Turn any AI chatbot browser to many app via MCP

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  > browser extension + local bridge for VS Code and MCP
  > no API key · no terminal · no copy-paste

snapgentV3 is a browser extension plus a local bridge that connects a normal AI chat to VS Code. It automatically uses the currently open workspace. Describe what you want in plain language — the extension forwards commands to the selected server through the local bridge, and returns the results to chat.

Free and open source — no API key, subscription, or sign-in required. snapgentV3 automatically uses the currently open VS Code workspace.

• Installation: Watch Installation Video

• Demo: Watch Demo Video

• MCP support

• Test snapgent connector + effect craft motion from artcraft Watch Video

┌─────────────┐     plain-text      ┌──────────────────┐    WebSocket    ┌────────────┐    MCP    ┌────────────────┐
│  AI chat    │ ───  commands  ───▶ │ snapgentV3       │ ──────────────▶ │  Bridge    │ ────────▶ │ Selected MCP   │
│  (browser)  │ ◀──  results   ───  │ browser extension│ ◀────────────── │ (local)    │ ◀──────── │ target         │
└─────────────┘                     └──────────────────┘                 └────────────┘           └────────────────┘

1. You describe a task in a supported AI chat.
2. The AI replies with a snapgentV3 command.
3. The extension detects the command and forwards it to the local bridge.
4. The bridge routes it to the VS Code MCP server.
5. The result is sent back into chat, and the AI continues working.

VS Code's MCP server is configured locally by start.bat; it detects the open VS Code workspace automatically.

Prefer not to load an extension or run the bridge yourself? Snapgent App is a standalone desktop app (Electron) with a built-in AI browser, a toolbar, and the bridge built in. It needs no Chrome/Edge, no start.bat, no Python and no Node.js.

Download (pre-release app-v0.1.0): Releases > app-v0.1.0

How to use

1. Install and open Snapgent. It opens claude.ai inside the app and keeps your login in its own profile.
2. Click the workspace button in the toolbar and choose your project folder.
3. Chat as usual. The agent bar appears on the page and runs the commands in the selected folder.

Known limitations (0.1.0)

• The exe is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn. Click More info, then Run anyway.
• Google sign-in has not been fully tested. If it fails, log in with email and password on the Claude page.
• Windows only. The default Electron icon is still used.

Build from source

The source is in snapgent-app/. It carries its own copy of the extension code (snapgent-app/extension), separate from snapgent-extension/.

cd snapgent-app
npm install
npm start        # run in development
npm run dist     # build the Windows installer into dist/

snapgent-app/bin/vscode_mcp.exe is not stored in Git. Build it from snapgent-app/mcp/vscode_mcp.py with PyInstaller (see vscode_mcp.spec) and place it in snapgent-app/bin/ before running npm run dist.

Provider activation is configured in manifest.json (content_scripts and host_permissions) and PROVIDER_URLS in background.js.

• Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome (Manifest V3).
• VS Code for the default target. Keep the workspace you want to use open in VS Code.
• Windows, macOS, or Linux for the bridge.
• Python 3.9+ on macOS and Linux. Windows includes the bridge executable.
• The bridge running while you use the agent.

① Load the extension

1. Download and extract the latest SnapgentV3 release.
2. Open edge://extensions (Edge) or chrome://extensions (Chrome).
3. Enable Developer mode.
4. Click Load unpacked and select the snapgent-extension folder.
5. The snapgentV3 icon appears in your browser toolbar.

② Set up the MCP target

For VS Code, open the project folder you want to work on before clicking Start in the chat bar. The bridge can be started before VS Code; the agent waits until a workspace is available and does not fall back to the Snapgent release folder.

③ Start the bridge

• Windows — double-click start.bat. It configures VS Code MCP automatically. You can start the bridge before VS Code. Machine-specific settings are written to the ignored local config.json.
• macOS — double-click MacOS_Start.command. It detects the bundled VS Code MCP server, Roblox Studio's MCP executable, and an installed EffectCraft CLI, then writes their machine-specific paths to the ignored local config.json. This launcher uses bridge.py; it does not run the Windows-only bridge.exe.
• Linux — open a terminal in the extracted release folder and run bash Linux_Start.sh. It detects the bundled VS Code MCP server and installed EffectCraft CLI, then writes machine-specific paths to the ignored local config.json. It uses bridge.py; the first launch installs websockets for your user, or creates a local Python environment if your distribution blocks user installs.

