Playwright Automation: MCP Server

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

NPX

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

Installation in VS Code

Install the Playwright MCP server in VS Code using one of these buttons:

Alternatively, 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"]}'

# For VS Code Insiders
code-insiders --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.

CLI Options

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)
--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.
--user-data-dir <path>: Path to the user data directory
--vision: Run server that uses screenshots (Aria snapshots are used by default)

User data directory

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

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

Running headless browser (Browser without GUI)

This mode is useful for background or batch operations.

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

Running headed browser on Linux w/o DISPLAY

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"
    }
  }
}

When running in a remote server, you can use the --host flag to bind the server to 0.0.0.0 to make it accessible from outside.

npx @playwright/mcp@latest --port 8931 --host 0.0.0.0

In MCP client config, $server-ip is the IP address of the server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "url": "http://{$server-ip}: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"]
    }
  }
}

Tool Modes

The tools are available in two modes:

Snapshot Mode (default): Uses accessibility snapshots for better performance and reliability
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.

Build with Docker

You can build the Docker image yourself.

docker build -t mcp/playwright .

Programmatic usage with custom transports

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);

  // ...
});

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.

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.

Playwright Automation

Playwright MCP server