Chrome DevTools MCP

chrome-devtools-mcp lets your coding agent (such as Gemini, Claude, Cursor or Copilot) control and inspect a live Chrome browser. It acts as a Model-Context-Protocol (MCP) server, giving your AI coding assistant access to the full power of Chrome DevTools for reliable automation, in-depth debugging, and performance analysis.

Key features

• Get performance insights: Uses Chrome DevTools to record traces and extract actionable performance insights.
• Advanced browser debugging: Analyze network requests, take screenshots and check the browser console.
• Reliable automation. Uses puppeteer to automate actions in Chrome and automatically wait for action results.

Disclaimers

chrome-devtools-mcp exposes content of the browser instance to the MCP clients allowing them to inspect, debug, and modify any data in the browser or DevTools. Avoid sharing sensitive or personal information that you don't want to share with MCP clients.

Requirements

• Node.js 22.12.0 or newer.
• Chrome current stable version or newer.
• npm.

Getting started

Add the following config to your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

[!NOTE]
Using chrome-devtools-mcp@latest ensures that your MCP client will always use the latest version of the Chrome DevTools MCP server.

MCP Client configuration

<details> <summary>Claude Code</summary> Use the Claude Code CLI to add the Chrome DevTools MCP server (<a href="https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/mcp">guide</a>):

claude mcp add chrome-devtools npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

</details>

<details> <summary>Cline</summary> Follow https://docs.cline.bot/mcp/configuring-mcp-servers and use the config provided above. </details>

<details> <summary>Codex</summary> Follow the <a href="https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/advanced.md#model-context-protocol-mcp">configure MCP guide</a> using the standard config from above. You can also install the Chrome DevTools MCP server using the Codex CLI:

codex mcp add chrome-devtools -- npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

</details>

<details> <summary>Copilot / VS Code</summary> Follow the MCP install <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/chat/mcp-servers#_add-an-mcp-server">guide</a>, with the standard config from above. You can also install the Chrome DevTools MCP server using the VS Code CLI:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"chrome-devtools","command":"npx","args":["chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"]}'

</details>

<details> <summary>Cursor</summary>

Click the button to install:

<img src="https://cursor.com/deeplink/mcp-install-dark.svg" alt="Install in Cursor">

Or install manually:

Go to Cursor Settings -> MCP -> New MCP Server. Use the config provided above.

</details>

<details> <summary>Gemini CLI</summary> Follow the <a href="https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/main/docs/tools/mcp-server.md#how-to-set-up-your-mcp-server">MCP guide</a> using the standard config from above. </details>

<details> <summary>Gemini Code Assist</summary> Follow the <a href="https://cloud.google.com/gemini/docs/codeassist/use-agentic-chat-pair-programmer#configure-mcp-servers">configure MCP guide</a> using the standard config from above. </details>

Your first prompt

Enter the following prompt in your MCP Client to check if everything is working:

Check the performance of https://developers.chrome.com

Your MCP client should open the browser and record a performance trace.

[!NOTE]
The MCP server will start the browser automatically once the MCP client uses a tool that requires a running browser instance. Connecting to the Chrome DevTools MCP server on its own will not automatically start the browser.

Tools

<!-- BEGIN AUTO GENERATED TOOLS -->

• Input automation (7 tools)
  • click
  • drag
  • fill
  • fill_form
  • handle_dialog
  • hover
  • upload_file
• Navigation automation (7 tools)
  • close_page
  • list_pages
  • navigate_page
  • navigate_page_history
  • new_page
  • select_page
  • wait_for
• Emulation (3 tools)
  • emulate_cpu
  • emulate_network
  • resize_page
• Performance (3 tools)
  • performance_analyze_insight
  • performance_start_trace
  • performance_stop_trace
• Network (2 tools)
  • get_network_request
  • list_network_requests
• Debugging (4 tools)
  • evaluate_script
  • list_console_messages
  • take_screenshot
  • take_snapshot

<!-- END AUTO GENERATED TOOLS -->

Configuration

The Chrome DevTools MCP server supports the following configuration option:

<!-- BEGIN AUTO GENERATED OPTIONS -->

• --browserUrl, -u Connect to a running Chrome instance using port forwarding. For more details see: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/devtools/remote-debugging/local-server.

  • Type: string

• --headless Whether to run in headless (no UI) mode.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false

• --executablePath, -e Path to custom Chrome executable.

  • Type: string

• --isolated If specified, creates a temporary user-data-dir that is automatically cleaned up after the browser is closed.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false

• --channel Specify a different Chrome channel that should be used. The default is the stable channel version.

  • Type: string
  • Choices: stable, canary, beta, dev

<!-- END AUTO GENERATED OPTIONS -->

Pass them via the args property in the JSON configuration. For example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
        "--channel=canary",
        "--headless=true",
        "--isolated=true"
      ]
    }
  }
}

You can also run npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest --help to see all available configuration options.

Concepts

User data directory

chrome-devtools-mcp starts a Chrome's stable channel instance using the following user data directory:

• Linux / MacOS: $HOME/.cache/chrome-devtools-mcp/chrome-profile-$CHANNEL
• Window: %HOMEPATH%/.cache/chrome-devtools-mcp/chrome-profile-$CHANNEL

The user data directory is not cleared between runs and shared across all instances of chrome-devtools-mcp. Set the isolated option to true to use a temporary user data dir instead which will be cleared automatically after the browser is closed.

Known limitations

Operating system sandboxes

Some MCP clients allow sandboxing the MCP server using macOS Seatbelt or Linux containers. If sandboxes are enabled, chrome-devtools-mcp is not able to start Chrome that requires permissions to create its own sandboxes. As a workaround, either disable sandboxing for chrome-devtools-mcp in your MCP client or use --connect-url to connect to a Chrome instance that you start manually outside of the MCP client sandbox.