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Playwright Browser MCP App

Playwright Browser MCP App

by archestra-ai

Browser MCP App

An MCP App that drives a real Chromium browser with Playwright and renders a live, clickable view of the page inside an MCP host such as Archestra. The agent can browse for you, and you can take over in the panel — click, type, scroll, navigate.

How it works

Browser tools (browser_navigate, browser_click, browser_type, browser_press, browser_scroll, browser_back/forward/reload, browser_read_page) drive one shared Playwright page. The UI panel polls an app-only browser_screenshot tool (~1/s), maps your clicks back to viewport pixels, and forwards your keystrokes — so the model and you drive the same page.

Related MCP server: Playwright MCP Server

Setup

npm install
npm run browsers   # one-time: download Chromium
npm run build      # bundle the UI into dist/mcp-app.html

Run

npm run serve         # HTTP transport on :3001  (npm run dev = watch mode)
npm run serve:stdio   # stdio transport

To use it from an MCP host (e.g. Archestra), build first and point the host's MCP config at the stdio entry:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "browser": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "tsx", "/absolute/path/to/browser-mcp-app/main.ts", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Configuration

Env var

Default

Meaning

HEADLESS

unset → headed

1/true runs Chromium headless.

PORT

3001

HTTP port.

SCREENSHOT_QUALITY

60

JPEG quality for the live view.

Development

Built with the create-mcp-app Agent Skill, which covers the MCP Apps SDK patterns used here (tool + UI-resource registration, app lifecycle, host context, polling). Use it when extending the server — invoke /create-mcp-app.

Notes

  • One shared browser page; actions are serialized so calls don't race.

  • The live view is a screenshot stream — page pixels never go to the model; only browser_read_page returns text, on request.

  • It's a real browser: it can log in and submit forms. Don't point it at sites where an unintended click would be costly.

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

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