Cannot connect to the Chrome-devtools mcp server using the claude code

[codeugar]

Describe the bug
claude code showed it's failed to reconnect to chrome-devtools when I reconnect it.

To Reproduce

1. exec command:
   claude mcp add chrome-devtools npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest
2. exec command:
   claude code
3. found 1 mcp failed

Chrome version: 140.0.7339.187
Coding agent version: 1.0.77

[ronantakizawa]

@codeugar Check to make sure you are running Node version >=v22.12.0 as required in the project. That fixed it for me.

[allenzhuyi]

I have the same problem. I use claude code in windows,node version is v22.17.1

[imxiaohan]

I have the same problem. I use claude code in MacOS, node version is v24.9.0

[cenyuus]

@codeugar Check to make sure you are running Node version >=v22.12.0 as required in the project. That fixed it for me.

this solve my problem 👍

[kurdin]

on Mac, I did:
$ sudo npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

then CTRL + C

then started claude and I now I see no errors

I think, the error was because when mcp starts npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest without sudo it throw the error
EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/Users/username/.npm/_cacache/content-v2/sha512/51/20'

[imxiaohan]

on Mac, I did: $ sudo npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

then CTRL + C

then started claude and I now I see no errors

I think, the error was because when mcp starts `npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest` without sudo it throw the error `EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/Users/username/.npm/_cacache/content-v2/sha512/51/20'`

You generally shouldn’t use sudo with npx or npm commands. Running with sudo executes everything as root, which introduces several problems:

• Security risk: Any package pulled from npm will have full system privileges, which is dangerous if dependencies are compromised.

• Permission issues: It can create root-owned files inside your ~/.npm or node_modules folders, leading to “permission denied” errors when you run npm as a normal user later.

• Bad practice: It forces you into a cycle where you always need sudo for npm, instead of fixing the underlying permission problem.

A better approach is to fix the ownership of your npm cache and global directories (chown -R $(whoami) ~/.npm), or use a Node version manager like nvm so everything runs under your normal user account.

[imxiaohan]

I have the same problem. I use claude code in MacOS, node version is v24.9.0

I think I solved the problem using the following steps:

1. Check the npm version and run npm doctor:

   npm -v
   npm doctor

   npm doctor should show all green. If not, you need to fix the reported issues.
   In my case, it complained about an outdated version, so I upgraded npm.
   My current version is npm v11.6.1, and my node version is v24.9.0.

2. Run:

   npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest --help

   to see if it works.
   If not, run:

   claude mcp remove chrome-devtools

   to remove chrome-devtools first.

3. Clear the npm cache:

   npm cache clean --force  # clear cache
   npm cache verify         # verify if it worked

4. After that, reinstall chrome-devtools.
   I didn’t use Claude Code for installation, instead I used Gemini for a global install:

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

5. Once installation is done, run it again to check if there are errors.
   At this point, it should work normally:

   npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest --help

6. Then install it again in Claude Code:

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

---

✅ At this stage, whether you use Claude Code or Gemini, your chrome-devtools MCP should show as connected.

[sebastianbenz]

Closing as the issues seem to be resolved.

[ikushlianski]

I was using 22.5.1 and it was failing. Updating to 22.20 (basically latest) fixed the issue.

[nkovacic]

@codeugar Check to make sure you are running Node version >=v22.12.0 as required in the project. That fixed it for me.

Using latest node 22 version solved this issue for me as well.

[MarkEdmondson1234]

I will just add the above solved the issue ( #182 (comment) ) but I did have to restart VSCode / Claude Code to see it work. Before the restart, even after running all the steps it was reporting failure still.

[Sayvai]

TLDR: My root cause was due to a permissions issue, and I just had to make the locally installed Chrome MCP binary executable.

---

I resolved my MCP connection error (i..e. Failed to reconnect to chrome-devtools.) on my MacOS, despite having the bare minimum supported version of Node (at this time of writing) installed (v20.19.3), with thanks in part to the above comment.

My steps from error to resolution are the following:

1. Ran the following to see if the MCP server can run at all in isolation.

   npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest --help

2. Received a permissions error, which indicates that the MCP binary does not have executable permissions 🔴 📜 :

   sh: /Users/local_username/.npm/_npx/15c61037b1978c83/node_modules/.bin/chrome-devtools-mcp: Permission denied

3. Copied and pasted the personal unique path to the binary from the error output above, and ran the following to make the binary executable:

   chmod +x /Users/local_username/.npm/_npx/15c61037b1978c83/node_modules/.bin/chrome-devtools-mcp

4. Ran the following to see whether I get the proper help options output (which did output successfully ✅):

   npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest --help

5. Go back to Claude Code terminal chat session, and run the following to verify connection to the MCP server:

   • /mcp command
   • select chrome-devtools from the options
   • select Reconnect

6. You should now see the successful message 👉 Reconnected to chrome-devtools. 👈 output within your Claude Code chat session 🎉

---

PS: At no point did i have to restart Claude Code or VS Code, nor run a single sudo command.