Browser Tools MCP server

This lightweight server bridges your browser data with AI models that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It provides AI assistants with real-time access to your browser's console logs, network activity, page screenshots, and DOM elements, making them more effective at understanding and interacting with web content.

Installation Guide

Prerequisites

You'll need:

• Google Chrome browser
• Node.js installed on your system

Installation Steps

Follow these steps to set up the BrowserTools MCP server:

1. Install the Chrome extension:

   • Download the extension from BrowserTools Chrome Extension
   • Extract the zip file
   • Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions/
   • Enable "Developer mode" (toggle in the top-right)
   • Click "Load unpacked" and select the extracted extension folder

2. Install the Node.js server:

   npx @agentdeskai/[email protected]
   

3. Install the MCP server in your IDE or MCP client:

   npx @agentdeskai/[email protected]
   

Usage Guide

Setting Up

1. Start the Node.js server:

   npx @agentdeskai/[email protected]
   

2. Open Chrome and navigate to the page you want to work with

3. Open Chrome DevTools (F12 or right-click > Inspect)

4. Click on the "BrowserTools" tab in DevTools

5. Start your MCP-compatible client (like Cursor)

Basic Features

Once connected, you can ask your AI assistant to:

• Monitor console logs: "Show me the console logs from the browser"
• Capture network activity: "Check the network requests on this page"
• Take screenshots: "Take a screenshot of the current page"
• Analyze DOM elements: "What HTML element is currently selected?"

Auto-Paste Feature

Enable automatic pasting of screenshots:

1. Open the DevTools panel
2. Check "Allow Auto-Paste into Cursor"
3. Focus on the Agent input field in Cursor
4. Request screenshots from your AI assistant

Running Audits

BrowserTools offers comprehensive page auditing capabilities:

Accessibility Audit

Are there any accessibility issues on this page?

Performance Audit

Check the performance of this page

SEO Audit

How can I improve SEO for this page?

Best Practices Audit

Run a best practices audit

NextJS Audit (for NextJS applications)

Run a NextJS audit

Advanced Modes

Audit Mode

Run all audit tools in sequence:

Run audit mode

Debugger Mode

Execute all debugging tools in sequence:

Enter debugger mode

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues:

• Make sure both the Node server and Chrome extension are running
• Check that you're using the latest version (1.2.0)
• Try restarting the Node server and refreshing the browser
• Ensure you've focused the correct input field for auto-paste
• Look for any error messages in the console

If issues persist, you can specify the version explicitly when installing:

npx @agentdeskai/[email protected]
npx @agentdeskai/[email protected]

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 "browser-tools-mcp" '{"command":"npx","args":["@agentdeskai/[email protected]"]}'

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": {
        "browser-tools-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@agentdeskai/[email protected]"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "browser-tools-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@agentdeskai/[email protected]"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect