Playwright MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides browser automation capabilities using Playwright. This server enables LLMs to interact with web pages through structured accessibility snapshots, bypassing the need for screenshots or visually-tuned models.

Key Features

• Fast and lightweight: Uses Playwright's accessibility tree, not pixel-based input.
• LLM-friendly: No vision models needed, operates purely on structured data.
• Deterministic tool application: Avoids ambiguity common with screenshot-based approaches.

Use Cases

• Web navigation and form-filling
• Data extraction from structured content
• Automated testing driven by LLMs
• General-purpose browser interaction for agents

Example config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@playwright/mcp@latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Table of Contents

• Installation in VS Code
• Command line
• User profile
• Configuration file
• Running on Linux
• Docker
• Programmatic usage
• Tool modes

Installation in VS Code

You can install the Playwright MCP server using the VS Code CLI:

# For VS Code
code --add-mcp '{"name":"playwright","command":"npx","args":["@playwright/mcp@latest"]}'

After installation, the Playwright MCP server will be available for use with your GitHub Copilot agent in VS Code.

Command line

The Playwright MCP server supports the following command-line options:

• --browser <browser>: Browser or chrome channel to use. Possible values:
  • chrome, firefox, webkit, msedge
  • Chrome channels: chrome-beta, chrome-canary, chrome-dev
  • Edge channels: msedge-beta, msedge-canary, msedge-dev
  • Default: chrome
• --caps <caps>: Comma-separated list of capabilities to enable, possible values: tabs, pdf, history, wait, files, install. Default is all.
• --cdp-endpoint <endpoint>: CDP endpoint to connect to
• --executable-path <path>: Path to the browser executable
• --headless: Run browser in headless mode (headed by default)
• --device: Emulate mobile device
• --user-data-dir <path>: Path to the user data directory
• --port <port>: Port to listen on for SSE transport
• --host <host>: Host to bind server to. Default is localhost. Use 0.0.0.0 to bind to all interfaces.
• --vision: Run server that uses screenshots (Aria snapshots are used by default)
• --config <path>: Path to the configuration file

User profile

Playwright MCP will launch the browser with the new profile, located at

- `%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ms-playwright\mcp-{channel}-profile` on Windows
- `~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright/mcp-{channel}-profile` on macOS
- `~/.cache/ms-playwright/mcp-{channel}-profile` on Linux

All the logged in information will be stored in that profile, you can delete it between sessions if you'd like to clear the offline state.

Configuration file

The Playwright MCP server can be configured using a JSON configuration file. Here's the complete configuration format:

{
  // Browser configuration
  browser?: {
    // Browser type to use (chromium, firefox, or webkit)
    browserName?: 'chromium' | 'firefox' | 'webkit';

    // Path to user data directory for browser profile persistence
    userDataDir?: string;

    // Browser launch options (see Playwright docs)
    // @see https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browsertype#browser-type-launch
    launchOptions?: {
      channel?: string;        // Browser channel (e.g. 'chrome')
      headless?: boolean;      // Run in headless mode
      executablePath?: string; // Path to browser executable
      // ... other Playwright launch options
    };

    // Browser context options
    // @see https://playwright.dev/docs/api/class-browser#browser-new-context
    contextOptions?: {
      viewport?: { width: number, height: number };
      // ... other Playwright context options
    };

    // CDP endpoint for connecting to existing browser
    cdpEndpoint?: string;

    // Remote Playwright server endpoint
    remoteEndpoint?: string;
  },

  // Server configuration
  server?: {
    port?: number;  // Port to listen on
    host?: string;  // Host to bind to (default: localhost)
  },

  // List of enabled capabilities
  capabilities?: Array<
    'core' |    // Core browser automation
    'tabs' |    // Tab management
    'pdf' |     // PDF generation
    'history' | // Browser history
    'wait' |    // Wait utilities
    'files' |   // File handling
    'install'   // Browser installation
  >;

  // Enable vision mode (screenshots instead of accessibility snapshots)
  vision?: boolean;

  // Directory for output files
  outputDir?: string;

  // Tool-specific configurations
  tools?: {
    browser_take_screenshot?: {
      // Disable base64-encoded image responses
      omitBase64?: boolean;
    }
  }
}

You can specify the configuration file using the --config command line option:

npx @playwright/mcp@latest --config path/to/config.json

Running on Linux

When running headed browser on system w/o display or from worker processes of the IDEs, run the MCP server from environment with the DISPLAY and pass the --port flag to enable SSE transport.

npx @playwright/mcp@latest --port 8931

And then in MCP client config, set the url to the SSE endpoint:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8931/sse"
    }
  }
}

Docker

NOTE: The Docker implementation only supports headless chromium at the moment.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "--init", "mcp/playwright"]
    }
  }
}

You can build the Docker image yourself.

docker build -t mcp/playwright .

Programmatic usage

import http from 'http';

import { createServer } from '@playwright/mcp';
import { SSEServerTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/sse.js';

http.createServer(async (req, res) => {
  // ...

  // Creates a headless Playwright MCP server with SSE transport
  const mcpServer = await createServer({ headless: true });
  const transport = new SSEServerTransport('/messages', res);
  await mcpServer.connect(transport);

  // ...
});

Tool modes

The tools are available in two modes:

1. Snapshot Mode (default): Uses accessibility snapshots for better performance and reliability
2. Vision Mode: Uses screenshots for visual-based interactions

To use Vision Mode, add the --vision flag when starting the server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@playwright/mcp@latest",
        "--vision"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Vision Mode works best with the computer use models that are able to interact with elements using X Y coordinate space, based on the provided screenshot.

