playwriter

Other browser MCPs spawn a fresh Chrome — no logins, no extensions, instantly flagged by bot detectors, double the memory. Playwriter connects to your running browser instead. One Chrome extension, full Playwright API, everything you're already logged into.

Installation

1. Install Extension from Chrome Web Store

2. Click extension icon on a tab → turns green when connected

3. Install the CLI and start automating the browser:

   npm i -g playwriter
   playwriter -s 1 -e 'state.page = await context.newPage(); await state.page.goto("https://example.com")'
   

4. Install the skill so your agent knows how to use Playwriter:

   npx -y skills add https://playwriter.dev
   

Quick Start

playwriter browser start  # starts Chrome for Testing/Chromium with bundled Playwriter extension
playwriter session new  # creates stateful sandbox, outputs session id (e.g. 1)
playwriter -s 1 -e 'state.page = await context.newPage(); await state.page.goto("https://example.com")'
playwriter -s 1 -e 'console.log(await snapshot({ page: state.page }))'
playwriter -s 1 -e 'await state.page.locator("aria-ref=e5").click()'

Tip: Always use single quotes for -e to prevent bash from interpreting $, backticks, and \ in your JS code. Use double quotes for strings inside the JS.

CLI Usage

Each session has isolated state. Browser tabs are shared across sessions.

# Browser management
playwriter browser start             # auto-finds Chrome for Testing or Chromium, with recording flags enabled
playwriter browser start /path/to/browser-binary

# Session management
playwriter session new              # creates stateful sandbox, outputs id (e.g. 1)
playwriter session new --tab-group agent1 --tab-group-color blue
playwriter session update 1 --tab-group research
playwriter session list             # show sessions + state keys + group
playwriter session reset <id>       # fix connection issues

# Execute (always use -s)
playwriter -s 1 -e 'state.page = await context.newPage(); await state.page.goto("https://example.com")'
playwriter -s 1 -e 'await state.page.click("button")'
playwriter -s 1 -e 'console.log(await state.page.title())'

There is no default page. Create your own tab and store it in state. To use a tab the user already opened, find it by URL:

playwriter -s 1 -e 'state.page = context.pages().findLast((p) => p.url().includes("github.com"))'

Tab groups

Local extension sessions use a Chrome tab group named playwriter by default. Remote-control sessions put the tabs they open into remote. Use the shortest clear single-word name with no spaces, such as docs, shop, test, or scrape.

# Park a long scrape in its own group. The user can Move group to new window
# (or another screen). New tabs from this session follow that group.
playwriter session new --tab-group scrape --tab-group-color grey

# Split concurrent agents so many open tabs stay readable
playwriter session new --tab-group agent1 --tab-group-color blue
playwriter session new --tab-group agent2 --tab-group-color pink

# Name a group the user can collapse when they don't care about it
playwriter session new --tab-group done --tab-group-color grey

# Rename or recolor later
playwriter session update 1 --tab-group research
playwriter session update 1 --tab-group-color red

# Remote tabs support the same title and color options
playwriter session new --remote <id> --tab-group support
playwriter session update 1 --tab-group review --tab-group-color cyan

--tab-group-color accepts: grey, blue, red, yellow, green, pink, purple, cyan, orange. Without it, color is derived from the name. The default local playwriter group stays green.

Node programs should use connectViaExtension() instead of posting /cli/session/new themselves:

import { connectViaExtension } from 'playwriter'

await using connection = await connectViaExtension({
  tabGroup: 'email-check',
  tabGroupColor: 'grey',
})
const page = await connection.browser.contexts()[0].newPage()
await page.goto('https://example.com')
// connection closes automatically when the scope ends, also on throw

tabGroupColor is typed as Chrome's tab group colors. await using calls close() at scope end: it closes the tabs this connection opened (never other sessions' tabs), disconnects CDP, and deletes the session. Without await using, call await connection.close() in finally.

Pass closeTabsOnEnd: false to keep the opened tabs after close(). A later process can reuse them:

// process A
await using a = await connectViaExtension({ tabGroup: 'job', closeTabsOnEnd: false })
await (await a.browser.contexts()[0].newPage()).goto('https://example.com')

// process B, later
await using b = await connectViaExtension({ tabGroup: 'job' })
const page = b.browser.contexts()[0].pages().findLast((p) => p.url().includes('example.com'))

Tabs that b did not open are never closed by b.close().

