Browser Automation MCP

MCP server for AI browser automation. Alpha software - expect bugs and rough edges.

Attribution

This is a fork of @browserbasehq/mcp-server-browserbase by Browserbase, Inc., licensed under Apache 2.0.

Modifications from Original

1. Default to LOCAL - Uses local Playwright by default instead of requiring Browserbase cloud. Pass cloud: true to session create for cloud execution.

2. Hybrid mode agent - Agent tool uses hybrid mode (DOM + coordinate-based actions) with google/gemini-3-flash-preview instead of CUA mode.

3. Vercel header injection - Automatically injects x-vercel-protection-bypass header when VERCEL_AUTOMATION_BYPASS_SECRET env var is set.

4. Renamed tools - All tools renamed from browserbase_* to stagehand_*.

Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | stagehand_session_create | Create browser session. cloud?: boolean to use Browserbase (default: local) | | stagehand_session_close | Close the current session | | stagehand_navigate | Navigate to a URL | | stagehand_act | Perform an action on the page (natural language) | | stagehand_extract | Extract structured data from the page | | stagehand_observe | Observe and find actionable elements | | stagehand_screenshot | Capture a screenshot | | stagehand_get_url | Get current page URL | | stagehand_agent | Autonomous multi-step execution (hybrid mode) |

Environment Variables

GEMINI_API_KEY=...               # for Stagehand AI features (act, extract, observe, agent)
BROWSERBASE_API_KEY=...          # only needed for cloud: true
BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID=...       # only needed for cloud: true
NGROK_AUTHTOKEN=...              # only needed for cloud: true with localhost URLs
VERCEL_AUTOMATION_BYPASS_SECRET=... # optional, for Vercel preview deployments

Localhost Tunneling (Cloud Mode)

When using cloud mode (cloud: true), the browser runs on Browserbase's infrastructure and can't directly access your localhost. If you navigate to a localhost URL, the server automatically creates an ngrok tunnel to expose your local service to the cloud browser.

• Requires NGROK_AUTHTOKEN environment variable
• Tunnels are session-scoped and cleaned up automatically
• Each tunnel gets randomly generated basic auth credentials for security
• Only triggered when navigating to localhost URLs in cloud mode

Usage

Basic (Stagehand tools only):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "browser": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@popoverai/browser-automation"]
    }
  }
}

With Playwright federation (adds low-level browser control tools):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "browser": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@popoverai/browser-automation", "--enable-playwright"]
    }
  }
}

The --enable-playwright flag spawns a Playwright MCP subprocess and federates its tools (click, fill, type, etc.) alongside the Stagehand AI tools.

License

Apache-2.0 (same as original)