Playwright

You can use the Playwright MCP Server to automate web browser actions through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This server exposes browser automation endpoints over a transport that streams HTTP requests, enabling you to navigate pages, interact with elements, capture accessibility snapshots, and take screenshots from your MCP client with ease.

How to use

To start automating with the Playwright MCP Server, run it in one of two transports. The recommended approach uses StreamableHttp to access the server remotely via HTTP, while the alternative uses a local stdio-based flow for closer integration in development.

• StreamableHttp transport (recommended): Start the server and connect your MCP client to the HTTP endpoint. You can perform actions like navigating to a URL, clicking elements, typing text, taking screenshots, and capturing accessibility snapshots.

• Stdio transport: Start the server for local development and communicate through standard input/output channels. This is useful when running the server as a local process during development.

How to install

Prerequisites: Node.js and npm must be available on your system. You should have a compatible Node.js version installed to run the MCP server and its dependencies.

npm install

Additional notes

Starting the server with StreamableHttp transport exposes an HTTP MCP endpoint at the default port 3000. You can access the MCP server at http://localhost:3000/mcp unless you specify a different port.

If you prefer to change the port, you can pass a port option when starting the server with the StreamableHttp transport.

The server supports a core set of browser automation actions including navigating to a URL, taking accessibility snapshots, clicking elements, typing text, taking screenshots, and closing the browser session.

Usage patterns with an MCP client

Connect your MCP client to the HTTP endpoint and invoke actions using the MCP protocol. For a typical setup, start the server with the HTTP transport and point your client to the provided URL. The following setup is shown as an example of how the client might reference the server endpoint.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:3000/mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Available tools

browser_navigate

Navigate the browser to a specified URL.

browser_snapshot

Capture an accessibility snapshot of the current page.

browser_click

Click a page element identified by a selector or locator.

browser_type

Type text into a focused input element.

browser_take_screenshot

Capture a screenshot of the current page.

browser_close

Close the current browser context.