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Paparazzi

Chrome extension + MCP server that lets Claude see and debug your browser.

Why?

Playwright and similar tools are great for browser automation, but they're heavyweight for simple debugging tasks. You end up managing headless browsers, writing selectors, and dealing with async waits — just to let an LLM see what's on screen.

Paparazzi takes a simpler approach: it connects to your existing browser session via the Chrome DevTools Protocol. No extra browser instance, no selectors, no waits.

Related MCP server: chrome-devtools-mcp

Tools

Tool

Description

take_screenshot

Capture viewport or full page

get_console_logs

Get console output

get_network_requests

Inspect XHR/fetch requests

get_exceptions

Find uncaught JS errors

evaluate_js

Run JavaScript in page context

get_dom_snapshot

Get HTML content

get_performance_metrics

Web Vitals, memory, DOM stats

get_storage_data

Cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage

get_active_tab

Current tab URL/title

refresh_page

Reload (supports hard refresh)

Quick Start

make setup  # Install + build + configure Claude

Or step by step:

pnpm install && pnpm build
make configure  # Interactive setup wizard

Manual Setup

  1. Load extension: chrome://extensions/ → Developer mode → Load unpacked → select packages/extension

  2. Add to Claude config (or use make configure):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "paparazzi": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/paparazzi/packages/mcp-server/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}
  1. Restart Claude Desktop or Claude Code

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                              Claude                                      │
│                         (Desktop / Code)                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                                   │
                                   │ MCP Protocol (stdio)
                                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                           MCP Server                                     │
│  ┌───────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌───────────────────────┐  │
│  │    MCP Tools      │  │ Extension Bridge│  │   @modelcontextprotocol│  │
│  │ take_screenshot   │  │ WebSocket :9222 │  │   /sdk (stdio)        │  │
│  │ get_console_logs  │  │                 │  │                       │  │
│  │ get_network_reqs  │  │                 │  │                       │  │
│  │ evaluate_js       │  │                 │  │                       │  │
│  │ get_dom_snapshot  │  │                 │  │                       │  │
│  └───────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘  └───────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                                   │
                                   │ WebSocket (port 9222)
                                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Chrome Extension                                  │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │                 Background Service Worker                       │    │
│  │  ┌─────────────────────────┐  ┌───────────────────────────┐     │    │
│  │  │    chrome.debugger      │  │ chrome.tabs.captureVisible│     │    │
│  │  │  (CDP v1.3)             │  │ Tab()                     │     │    │
│  │  │  • Runtime.consoleAPI   │  └───────────────────────────┘     │    │
│  │  │  • Network.*            │                                    │    │
│  │  │  • DOM.getOuterHTML     │                                    │    │
│  │  │  • Performance.metrics  │                                    │    │
│  │  └─────────────────────────┘                                    │    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                                   │
                                   │ Chrome DevTools Protocol
                                   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                           Browser Tab                                    │
│                    (the page being debugged)                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Package Structure

packages/
├── mcp-server/     # Node.js MCP server
│   └── src/
│       ├── server.ts           # MCP protocol handler
│       ├── tools/              # Tool implementations
│       └── extension-bridge/   # WebSocket client
├── extension/      # Chrome extension
│   └── src/
│       └── background/         # Service worker + CDP debugger
└── shared/         # Shared TypeScript types

Development

pnpm dev:extension  # Watch extension
pnpm dev:server     # Watch MCP server

CI Checks

pnpm lint           # ESLint
pnpm typecheck      # TypeScript
pnpm knip           # Unused code detection
pnpm test:run       # Vitest

Make Targets

Target

Description

make setup

Full setup: install + build + configure

make configure

Interactive wizard to add to Claude config

make install

Install dependencies

make build

Build all packages

make dev

Start dev mode (watch)

make server

Run MCP server directly

make config

Show config snippet for manual copy

make clean

Remove build artifacts

make rebuild

Clean + install + build

Troubleshooting

  • Extension not connected: Click extension icon to reconnect

  • Restricted pages: Can't capture chrome://, about:, extension pages

  • Port conflict: Set PAPARAZZI_PORT env var, update extension to match

License

MIT

A
license - permissive license
-
quality - not tested
D
maintenance

Maintenance

Maintainers
Response time
Release cycle
Releases (12mo)
Commit activity

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