction

browser_click

Click elements using CSS selector:

{
  "selector": "#button-id"
}

browser_click_text

Click elements by text content:

{
  "text": "Click me"
}

browser_hover

Hover over elements:

{
  "selector": "#menu-item"
}

browser_hover_text

Hover over elements by text:

{
  "text": "Hover me"
}

browser_fill

Fill out form fields:

{
  "selector": "#input-field",
  "value": "Hello World"
}

browser_select

Select dropdown options:

{
  "selector": "#dropdown",
  "value": "option-value"
}

browser_select_text

Select dropdown options by text:

{
  "text": "Choose me",
  "value": "option-value"
}

JavaScript Execution

browser_evaluate

Run JavaScript in browser context:

{
  "script": "document.title"
}

Accessing Resources

Console Logs

Access browser console output using the resource identifier:

• console://logs

Screenshots

Access captured screenshots as PNG images:

• screenshot://<name>
• Reference by the name specified during capture

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "playwright" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@automatalabs/mcp-server-playwright"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "playwright": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@automatalabs/mcp-server-playwright"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "playwright": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@automatalabs/mcp-server-playwright"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect