Chrome Ops MCP

Developer-focused MCP + persistent local host + Chrome Manifest V3 extension for Chrome operations that ordinary browser automation does not expose well.

Chrome Ops is for AI coding agents that need to inspect and operate Chrome as a developer, not just click web pages. It lets an agent read DevTools Console/Network data, inspect response bodies and streams, evaluate JavaScript, and manage unpacked Chrome extensions during an edit-test-debug loop.

Initial capabilities: tab discovery, CDP attach/detach, Console/Log capture, Network/WebSocket/EventSource capture, Runtime.evaluate, installed-extension inventory/enable-disable/uninstall, and selected per-site content settings.

This project targets developers using AI coding agents. The intended loop is edit -> reload -> inspect Console/Network -> fix -> repeat, including Chrome-extension development.

Supported harnesses are Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and the local Grok Build CLI. Each launches the stdio MCP server; Chrome Ops never exposes its localhost Host ports to them. See docs/CLIENTS.md.

Network event observations are redacted before they cross the extension boundary: Cookie, Set-Cookie, Authorization, proxy authorization, and cookie value fields are replaced with [REDACTED]. Response bodies requested explicitly with network_response_body are not content-scanned for arbitrary secrets; see SECURITY.md.

Support

	Host service	Unpacked-extension developer operations
macOS	LaunchAgent	Swift helper (Accessibility)
Windows 11	logon Scheduled Task	PowerShell 7 helper (UI Automation)
Linux (systemd)	systemd user service	Chrome Ops' own development Chrome (DevTools pipe)

Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Grok Build are registered the same way on every OS.

On Linux, Chrome Ops runs a separate development Chrome with its own profile instead of driving your everyday Chrome. Wayland does not let other programs press Chrome's buttons, so Chrome Ops starts that Chrome itself and uses Chrome's DevTools pipe for Load unpacked, reload, errors and remove. The Bridge lives in that Chrome, so every Chrome Ops tool works on its tabs.

Quick start

Requirements: Chrome, Node.js 22+, and Git. macOS also needs the Swift toolchain (swift) and Accessibility permission for the app that runs Chrome Ops. Windows also needs PowerShell 7+ (pwsh). Linux needs a graphical systemd user session and Google Chrome or Chromium.

git clone https://github.com/kitepon/chrome-ops-mcp.git
cd chrome-ops-mcp
npm run setup

npm run setup installs dependencies, builds, and starts the persistent Chrome Ops Host as a per-user service for this OS. It is safe to repeat. When an unpacked Bridge is already connected, it also updates the Bridge from this checkout and waits for the new worker to reconnect.

On macOS and Windows, open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, choose Load unpacked, and select this repository's extension/ directory. Load it in one Chrome profile only; if several Bridge profiles connect, Chrome Ops reports the ambiguity instead of guessing.

On Linux, npm run setup starts the development Chrome and loads the Bridge into it; there is nothing to load by hand. Do not load the Bridge into another Chrome on Linux. Close the development Chrome whenever you like; reopen it from Chrome Ops Chrome in the application menu, or let a developer operation start it. Its profile is ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/chrome-ops/chrome-profile.

Then register the harnesses you use:

npm run register          # every installed harness
npm run register:claude   # or one of: claude, codex, cursor, grok
npm run doctor

Registration backs up the harness configuration before a change and refuses to replace a different chrome-ops entry. Restart or reload the harness if it does not discover the new server immediately. npm run doctor reports the Host service, the Bridge connection, developer-operation readiness, and the registration state of each harness. npm run uninstall stops and removes the Host service (and on Linux the development Chrome service and launcher); it leaves the Bridge extension, the Linux development Chrome profile, and harness registrations in place.

Registrations point at the absolute path of the current Node executable and of dist/index.js in this checkout. Moving the checkout or changing Node requires registering again.

