Browser Tools MCP server

BrowserTools MCP is a powerful browser monitoring tool that enables AI applications to capture and analyze browser data through a Chrome extension. It works with Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) to give AI tools more awareness and capabilities when interacting with your browser.

Installation Guide

Prerequisites

• Chrome browser
• Node.js installed on your system
• An MCP-compatible client (such as Cursor IDE)

Step 1: Install the Chrome Extension

1. Download the latest version of the Chrome extension: BrowserTools Chrome Extension v1.2.0

2. Unzip the downloaded file

3. Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions/

4. Enable "Developer mode" in the top-right corner

5. Click "Load unpacked" and select the unzipped extension folder

Step 2: Install the Node Server

Run the following command in your terminal:

npx @agentdeskai/[email protected]

Step 3: Install the MCP Server

Run the following command in your terminal or within your MCP client:

npx @agentdeskai/[email protected]

Usage Guide

Connecting the Components

1. Make sure your Chrome browser is running with the extension installed
2. Open Chrome DevTools to enable log capture
3. Ensure the Node Server is running
4. Connect your MCP client to the MCP Server

Available Tools

Monitoring Tools

• Screenshot Capture: Takes screenshots of the current browser tab
• Console Log Monitoring: Captures and analyzes browser console output
• Network Traffic Analysis: Monitors XHR requests and responses
• DOM Element Selection: Tracks and analyzes selected DOM elements

Audit Tools

BrowserTools MCP offers several audit capabilities:

Accessibility Audit

Example Queries:
- "Are there any accessibility issues on this page?"
- "Run an accessibility audit."
- "Check if this page meets WCAG standards."

Performance Audit

Example Queries:
- "Why is this page loading so slowly?"
- "Check the performance of this page."
- "Run a performance audit."

SEO Audit

Example Queries:
- "How can I improve SEO for this page?"
- "Run an SEO audit."
- "Check SEO on this page."

Best Practices Audit

Example Queries:
- "Run a best practices audit."
- "Check best practices on this page."
- "Are there any best practices issues on this page?"

Specialized Modes

• Audit Mode: Runs all audits in sequence

  Example Queries:
  - "Run audit mode."
  - "Enter audit mode."
  

• NextJS Audits: Specifically for NextJS applications

  Example Queries:
  - "Run a NextJS audit."
  - "Run a NextJS audit, I'm using app router."
  - "Run a NextJS audit, I'm using page router."
  

• Debugger Mode: Runs all debugging tools in sequence

  Example Queries:
  - "Enter debugger mode."
  

Advanced Features

• Auto-Paste: Enable "Allow Auto-Paste into Cursor" within the DevTools panel to automatically paste screenshots into Cursor
• Intelligent Truncation: System automatically truncates strings and duplicate objects to avoid token limits
• Privacy Protection: Automatically removes cookies and sensitive headers before sending data to MCP clients

Troubleshooting

• If you encounter connection issues, try restarting both the Node server and your browser
• Make sure to update to the latest version (currently v1.2.0) by specifying the version in your NPX commands
• For Windows-specific issues, the latest version (v1.2.0) has resolved many connectivity problems

The system features auto-reconnect and graceful shutdown mechanisms, and you can exit the Browser Tools server with Ctrl+C.

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

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect