microsoft/playwright-mcp

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.

Playwright MCP vs Playwright CLI

This package provides MCP interface into Playwright. If you are using a coding agent, you might benefit from using the CLI+SKILLS instead.

• CLI: Modern coding agents increasingly favor CLI–based workflows exposed as SKILLs over MCP because CLI invocations are more token-efficient: they avoid loading large tool schemas and verbose accessibility trees into the model context, allowing agents to act through concise, purpose-built commands. This makes CLI + SKILLs better suited for high-throughput coding agents that must balance browser automation with large codebases, tests, and reasoning within limited context windows.
  Learn more about Playwright CLI with SKILLS.
• MCP: MCP remains relevant for specialized agentic loops that benefit from persistent state, rich introspection, and iterative reasoning over page structure, such as exploratory automation, self-healing tests, or long-running autonomous workflows where maintaining continuous browser context outweighs token cost concerns.

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.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer
• VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Desktop, Goose, Grok, Junie or any other MCP client

Getting started

First, install the Playwright MCP server with your client.

Standard config works in most of the tools:

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

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

amp mcp add playwright -- npx @playwright/mcp@latest

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

claude mcp add playwright npx @playwright/mcp@latest

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "timeout": 30,
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@playwright/mcp@latest"
      ],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

codex mcp add playwright npx "@playwright/mcp@latest"

[mcp_servers.playwright]
command = "npx"
args = ["@playwright/mcp@latest"]

/mcp add

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

droid mcp add playwright "npx @playwright/mcp@latest"

grok mcp add playwright -- npx @playwright/mcp@latest

[mcp_servers.playwright]
command = "npx"
args = ["@playwright/mcp@latest"]

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

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

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "playwright": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": [
        "npx",
        "@playwright/mcp@latest"
      ],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

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

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

Configuration

Playwright MCP server supports following arguments. They can be provided in the JSON configuration above, as a part of the "args" list:

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | --allowed-hosts | comma-separated list of hosts this server is allowed to serve from. Defaults to the host the server is bound to. Pass '*' to disable the host check.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS | | --allowed-origins | semicolon-separated list of TRUSTED origins to allow the browser to request. Default is to allow all. Important: does not serve as a security boundary and does not affect redirects.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS | | --allow-unrestricted-file-access | allow access to files outside of the workspace roots. Also allows unrestricted access to file:// URLs. By default access to file system is restricted to workspace root directories (or cwd if no roots are configured) only, and navigation to file:// URLs is blocked.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ALLOW_UNRESTRICTED_FILE_ACCESS | | --blocked-origins | semicolon-separated list of origins to block the browser from requesting. Blocklist is evaluated before allowlist. If used without the allowlist, requests not matching the blocklist are still allowed. Important: does not serve as a security boundary and does not affect redirects.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_BLOCKED_ORIGINS | | --block-service-workers | block service workers
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_BLOCK_SERVICE_WORKERS | | --browser | browser or chrome channel to use, possible values: chrome, firefox, webkit, msedge.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_BROWSER | | --caps | comma-separated list of additional capabilities to enable, possible values: vision, pdf, devtools.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CAPS | | --cdp-endpoint | CDP endpoint to connect to.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CDP_ENDPOINT | | --cdp-header | CDP headers to send with the connect request, multiple can be specified.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CDP_HEADERS | | --cdp-timeout | timeout in milliseconds for connecting to CDP endpoint, defaults to 30000ms
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CDP_TIMEOUT | | --codegen | specify the language to use for code generation, possible values: "typescript", "python", "java", "csharp", "none". Default is "typescript".
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CODEGEN | | --config | path to the configuration file.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CONFIG | | --console-level | level of console messages to return: "error", "warning", "info", "debug". Each level includes the messages of more severe levels.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CONSOLE_LEVEL | | --device | device to emulate, for example: "iPhone 15"
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_DEVICE | | --mobile | emulate a generic mobile device (Pixel 10 for Chromium, iPhone 17 for WebKit). Mobile pages are usually lighter, which saves tokens. Cannot be combined with --device.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_MOBILE | | --executable-path | path to the browser executable.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXECUTABLE_PATH | | --extension | Connect to a running browser instance (Edge/Chrome only). Requires the "Playwright Extension" to be installed.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXTENSION | | --endpoint | Bound browser endpoint to connect to.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ENDPOINT | | --grant-permissions | List of permissions to grant to the browser context, for example "geolocation", "clipboard-read", "clipboard-write".
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_GRANT_PERMISSIONS | | --headless | run browser in headless mode, headed by default
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HEADLESS | | --host | host to bind server to. Default is localhost. Use 0.0.0.0 to bind to all interfaces.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HOST | | --idle-timeout | close the browser after this many milliseconds without a completed tool call, the next tool call relaunches it. Defaults to one hour for headless browsers, never for headed ones, 0 disables.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_IDLE_TIMEOUT | | --ignore-https-errors | ignore https errors
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_IGNORE_HTTPS_ERRORS | | --init-page | path to TypeScript file to evaluate on Playwright page object
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_INIT_PAGE | | --init-script | path to JavaScript file to add as an initialization script. The script will be evaluated in every page before any of the page's scripts. Can be specified multiple times.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_INIT_SCRIPT | | --isolated | keep the browser profile in memory, do not save it to disk.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_ISOLATED | | --image-responses | whether to send image responses to the client. Can be "allow", "omit" or "only". With "only", a response that carries an image consists of the image parts alone, without the text part. Defaults to "allow".
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_IMAGE_RESPONSES | | --no-sandbox | disable the sandbox for all process types that are normally sandboxed.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_NO_SANDBOX | | --output-dir | path to the directory for automatically named output files, for example a screenshot taken without an explicit file name. Files with an explicit name are resolved against the workspace root instead and are not affected by this option.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_OUTPUT_DIR | | --output-max-size | Threshold for evicting old output files, in bytes.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_OUTPUT_MAX_SIZE | | --port | port to listen on for SSE transport.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_PORT | | --profile-dir-name | name of the profile directory in the user data dir to connect to with --extension, for example "Profile 1". Defaults to the last used profile that has the extension installed.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_PROFILE_DIR_NAME | | --proxy-bypass | comma-separated domains to bypass proxy, for example ".com,chromium.org,.domain.com"
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_PROXY_BYPASS | | --proxy-server | specify proxy server, for example "http://myproxy:3128" or "socks5://myproxy:8080"
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_PROXY_SERVER | | --sandbox | enable the sandbox for all process types that are normally not sandboxed.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SANDBOX | | --save-session | Whether to save the Playwright MCP session into the output directory.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SAVE_SESSION | | --secrets | path to a file containing secrets in the dotenv format
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SECRETS_FILE | | --shared-browser-context | reuse the same browser context between all connected HTTP clients.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SHARED_BROWSER_CONTEXT | | --snapshot-boxes | include each element's bounding box as [box=x,y,width,height] in snapshots. Coordinates are viewport-relative, in CSS pixels.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SNAPSHOT_BOXES | | --snapshot-mode | when taking snapshots for responses, specifies the mode to use. Can be "full" or "none". Default is "full".
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_SNAPSHOT_MODE | | --storage-state | path to the storage state file for isolated sessions.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_STORAGE_STATE | | --test-id-attribute | specify the attribute to use for test ids, defaults to "data-testid"
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_TEST_ID_ATTRIBUTE | | --timeout-action | specify action timeout in milliseconds, defaults to 5000ms
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_TIMEOUT_ACTION | | --timeout-navigation | specify navigation timeout in milliseconds, defaults to 60000ms
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_TIMEOUT_NAVIGATION | | --timeout-settle | how long to wait after each action for triggered work to settle, in milliseconds, defaults to 500ms
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_TIMEOUT_SETTLE | | --user-agent | specify user agent string
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_USER_AGENT | | --user-data-dir | path to the user data directory. If not specified, a temporary directory will be created.
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_USER_DATA_DIR | | --viewport-size | specify browser viewport size in pixels, for example "1280x720"
env PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_VIEWPORT_SIZE |

