continente-mcp

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Continente.pt — Portugal's largest supermarket chain.

Lets your AI assistant search products, manage your shopping cart, and browse order history using your real Continente account.

⚠️ Stability note: This server works by automating a real browser session against Continente's website using CSS selectors. If Continente updates their site structure, some tools may break. See Detecting changes.

What it can do

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | search_products | Search the catalogue — results ranked by your favourites | | get_favorites | List your saved favourite products | | refresh_favorites | Re-sync favourites from the website | | get_cart | View your current basket | | add_to_cart | Add a product by ID | | get_order_history | Recent orders with product lines | | get_most_bought | Products you order most often (scans all orders — slow) | | close_session | Close the browser and free memory |

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or later
• Python 3.10+ (for the cookie export script)
• A Continente.pt account, logged in on one of the supported browsers

Setup

1. Clone and install

The setup requires the repository — the Python cookie scripts live here and are needed before the server can authenticate.

git clone https://github.com/davidmarqu3s/continente-mcp
cd continente-mcp
npm install

Install the Chromium browser that Playwright uses internally:

npm run setup
# or: npx playwright install chromium --with-deps

Linux note: --with-deps installs OS-level dependencies via apt. On macOS and Windows this flag is a no-op — npx playwright install chromium is sufficient.

Once set up, you can run the server either via the local clone or via npx continente-mcp — both work in your MCP client config (see step 3).

2. Export your cookies

The server authenticates using cookies from your existing browser session — no password handling, no OAuth flow. You need to be logged into Continente.pt in your browser first.

Install the cookie reader dependencies:

python3 -m pip install browser-cookie3 requests   # macOS / Linux
python  -m pip install browser-cookie3 requests   # Windows

Export your cookies:

python3 continente-cookie-reader.py   # macOS / Linux
python  continente-cookie-reader.py   # Windows
# Auto-detecting browser with Continente cookies...
# Found 20 cookies in chrome.
# Saved 20 cookies → ~/.continente/cookies.json  (browser: chrome)
# On Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.continente\cookies.json

To specify a browser explicitly:

python3 continente-cookie-reader.py --browser firefox
python3 continente-cookie-reader.py --list-browsers   # see all supported browsers

Cookies are saved to ~/.continente/cookies.json (%USERPROFILE%\.continente\cookies.json on Windows) with owner-only read permissions.

3. Configure your MCP client

This server works with any MCP-compatible client. The config format is the same across most of them — add an entry under mcpServers pointing to the server command.

Via npx (no local install needed):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "continente": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["continente-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Via local clone:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "continente": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/continente-mcp/src/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Where to put this config:

| Client | Config file | |--------|-------------| | Claude Desktop (Mac) | ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json | | Claude Desktop (Windows) | %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json | | Cursor (Mac/Linux) | .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json globally | | Cursor (Windows) | .cursor\mcp.json in your project, or %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json globally | | Windsurf (Mac/Linux) | ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json | | Windsurf (Windows) | %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json | | Other clients | See your client's MCP documentation |

Keeping the session alive

Continente sessions expire after a period of inactivity. Run the keepalive script on a schedule to prevent this:

macOS (launchd), every 20 minutes:

Create ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.continente.keepalive.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.continente.keepalive</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/usr/bin/python3</string>
    <string>/path/to/continente-keepalive.py</string>
  </array>
  <key>StartInterval</key>
  <integer>1200</integer>
  <key>StandardOutPath</key>
  <string>/tmp/continente-keepalive.log</string>
  <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
  <string>/tmp/continente-keepalive.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.continente.keepalive.plist

Linux / WSL (cron):

crontab -e
# Add:
*/20 * * * * python3 /path/to/continente-keepalive.py >> ~/.continente/keepalive.log 2>&1

Windows (Task Scheduler):

schtasks /create /tn "ContinenteKeepalive" /tr "python C:\path\to\continente-keepalive.py" /sc minute /mo 20 /f

Or open Task Scheduler and create a task that runs python C:\path\to\continente-keepalive.py every 20 minutes.

If the session expires, the keepalive script will automatically re-read cookies from your browser.

Security

• Cookies give full account access — they can view your address, manage your cart, and see your order history. Treat them like a password.
• macOS / Linux: Cookies are stored at ~/.continente/cookies.json with owner-only read permissions (chmod 600).
• Windows: Cookies are stored at %USERPROFILE%\.continente\cookies.json. To restrict access: icacls "%USERPROFILE%\.continente\cookies.json" /inheritance:r /grant:r "%USERNAME%:R"
• This path is excluded from git via .gitignore. Never commit it.
• Cookies expire roughly every 30 days. Re-run continente-cookie-reader.py to refresh them.

Detecting changes

Run check-change.js on a schedule to get notified if Continente updates their site structure in a way that might break scraping:

# First run saves a structural fingerprint
node check-change.js

Linux / WSL (cron):

# Daily at 9am
0 9 * * * node /path/to/check-change.js >> ~/.continente/change-detector.log 2>&1

macOS (launchd): Add a plist similar to the keepalive one above, with StartInterval set to 86400.

Windows (Task Scheduler):

schtasks /create /tn "ContinenteChangeDetector" /tr "node C:\path\to\check-change.js" /sc daily /st 09:00 /f

To receive a webhook notification (Slack, Discord, n8n, etc.) on change, set CONTINENTE_ALERT_WEBHOOK in your environment or MCP client config:

# macOS / Linux
export CONTINENTE_ALERT_WEBHOOK=https://hooks.slack.com/services/...

# Windows cmd
set CONTINENTE_ALERT_WEBHOOK=https://hooks.slack.com/services/...

# Windows PowerShell
$env:CONTINENTE_ALERT_WEBHOOK = "https://hooks.slack.com/services/..."

Or add it to your MCP client config under env (platform-neutral):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "continente": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["continente-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CONTINENTE_ALERT_WEBHOOK": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Utilities

Back up order history (incremental — only fetches new orders):

node continente-backup.js
# → ~/.continente/orders-backup.json
# → %USERPROFILE%\.continente\orders-backup.json  (Windows)

Supported browsers

continente-cookie-reader.py can read cookies from:

| Browser | macOS | Windows | Linux | |---------|-------|---------|-------| | Chrome | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Edge | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Brave | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Firefox | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Arc | ✓ | — | — | | Chromium | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Vivaldi | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Opera | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Safari | ✓ | — | — |

Powered by browser-cookie3.

Environment variables

See .env.example for all options. The main ones:

| Variable | Default | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | CONTINENTE_COOKIES_PATH | ~/.continente/cookies.json | Where cookies are read/written | | CONTINENTE_STATE_DIR | ~/.continente | Directory for preferences, fingerprint, backups | | CONTINENTE_ALERT_WEBHOOK | — | Webhook URL for change detection alerts | | CONTINENTE_VAULT_COOKIE_PATH | — | Optional secondary path to also write cookies to (for multi-machine sync) |

Windows: Replace ~ with %USERPROFILE% (cmd) or $env:USERPROFILE (PowerShell). Node.js accepts both / and \ as path separators.

Skills

The skills/ directory contains ready-made agent skills for clients that support them (e.g. Claude Code).

groceries

Adds items to the basket by name. Matches against your favourites and order history to pick the right product variant automatically.

Install it in Claude Code:

# From the repo root
claude skill install skills/groceries

Then use it:

/groceries queijo flamengo, leite mimosa, ovos

Or naturally: "add some manteiga and pão de forma to my Continente cart"

See skills/groceries/SKILL.md for full details.

License

MIT