Keep the terminal window open while the bridge runs. On macOS, the first launch may show a Gatekeeper warning; select Done, then allow the script under System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Optional: connect EffectCraft

On Windows, start.bat detects EffectCraft in common install locations and starts its control channel automatically. On macOS, install the separate EffectCraft CLI release and put effectcraft-cli on your PATH; the launcher detects it and starts the app's control channel when EffectCraft is installed in /Applications or ~/Applications. On Linux, install the EffectCraft CLI and put effectcraft-cli on your PATH; the launcher detects it and starts EffectCraft when its executable is available on PATH or in a common installation location. On any system, save your work and close EffectCraft before restarting the launcher if EffectCraft is already open without the control channel. When the bridge connects, choose EffectCraft in the MCP target selector on the chat bar.

On macOS, Roblox Studio MCP is detected at /Applications/RobloxStudio.app/Contents/MacOS/StudioMCP; set ZS_STUDIO_MCP_PATH before launching if it is installed elsewhere. Linux does not auto-detect Roblox Studio MCP. If you have a compatible Linux MCP executable, set ZS_STUDIO_MCP_PATH to its path before running the launcher; Roblox Studio itself may not be available on your Linux distribution.

④ Start a session

1. Open a supported AI chat site and start a new chat.
2. Open a project folder in VS Code before clicking Start.
3. Click Start and describe what you want to make.

⑤ Updating to a new release

The extension and the bridge are two separate parts, and each one has to be updated. Reloading only the extension does not update the bridge, and the Restart button in the extension popup only restarts the MCP servers, it does not load new bridge code.

1. Get the new version: run git pull in the project folder, or download and extract the latest release.
2. Stop the old bridge: close the terminal window that is running start.bat, MacOS_Start.command or Linux_Start.sh.
3. Start the bridge again with the same launcher. The launcher replaces an old bridge still holding port 17613. On Linux it first checks that the process on the port is a Snapgent bridge, and stops with an error if it belongs to another program.
4. Reload the extension at chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions), then refresh open chat tabs (F5).
5. Check the versions: click the snapgentV3 icon. The popup header shows ext vX · bridge vY, and both numbers should match the release you installed. The bridge also writes snapgent bridge vY to its startup log.

If the popup shows bridge old, the bridge is still running old code: repeat steps 2 and 3. On macOS and Linux, also make sure there is no old executable file named bridge in the folder, because the launcher runs it instead of bridge.py.

Windows note (V3.9.4): start.bat runs the bundled bridge.exe, which was rebuilt for V3.9.4 and includes the large-response fix, the version display and parallel server startup. If the popup still shows bridge old, close start.bat and start it again so the new bridge.exe is used. To run the bridge from source instead, install Python 3.9+ and py -3 -m pip install websockets, then run py -3 bridge.py in the project folder.

Once a session is running, just talk to the AI normally:

"Inspect the files in my project and explain how the login flow works."

"Add a search bar to the books page and wire it to the existing API."

The AI sends commands, snapgentV3 runs them in the selected target (VS Code by default), and the results appear in chat. You can give the AI another instruction at any time.

Tips

• Keep the bridge window open — closing it disconnects the agent.
• Keep your intended project open in VS Code; it is the default MCP target.
• On Arena, use Direct mode.
• If Gemini or Kimi stops using tools in a long session, remind it to use the snapgentV3 commands or start a new chat.

The extension is split into a provider-agnostic core and per-site providers. The core talks to each AI site through the ZSProvider interface.

core/config.js              system prompt, feedback, tool categories
core/parser.js              snapgentV3 command parsing
core/main.js                agent loop, UI, session state
providers/<site>.js         site-specific selectors and chat integration
background.js               WebSocket connection to the local bridge
manifest.json               browser permissions and content scripts

The bridge routes commands to the configured MCP servers. Windows uses the bundled bridge.exe; macOS and Linux run the cross-platform bridge.py with Python.

snapgent-full/
├── snapgent-extension/        # Load this folder as an unpacked extension
│   ├── core/                  # Shared prompt, parser, agent loop, and UI
│   ├── providers/             # Per-AI-site integrations
│   ├── background.js          # Local bridge connection
│   ├── manifest.json          # Manifest V3 configuration
│   └── test-*.js              # Smoke tests
├── assets/                    # Project images
├── setup-config.ps1           # Configures Windows MCP servers
├── setup-config.py            # Detects MCP servers on macOS and Linux
├── config.json                # Generated locally by launchers (not tracked)
├── start.bat                  # Windows bridge launcher
├── MacOS_Start.command        # macOS bridge launcher
├── Linux_Start.sh             # Linux bridge launcher
├── bridge.exe                 # Windows local bridge
├── bridge.py                  # Cross-platform Python MCP bridge
├── vscode_mcp.exe             # Default VS Code MCP server (28 workspace tools)
├── vscode_mcp.py              # VS Code MCP server source
├── test_bridge.py             # MCP bridge protocol tests
├── test_setup_config.py       # MCP setup helper tests
└── vscode_mcp.spec            # PyInstaller build recipe