User profile

You can run Playwright MCP with persistent profile like a regular browser (default), in isolated contexts for testing sessions, or connect to your existing browser using the browser extension.

Persistent profile

All the logged in information will be stored in the persistent profile, you can delete it between sessions if you'd like to clear the offline state. Persistent profile is located at the following locations and you can override it with the --user-data-dir argument.

# Windows
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\ms-playwright\mcp-{channel}-{workspace-hash}
macOS
~/Library/Caches/ms-playwright/mcp-{channel}-{workspace-hash}

Linux
~/.cache/ms-playwright/mcp-{channel}-{workspace-hash}

{workspace-hash} is derived from the MCP client's workspace root, so different projects get separate profiles automatically.

[!IMPORTANT]

A persistent profile can only be used by one browser instance at a time, so concurrent MCP clients sharing the same workspace will conflict. To run several clients in parallel, start each additional client with --isolated or point it at a distinct --user-data-dir.

Isolated

In the isolated mode, each session is started in the isolated profile. Every time you ask MCP to close the browser, the session is closed and all the storage state for this session is lost. You can provide initial storage state to the browser via the config's contextOptions or via the --storage-state argument. Learn more about the storage state here.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@playwright/mcp@latest",
        "--isolated",
        "--storage-state={path/to/storage.json}"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Browser Extension

The Playwright MCP Chrome Extension allows you to connect to existing browser tabs and leverage your logged-in sessions and browser state. See microsoft/playwright › packages/extension for installation and setup instructions.

Initial state

There are multiple ways to provide the initial state to the browser context or a page.

For the storage state, you can either:

• Start with a user data directory using the --user-data-dir argument. This will persist all browser data between the sessions.
• Start with a storage state file using the --storage-state argument. This will load cookies and local storage from the file into an isolated browser context.

• --init-page to point to a TypeScript file that will be evaluated on the Playwright page object. This allows you to run arbitrary code to set up the page.

// init-page.ts
export default async ({ page }) => {
  await page.context().grantPermissions(['geolocation']);
  await page.context().setGeolocation({ latitude: 37.7749, longitude: -122.4194 });
  await page.setViewportSize({ width: 1280, height: 720 });
};

• --init-script to point to a JavaScript file that will be added as an initialization script. The script will be evaluated in every page before any of the page's scripts.

// init-script.js
window.isPlaywrightMCP = true;

Configuration file

The Playwright MCP server can be configured using a JSON configuration file. You can specify the configuration file using the --config command line option:

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