Snapshot-based Interactions

• browser_snapshot
  • Description: Capture accessibility snapshot of the current page, this is better than screenshot
  • Parameters: None

• browser_click
  • Description: Perform click on a web page
  • Parameters:
    • element (string): Human-readable element description used to obtain permission to interact with the element
    • ref (string): Exact target element reference from the page snapshot

• browser_drag
  • Description: Perform drag and drop between two elements
  • Parameters:
    • startElement (string): Human-readable source element description used to obtain the permission to interact with the element
    • startRef (string): Exact source element reference from the page snapshot
    • endElement (string): Human-readable target element description used to obtain the permission to interact with the element
    • endRef (string): Exact target element reference from the page snapshot

• browser_hover
  • Description: Hover over element on page
  • Parameters:
    • element (string): Human-readable element description used to obtain permission to interact with the element
    • ref (string): Exact target element reference from the page snapshot

• browser_type
  • Description: Type text into editable element
  • Parameters:
    • element (string): Human-readable element description used to obtain permission to interact with the element
    • ref (string): Exact target element reference from the page snapshot
    • text (string): Text to type into the element
    • submit (boolean, optional): Whether to submit entered text (press Enter after)
    • slowly (boolean, optional): Whether to type one character at a time. Useful for triggering key handlers in the page. By default entire text is filled in at once.

• browser_select_option
  • Description: Select an option in a dropdown
  • Parameters:
    • element (string): Human-readable element description used to obtain permission to interact with the element
    • ref (string): Exact target element reference from the page snapshot
    • values (array): Array of values to select in the dropdown. This can be a single value or multiple values.

• browser_take_screenshot
  • Description: Take a screenshot of the current page. You can't perform actions based on the screenshot, use browser_snapshot for actions.
  • Parameters:
    • raw (boolean, optional): Whether to return without compression (in PNG format). Default is false, which returns a JPEG image.
    • element (string, optional): Human-readable element description used to obtain permission to screenshot the element. If not provided, the screenshot will be taken of viewport. If element is provided, ref must be provided too.
    • ref (string, optional): Exact target element reference from the page snapshot. If not provided, the screenshot will be taken of viewport. If ref is provided, element must be provided too.

Vision-based Interactions

• browser_screen_capture
  • Description: Take a screenshot of the current page
  • Parameters: None

• browser_screen_move_mouse
  • Description: Move mouse to a given position
  • Parameters:
    • element (string): Human-readable element description used to obtain permission to interact with the element
    • x (number): X coordinate
    • y (number): Y coordinate

• browser_screen_click
  • Description: Click left mouse button
  • Parameters:
    • element (string): Human-readable element description used to obtain permission to interact with the element
    • x (number): X coordinate
    • y (number): Y coordinate

• browser_screen_drag
  • Description: Drag left mouse button
  • Parameters:
    • element (string): Human-readable element description used to obtain permission to interact with the element
    • startX (number): Start X coordinate
    • startY (number): Start Y coordinate
    • endX (number): End X coordinate
    • endY (number): End Y coordinate

• browser_screen_type
  • Description: Type text
  • Parameters:
    • text (string): Text to type into the element
    • submit (boolean, optional): Whether to submit entered text (press Enter after)

Tab Management

• browser_tab_list
  • Description: List browser tabs
  • Parameters: None

• browser_tab_new
  • Description: Open a new tab
  • Parameters:
    • url (string, optional): The URL to navigate to in the new tab. If not provided, the new tab will be blank.

• browser_tab_select
  • Description: Select a tab by index
  • Parameters:
    • index (number): The index of the tab to select

• browser_tab_close
  • Description: Close a tab
  • Parameters:
    • index (number, optional): The index of the tab to close. Closes current tab if not provided.

Navigation

• browser_navigate
  • Description: Navigate to a URL
  • Parameters:
    • url (string): The URL to navigate to

• browser_navigate_back
  • Description: Go back to the previous page
  • Parameters: None

• browser_navigate_forward
  • Description: Go forward to the next page
  • Parameters: None

Keyboard

• browser_press_key
  • Description: Press a key on the keyboard
  • Parameters:
    • key (string): Name of the key to press or a character to generate, such as ArrowLeft or a

Console

• browser_console_messages
  • Description: Returns all console messages
  • Parameters: None

Files and Media

• browser_file_upload
  • Description: Upload one or multiple files
  • Parameters:
    • paths (array): The absolute paths to the files to upload. Can be a single file or multiple files.

• browser_pdf_save
  • Description: Save page as PDF
  • Parameters: None

Utilities

• browser_close
  • Description: Close the page
  • Parameters: None

• browser_wait
  • Description: Wait for a specified time in seconds
  • Parameters:
    • time (number): The time to wait in seconds

• browser_resize
  • Description: Resize the browser window
  • Parameters:
    • width (number): Width of the browser window
    • height (number): Height of the browser window

• browser_install
  • Description: Install the browser specified in the config. Call this if you get an error about the browser not being installed.
  • Parameters: None

• browser_handle_dialog
  • Description: Handle a dialog
  • Parameters:
    • accept (boolean): Whether to accept the dialog.
    • promptText (string, optional): The text of the prompt in case of a prompt dialog.