Logs: macOS writes the Host log to ~/Library/Logs/ChromeOps/; Linux uses journalctl --user -u chrome-ops-host and journalctl --user -u chrome-ops-chrome. Backups of harness configuration go to ~/Library/Application Support/ChromeOps/backups (macOS), %LOCALAPPDATA%\ChromeOps\backups (Windows), or ${XDG_STATE_HOME:-~/.local/state}/chrome-ops/backups (Linux).

Code layout

Shared code, OS adaptation, and harness adaptation live in separate files.

Area	Shared	OS adaptation	Harness adaptation
MCP server	src/index.ts, src/bridge.ts, src/host.ts, src/helper.ts	src/os/{macos,windows,linux}.ts, src/os/linux-*.ts	—
Setup	scripts/chrome-ops.mjs, scripts/lib/	scripts/os/{macos,windows,linux}.mjs	scripts/harness/{claude,codex,cursor,grok}.mjs
Native helper	helper/contract.ts	helper/macos/, helper/windows/, src/os/linux-helper.ts	—

See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the contracts between them.

Core MCP tools

• DevTools: devtools_attach, console_read, runtime_evaluate, page_reload
• Network: network_requests, network_failures, network_response_body, websocket_messages, eventsource_messages
• Extensions: extensions_list, extension_get, extension_set_enabled
• Unpacked extension development: extension_dev_load, extension_dev_reload, extension_dev_errors, extension_dev_remove
• Chrome content settings: content_setting_get, content_setting_set

The extension connects only to the local Chrome Ops Host on 127.0.0.1.

Chrome 116+ keeps extension service workers alive when WebSocket traffic is active; the bridge sends a 20-second heartbeat. Active chrome.debugger sessions also keep the worker alive on Chrome 118+.

Verified locally

• MCP stdio client -> server -> extension WebSocket connection
• Live Chrome tab enumeration
• chrome.debugger.attach() with protocol 1.3
• Runtime.evaluate against a real HTTP tab
• Console/Log capture
• Network capture after Page.reload
• Network credential redaction
• Persistent Host survives individual stdio MCP client lifetimes
• Windows helper: Load unpacked, exact-ID reload, Errors extraction, remove + postcondition verification
• macOS helper: Load unpacked, exact-ID reload, Errors extraction, remove + postcondition verification on a disposable fixture
• macOS LaunchAgent: setup, repeat setup, restart, uninstall, and reinstall with stdio MCP reconnection
• v0.3 on macOS 27, Windows 11, and Ubuntu 26.04: npm run setup, npm run register for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Grok Build, npm run doctor, and each harness's own MCP check. Load/reload/errors/remove passed on macOS and Windows with a disposable fixture.
• v0.4 on Ubuntu 26.04 (GNOME Wayland): the development Chrome started by npm run setup, and load/reload/errors/remove through MCP and from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Grok Build. CI runs the Linux helper against headless Chrome.

Known boundary

Chrome's public chrome.management extension API can inspect installed extensions but does not expose arbitrary unpacked-directory loading or another extension's developer reload action. Chrome Ops uses deliberately narrow PowerShell 7 + Windows UI Automation and Swift + macOS Accessibility helpers for those developer-mode operations. On Linux it uses the DevTools pipe of the development Chrome it started itself. The helpers are not generic shell/UI automation APIs.

v0.4 alpha limitations

• On macOS and Windows, Chrome Developer mode must already be enabled for unpacked-extension operations. The Linux development Chrome turns it on itself.
• Developer-management UI automation on macOS and Windows is currently validated against Japanese and English Chrome labels; other UI languages are not yet guaranteed.
• On macOS and Windows, the Chrome Ops extension itself must be loaded manually once during initial setup. Later npm run setup runs update an already connected unpacked Bridge.
• On Linux the developer operations and every other tool act on the development Chrome, not on your everyday Chrome.
• On macOS and Windows, each unpacked-extension developer operation prepares its own management tab in the connected Bridge profile. Load verifies the new development extension through Chrome's management API before returning verifiedLoaded: true. Reload reports UI submission; check an observable version or behavior change. Remove verifies absence through Chrome's management API.
• Each OS was verified on one machine and Chrome installation.