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.

Tool reference | Changelog | Contributing | Troubleshooting

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 v20.19 or a newer latest maintenance LTS version.
• Chrome current stable version or newer.
• npm.

Getting started

Add the following config to your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

[!NOTE]
Using @iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest ensures that your MCP client will always use the latest version of the Chrome DevTools MCP server.

MCP Client configuration

claude mcp add chrome-devtools npx @iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

codex mcp add chrome-devtools -- npx @iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

On Windows 11

Configure the Chrome install location and increase the startup timeout by updating .codex/config.toml and adding the following env and startup_timeout_ms parameters:

[mcp_servers.chrome-devtools]
command = "cmd"
args = [
    "/c",
    "npx",
    "-y",
    "@iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
]
env = { SystemRoot="C:\\Windows", PROGRAMFILES="C:\\Program Files" }
startup_timeout_ms = 20_000

Start Copilot CLI:

copilot

Start the dialog to add a new MCP server by running:

/mcp add

Configure the following fields and press CTR-S to save the configuration:

• Server name: chrome-devtools
• Server Type: [1] Local
• Command: npx
• Arguments: -y, @iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

code --add-mcp '{"name":"chrome-devtools","command":"npx","args":["@iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"]}'

Click the button to install:

Or install manually:

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

Project wide:

gemini mcp add chrome-devtools npx @iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

Globally:

gemini mcp add -s user chrome-devtools npx @iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

Alternatively, follow the MCP guide and use the standard config from above.

Go to Settings | Tools | AI Assistant | Model Context Protocol (MCP) -> Add. Use the config provided above. The same way chrome-devtools-mcp can be configured for JetBrains Junie in Settings | Tools | Junie | MCP Settings -> Add. Use the config provided above.

Click the button to install:

Go to Settings | AI | Manage MCP Servers -> + Add to add an MCP Server. Use the config provided above.

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

If you run into any issues, checkout our troubleshooting guide.

• 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

Configuration

The Chrome DevTools MCP server supports the following configuration option:

• --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

• --logFile Path to a file to write debug logs to. Set the env variable DEBUG to * to enable verbose logs. Useful for submitting bug reports.

  • Type: string

• --viewport Initial viewport size for the Chrome instances started by the server. For example, 1280x720

  • Type: string

• --proxyServer Proxy server configuration for Chrome passed as --proxy-server when launching the browser. See https://www.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/network-settings/ for details.

  • Type: string

• --acceptInsecureCerts If enabled, ignores errors relative to self-signed and expired certificates. Use with caution.

  • Type: boolean

• --stealth Enable puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth to make Puppeteer harder to detect. Helps avoid detection by anti-bot systems.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false

• --anonymizeUa Anonymize the user-agent by removing HeadlessChrome from the UA string. Works with --stealth or standalone.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false

• --adblock Enable ad and tracker blocking using puppeteer-extra-plugin-adblocker. Improves page load speed and reduces fingerprinting.

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
        "--channel=canary",
        "--headless=true",
        "--isolated=true"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Privacy and Anti-Detection Configuration

For enhanced privacy and to avoid bot detection, you can enable stealth mode and ad blocking:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@iota9star/chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
        "--stealth",
        "--anonymizeUa",
        "--adblock"
      ]
    }
  }
}

You can also run npx @iota9star/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
• Windows: %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.