Browser Tool Node

An n8n node that connects to a Browser MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, enabling AI-driven browser automation from within n8n workflows.

Overview

The Browser Tool node acts as an MCP client. It connects to a running Browser MCP server over HTTP or SSE, optionally attaches a Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) session (Chrome, Playwright, etc.), and exposes the full MCP surface — tools, resources and prompts — as n8n operations.

It can be used as a standalone node or as a tool inside an AI Agent node (usableAsTool: true).

Prerequisites

| Requirement | Details | |---|---| | Running MCP server | An MCP-compatible browser automation server (e.g. Playwright MCP) | | CDP-enabled browser (optional) | Chrome / Chromium launched with --remote-debugging-port=9222, or a Playwright server | | API Key (optional) | Required only if your MCP server enforces authentication |

Configuration

Connection

| Field | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | Base URL | string | http://localhost:8080 | Base URL of the MCP server | | API Key | password | — | Sent as X-API-KEY header; leave blank if not required. Get a key | | CDP Driver URL | string | http://localhost:9222 | Remote debugging endpoint of a running browser. Used to call browser_connect_cdp automatically before the first Call Tool operation | | Connection Type | options | HTTP | HTTP uses Streamable HTTP transport; SSE uses Server-Sent Events transport |

Operation

Select what the node should do each time it runs.

Operations

List Tools

Returns every tool registered on the connected MCP server.

Output: array of tool descriptors (name, description, input schema).

Call Tool

Executes a specific tool on the MCP server.

When a CDP Driver URL is set and this is the first callTool call in the execution, the node automatically calls browser_connect_cdp to attach the browser session before running your tool.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description | |---|---|---|---| | Tool Name | string | yes* | Name of the MCP tool to invoke (e.g. browser_navigate). Can be omitted if toolName, name, or tool is present inside Tool Arguments | | Tool Arguments | JSON | no | Arguments forwarded to the tool as a JSON object, e.g. { "url": "https://example.com" } |

*If Tool Name is blank, the node looks for the key toolName, name, or tool inside Tool Arguments and uses that value.

Common browser tools (depends on your MCP server):

| Tool | Example Arguments | |---|---| | browser_navigate | { "url": "https://example.com" } | | browser_screenshot | {} | | browser_click | { "selector": "#submit-btn" } | | browser_type | { "selector": "#search", "text": "hello" } | | browser_connect_cdp | { "endpoint": "http://localhost:9222" } |

List Resources

Returns every resource exposed by the MCP server.

Output: array of resource descriptors (uri, name, mime type, etc.).

Read Resource

Reads the content of a specific MCP resource.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description | |---|---|---|---| | Resource URI | string | yes | The URI of the resource to read (obtained from List Resources) |

Output: array of resource content objects.

List Prompts

Returns every prompt template registered on the MCP server.

Output: array of prompt descriptors (name, description, arguments).

Get Prompt

Fetches a rendered prompt from the MCP server.

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description | |---|---|---|---| | Prompt Name | string | yes | Name of the prompt to retrieve | | Prompt Arguments | JSON | no | Key/value pairs required by the prompt template |

Output: the rendered prompt messages.

Output Schema

Every operation returns items in this shape:

{
  "operation": "callTool",
  "result": { ... },
  "timestamp": "2026-03-12T10:00:00.000Z"
}

On error (when Continue On Fail is enabled):

{
  "error": "Tool not found: browser_navigate",
  "operation": "callTool",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-12T10:00:00.000Z"
}

Connection Caching

Within a single n8n execution the MCP client connection is reused across all items and node invocations (keyed by executionId + connectionType + baseUrl + driverUrl). This avoids redundant handshakes and ensures browser_connect_cdp is only called once per execution.

Example Workflow

[Manual Trigger]
      |
[Browser Tool]  ← Operation: Call Tool
                   Base URL: http://localhost:8080
                   CDP Driver URL: http://localhost:9222
                   Tool Name: browser_navigate
                   Tool Arguments: { "url": "https://example.com" }
      |
[Browser Tool]  ← Operation: Call Tool
                   Tool Name: browser_screenshot
      |
[Write Binary File]

Error Handling

| Scenario | Behaviour | |---|---| | MCP server unreachable | Throws ApplicationError with the connection URL | | Invalid JSON in arguments | Throws NodeOperationError with parse details | | Tool name missing | Throws NodeOperationError prompting where to set the name | | Unknown operation | Throws NodeOperationError | | Continue On Fail enabled | Errors are captured in the output item and execution continues |

References

• Model Context Protocol — Introduction
• MCP Documentation
• MCP Browser Tool
• MCP TypeScript SDK