chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave

v0.4.2

Published

3 months ago

MCP server for Brave DevTools

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carllippert

Brave DevTools MCP

chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave lets your coding agent (such as Gemini, Claude, Cursor or Copilot) control and inspect a live Brave browser. It acts as a Model-Context-Protocol (MCP) server, giving your AI coding assistant access to the full power of Brave DevTools for reliable automation, in-depth debugging, and performance analysis.

Recommended settings for vibe coding

Set Up Brave to open your default browser profile as the browser used for MCP to debug ( so you havea all your passwords and plugins and such )

Close all Brave instanes
Copy and run this in terminal / cli etc

/Applications/Brave\ Browser.app/Contents/MacOS/Brave\ Browser \
  --remote-debugging-port=9222 \
  --user-data-dir="$HOME/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser" \
  --profile-directory="Default"

Set up MCP with correct args for using this browser window

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brave-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@latest",
        "--browserUrl",
        "http://127.0.0.1:9222"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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 Brave and automatically wait for action results.
Brave-optimized: Designed specifically for Brave browser with automatic detection.

Disclaimers

chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave 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 22.12.0 or newer.
Brave Browser current stable version or newer.
npm.

Getting started

Add the following config to your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brave-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@latest"]
    }
  }
}

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

MCP Client configuration

claude mcp add brave-devtools npx chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@latest

codex mcp add brave-devtools -- npx chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@latest

code --add-mcp '{"name":"brave-devtools","command":"npx","args":["chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@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 brave-devtools npx chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@latest

Globally:

gemini mcp add -s user brave-devtools npx chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@latest

Alternatively, follow the MCP guide and use the standard config from 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 DevTools MCP server on its own will not automatically start the browser.

Tools

Input automation (7 tools)
Navigation automation (7 tools)
Emulation (3 tools)
Performance (3 tools)
Network (2 tools)
- get_network_request
- list_network_requests
Debugging (4 tools)

Configuration

The DevTools MCP server supports the following configuration options:

--browserUrl, -u Connect to a running Brave 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 Brave 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
--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

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brave-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@latest",
        "--headless=true",
        "--isolated=true"
      ]
    }
  }
}

You can also run npx chrome-devtools-mcp-for-brave@latest --help to see all available configuration options.

Concepts

User data directory

The MCP server uses the following user data directory for Brave:

Linux / MacOS: $HOME/.cache/brave-devtools-mcp/brave-profile
Windows: %HOMEPATH%/.cache/brave-devtools-mcp/brave-profile

The user data directory is not cleared between runs and shared across all instances of the MCP server. 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, the MCP server is not able to start Brave as it requires permissions to create its own sandboxes. As a workaround, either disable sandboxing for the MCP server in your MCP client or use --browserUrl to connect to a Brave instance that you start manually outside of the MCP client sandbox.