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dev-browser

by SawyerHood · SawyerHood/dev-browser

A Claude Skill that spins up a devtools-enabled browser your agent can drive — navigate, click, inspect, screenshot.

dev-browser gives your Claude agent a dev-oriented headless browser via skill prompts. It wraps a CDP-based browser with agent-friendly affordances: stable selectors, screenshot-on-every-action, and DOM snapshots ready to chunk. Ideal when you need a browser but don't want to set up playwright end-to-end.

▶ Watch demo 📦 Install 💡 Use Cases

Why use it

Key features

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

ready

Install

Author repository · Claude Skills documentation

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use dev-browser

Do quick web research without setting up an MCP

👤 Devs who don't want Playwright in their MCP config ⏱ ~15 min beginner

When to use: You want your Claude Code session to browse something once without committing to a persistent browser server.

Flow
  1. Spin up
    Use dev-browser. Open https://vercel.com/docs/functions. List the sidebar sections.✓ Copied
    → Headings extracted with anchor URLs
  2. Drill in
    Navigate to "Runtime" — read the page and summarize the three runtime options in one paragraph each.✓ Copied
    → Three paragraphs with citations to URL fragments
  3. Capture
    Screenshot the pricing section for my notes.✓ Copied
    → Screenshot saved locally

Outcome: Research done with a browser when you needed one, without ongoing infrastructure.

Pitfalls
  • Chromium binary missing — Run npx playwright install chromium once
Combine with: filesystem

Sanity check a login flow on a staging env

👤 QA-minded devs pre-deploy ⏱ ~5 min beginner

When to use: Before deploying, you want to click through the critical happy path once.

Flow
  1. Open
    Use dev-browser. Open https://staging.myapp.com, take a screenshot.✓ Copied
    → Landing page screenshot
  2. Sign in
    Click "Sign in", enter [email protected] / Test1234, submit.✓ Copied
    → Post-login dashboard captured
  3. Confirm
    Is the "Welcome, qa" string visible on the page?✓ Copied
    → Yes/no + screenshot

Outcome: A 60-second smoke test before clicking Deploy.

Pitfalls
  • CAPTCHA on login — Add a test-only bypass in staging; dev-browser is not a captcha breaker

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

dev-browser-skill + filesystem

Save screenshots alongside notes

After every step, screenshot into /notes/web-research/.✓ Copied
dev-browser-skill + chrome-devtools

When you need devtools-level depth, escalate to chrome-devtools MCP

dev-browser gave me the page — now use chrome-devtools to check the network waterfall.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

ToolInputsWhen to callCost
open_url url Navigate 0
click selector|text Interact 0
type selector, text Enter text 0
snapshot none Ground in current state 0

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota
N/A
Tokens per call
DOM snapshots size-gated; screenshots base64
Monetary
Free
Tip
Skip snapshots when not needed — the screenshot alone is often enough

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: None
Data egress: Direct to sites you navigate to

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

Error: Executable doesn't exist at chromium path

npx playwright install chromium — the skill assumes Playwright's binaries

Selector not found

Run snapshot first; pick selector from real DOM, not guessed

Page blocks automation

Site detected headless — try running with headless=false in skill config

Alternatives

dev-browser vs others

AlternativeWhen to use it insteadTradeoff
playwright MCPYou want a persistent, MCP-registered browserMore setup; skill is lighter
mcp-chromeYou need your real logged-in ChromeNot a headless test browser

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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