open-dev-browser

An MCP server for browser automation with persistent Playwright sessions. Originally based on SawyerHood/dev-browser.

Why?

Unlike standard Playwright MCP servers that create fresh browser instances, open-dev-browser maintains persistent browser state across tool calls. Pages stay alive, sessions persist, and you can iteratively explore and interact without starting over.

Installation

The package metadata is aligned to open-dev-browser, but until it is published on npm the safest setup is to run it from a local checkout.

1. Clone the repository somewhere on your machine.
2. Run npm install && npm run build in the repo root.
3. Point your MCP client at the built dist/index.js entrypoint.

For OpenCode

Add to your opencode.json or ~/.config/opencode/config.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "dev-browser": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["node", "/absolute/path/to/open-dev-browser/dist/index.js"],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dev-browser": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/open-dev-browser/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

• DEV_BROWSER_PORT - HTTP API port (default: 9222)
• DEV_BROWSER_HEADLESS - Run headless (default: false)
• DEV_BROWSER_PROFILE_DIR - Base directory for the persistent browser profile; the server stores browser data in a browser-data/ subdirectory there (defaults to .browser-data in the current working directory)

Tools

Tool	Description
browser_navigate	Navigate to a URL
browser_snapshot	Get AI-friendly DOM snapshot with element refs
browser_click	Click element by ref
browser_type	Type text into element
browser_screenshot	Take screenshot
browser_scroll	Scroll page
browser_run_script	Run arbitrary JavaScript against the current Playwright page
browser_list_pages	List open pages
browser_close_page	Close a page

Development

npm install
npm run verify
npm run audit

Usage

Ask your AI to interact with your browser:

• "Navigate to localhost:3000 and test the login flow"
• "Take a snapshot of the page and click the submit button"
• "Fill out the contact form and submit it"

For lower-level automation, browser_run_script executes JavaScript with the current Playwright page object as its only argument.

Credits

Based on dev-browser by Sawyer Hood.

License

MIT