Opera GX Control for Claude

Give Claude control of Opera GX. It can switch GX Control limiters, the sidebar, tab bar settings and themes, apply one-click presets, and drive tabs and pages.

Install the VS Code extension and click Connect. Claude Code and Claude Desktop can then take requests like "put Opera in gaming mode", "hide the sidebar and switch to the After Eight theme" or "summarize the tab I have open".

Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Opera. It works through Opera's local DevTools port and undocumented settings APIs, so an Opera update can break parts of it. Read Security before installing.

What's included

Related MCP server: PC-Control MCP Server

Install

With VS Code (recommended)

1. Install Opera GX Control for Claude from the VS Code Marketplace. Or download the .vsix from Releases, then in VS Code open Extensions → ⋯ → Install from VSIX….

2. When VS Code asks "Connect Claude Code and Claude Desktop to Opera GX?", click Connect. You can also run Opera GX: Connect Claude from the command palette later.

3. Run Opera GX: Restart Opera GX with Claude Access. Opera closes and reopens with its DevTools port open. Choose Restart and Keep Access On to make that stick for future launches (Windows).

4. Start a new Claude Code session, or quit and reopen Claude Desktop, then ask Claude to do something in Opera GX.

The status bar shows GX with any active limits. Click it for the control menu.

Without VS Code

Requires Node.js 22 or newer.

git clone https://github.com/trifactorscalingllc/opera-gx-control
cd opera-gx-control
npm install --omit=dev

Connect Claude Code:

claude mcp add --scope user opera-gx -- node /absolute/path/to/opera-gx-control/mcp/server.mjs

Connect Claude Desktop: add this to claude_desktop_config.json (Settings → Developer → Edit Config), then restart Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "opera-gx": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/opera-gx-control/mcp/server.mjs"]
    }
  }
}

Start Opera GX with access. On Windows, from the repo folder:

.\scripts\launch-opera-gx.ps1 -Restart            # this launch only
.\scripts\launch-opera-gx.ps1 -UpdateShortcuts    # also every launch from the Desktop/Start Menu shortcuts

On macOS (implemented, not yet tested), quit Opera GX, then:

open -na "Opera GX" --args --remote-debugging-port=9222 --remote-allow-origins=chrome-extension://jhcegjnggmmdpoipdgfhfgppnefojmeh

What Claude can do

Settings

Tabs and pages

Presets

Applying a preset saves the values it replaces, and restore puts them back. Stacked presets restore to where you were before the first one. The restore point lives in Opera, so the VS Code menu, the toolbar popup, the shortcuts, the CLI and Claude all share it.

Opera toolbar extension (optional)

Adds a popup and an Opera sidebar panel with presets, an undo button, the limiter/sidebar/tab bar/theme toggles, and shortcuts.

1. In VS Code, run Opera GX: Set Up the Opera Toolbar Extension. It copies the extension to ~/.opera-gx-control/opera-extension and copies that path. Without VS Code, use the opera-extension folder from a release zip or this repo.

2. In Opera GX, open opera://extensions, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked, and choose the folder.

3. Make sure Opera runs with Claude access (above). The --remote-allow-origins flag is what lets this extension connect; its ID is fixed at jhcegjnggmmdpoipdgfhfgppnefojmeh.

Change or assign them at opera://extensions/shortcuts.

Security

The DevTools port is full remote control of your browser. While Opera runs with --remote-debugging-port, any program on your computer can read every page, act inside logged-in sites and read cookies. The port listens on 127.0.0.1 only, so other devices can't reach it, but local software can. Only turn it on when you trust what runs on your machine.

Claude gets the same reach. The browser tools can read and act on any site you're signed in to. Web pages can contain text written to mislead an AI. Claude Code asks before each tool call by default. Keep asking on for browser_evaluate, browser_cdp and browser_navigate, rather than allowlisting them.

• Never launch Opera with --remote-allow-origins=*. That lets web pages use the port too.

• To turn access off, quit Opera and start it normally. If you used Keep Access On, run scripts\launch-opera-gx.ps1 -RemoveFromShortcuts first.

• To disconnect Claude, run Opera GX: Disconnect Claude, or claude mcp remove --scope user opera-gx.

How it works

Opera gates its settings APIs (chrome.settingsPrivate, opr.themesPrivate, opr.browserSidebarPrivate) to its own internal pages and built-in extensions, so an ordinary extension can't toggle GX Control. The DevTools port can attach to one of those internal pages (chrome://easy-setup-gx/) and make the call from inside it. For tabs and pages it uses the DevTools Protocol directly.

All four pieces share one client: opera-extension/gx-client.js.

Compatibility

Tested on Windows 11 with Opera GX 135 (Chromium 151), VS Code 1.136 and Claude Code 2.1. The macOS code paths exist but haven't been run. Opera GX isn't available on Linux.

Troubleshooting

Development

npm install
npm test                         # structure checks + MCP server, no Opera needed
node test/opera.e2e.mjs 9333     # against a running Opera GX (see the file header)
npm run test:vscode -- 9333      # the VS Code extension, in a downloaded and isolated VS Code

Push a v* tag to release. CI tests, packages the .vsix and the Opera extension zip, publishes a GitHub release, and publishes to the Marketplace when the VSCE_PAT secret is set.

License

MIT. Opera and Opera GX are trademarks of Opera Norway AS.