Lighthouse

You can run and interact with the Lighthouse MCP Server to perform thorough web performance audits, accessibility checks, SEO analysis, security assessments, and Core Web Vitals monitoring. It leverages Google Lighthouse to analyze pages and exposes tools and prompts that help you guide AI agents or LLMs in producing actionable insights for web optimization.

How to use

You will connect to the Lighthouse MCP Server using an MCP client. Start the server as a local (stdio) MCP service and then issue analysis and optimization commands through your MCP client. Use the available tools to run audits, retrieve scores, examine Core Web Vitals, analyze resources, and perform security checks. You can also leverage built‑in prompts to structure analysis, generate improvement plans, and compare audit results over time.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Node.js 22.0.0 or newer installed on your machine. You also require a compatible MCP client such as VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Desktop, or any other MCP client that supports MCP servers.

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

Install in a local environment and start the server

To install and run the Lighthouse MCP Server locally, execute the following steps in order. These steps assume you will start the server in a standard local environment using the recommended npx invocation.

# Install and start the Lighthouse MCP Server via MCP client configuration
# Create or update your MCP configuration with the following snippet
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lighthouse": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@danielsogl/lighthouse-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Notes for authenticated sessions (optional)

If you need authenticated sessions and persistent browser state, you can add a profile path and run headed mode by expanding the command arguments to include profile management flags. This allows cookies and local storage to persist between runs.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lighthouse": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@danielsogl/lighthouse-mcp@latest",
        "--profile-path",
        "<profile-path>",
        "--no-headless"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Available tools

run_audit

Runs a comprehensive Lighthouse audit across selected categories and device profile.

get_accessibility_score

Returns accessibility scores and recommendations based on Lighthouse results.

get_seo_analysis

Performs SEO analysis and provides optimization recommendations.

check_pwa_readiness

Evaluates the PWA readiness of a site and reports actionable items.

get_performance_score

Fetches the overall performance score from Lighthouse audits.

get_core_web_vitals

Retrieves Core Web Vitals metrics such as LCP, FID, and CLS with optional details and thresholds.

compare_mobile_desktop

Compares performance between mobile and desktop profiles for a given URL.

check_performance_budget

Checks the site against defined performance budgets.

get_lcp_opportunities

Identifies opportunities to improve Largest Contentful Paint performance.

find_unused_javascript

Finds unused JavaScript that can be removed or deferred.

analyze_resources

Analyzes all website resources to identify optimization opportunities.

get_security_audit

Performs a comprehensive security audit with selectable checks.