If the extension runs in more than one browser or profile, pass selectBrowser. It gets every connected browser and returns the one to use:

await using connection = await connectViaExtension({
  selectBrowser: (browsers) => {
    // [{ id, browser: 'Brave', email: 'me@work.com', activeTabs, playwriterVersion }]
    return browsers.find((b) => b.email === 'me@work.com')
  },
})

id is stable, so you can save it and match on it later. listBrowsers() returns the same list without connecting.

Multiline:

playwriter -s 1 -e $'
const title = await state.page.title();
console.log({ title, url: state.page.url() });
'

Examples

Variables in scope: context, state (persists between calls), cloud (local CLI sessions), require, importModule, native import(), and Node.js globals. Relative imports resolve from the session working directory. There is no default page; examples below assume state.page was set as shown above.

Persist data in state:

playwriter -e "state.users = await state.page.$$eval('.user', els => els.map(e => e.textContent))"
playwriter -e "console.log(state.users)"

Intercept network requests:

playwriter -e "state.requests = []; state.page.on('response', r => { if (r.url().includes('/api/')) state.requests.push(r.url()) })"
playwriter -e "await Promise.all([state.page.waitForResponse(r => r.url().includes('/api/')), state.page.click('button')])"
playwriter -e "console.log(state.requests)"

Set breakpoints and debug:

playwriter -e "state.cdp = await getCDPSession({ page: state.page }); state.dbg = createDebugger({ cdp: state.cdp }); await state.dbg.enable()"
playwriter -e "state.scripts = await state.dbg.listScripts({ search: 'app' }); console.log(state.scripts.map(s => s.url))"
playwriter -e "await state.dbg.setBreakpoint({ file: state.scripts[0].url, line: 42 })"

Live edit page code:

playwriter -e "state.cdp = await getCDPSession({ page: state.page }); state.editor = createEditor({ cdp: state.cdp }); await state.editor.enable()"
playwriter -e "await state.editor.edit({ url: 'https://example.com/app.js', oldString: 'const DEBUG = false', newString: 'const DEBUG = true' })"

Screenshot with labels:

playwriter -e "await screenshotWithAccessibilityLabels({ page: state.page })"

Live stream a tab to X Live / Twitch (RTMP, runs 24/7):

playwriter -s 1 -e "state.page = await context.newPage(); await state.page.goto('https://example.com')"
playwriter stream start -s 1 --rtmp rtmp://va.pscp.tv:80/x/<stream-key>
playwriter stream status -s 1
playwriter stream stop -s 1

MCP Setup

Using the CLI with the skill (step 4 above) is the recommended approach. For direct MCP server configuration, see MCP.md.

Visual Labels

Vimium-style labels for AI agents to identify elements:

await screenshotWithAccessibilityLabels({ page: state.page })
// Returns screenshot + accessibility snapshot with aria-ref selectors
await state.page.locator('aria-ref=e5').click()

Color-coded: yellow=links, orange=buttons, coral=inputs, pink=checkboxes, peach=sliders, salmon=menus, amber=tabs.

Comparison

vs Playwright MCP

	Playwriter	Playwright MCP
Browser	Uses your Chrome	Separate managed profile by default
Extensions	Your existing ones	None by default
Login state	Already logged in	Persistent, but a separate profile
Attach to your Chrome	Core design	--extension mode
Bot handling	Real browser (disconnect to solve)	Managed automation profile
Native video / raw CDP	Yes	Trace-based / not exposed

Note: Playwriter video recording is 100x more efficient than Playwright video recording, which sends base64 images for every frame.

	Playwriter	Playwright CLI
Browser	Uses your Chrome	New browser by default
Login state	Already logged in	Persistent profile, separate
Extensions	Your existing ones	None by default
Captchas	Disconnect extension to solve	Managed automation profile
Programmable JS	execute with persistent state	run-code (no cross-call state)
Raw CDP access	First-class	Not exposed
Native video	chrome.tabCapture (30–60fps)	Trace / screencast based

vs BrowserMCP

	Playwriter	BrowserMCP
Tools	1 execute tool	12+ dedicated tools
API	Full Playwright	Limited actions
Context usage	Low	High (tool schemas)
LLM knowledge	Already knows Playwright	Must learn tools

vs agent-browser

	Playwriter	agent-browser
Browser	Uses your Chrome	Fresh Chrome for Testing
API surface	1 execute + full Playwright	50+ CLI commands, one per action
Actions per turn	Real JS (loops, conditions)	batch of command strings
Reusable logic	Import a .js function	Re-run bash sequences
Skill recorder	Yes	No
Cloud browsers	Built-in stealth + proxy	Plugin only
Remote control tab	Yes (Devin, cloud bots)	No

vs Antigravity (Jetski)

	Playwriter	Jetski