| FMRS | 66 / 100 · C | 64 / 100 · C |
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| Reliability | 9 / 20 | 11 / 20 |
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| Security and permissions | 11 / 20 | 12 / 20 |
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| Maintenance | 15 / 20 | 12 / 20 |
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| Documentation | 17 / 20 | 15 / 20 |
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| Setup experience | 14 / 20 | 14 / 20 |
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| Best for | - Developers who need browser automation from Claude Desktop, VS Code, and similar clients
- Users doing web testing and scraping
| - Developers already using Codex CLI/IDE, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or Cursor who want to drive a local browser
- Automation that needs both DOM-selector work and coordinate interaction on visual surfaces
- Teams wanting a lightweight Python 3.10+ browser automation option using local Chrome/Chromium
- Local workflows that need no external API credentials, including authorized testing and accessibility work
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| Not for | - Environments requiring strict sandboxing that disallow AI-controlled browsers
- Claude Desktop users needing HTTP/SSE mode (Claude Desktop currently requires stdio mode)
| - Users expecting built-in site-specific workflows, component-library adaptation, or challenge handling (these live in the client or optional Skills)
- Environments without Chrome/Chromium or without Python 3.10+
- Users who need a cloud-hosted browser or remote execution environment
- Production-critical scenarios that require official vendor support or an SLA
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| Required permissions | - Runs real browsers (Chromium, Firefox, WebKit) locally
- Automatically downloads and installs browser binaries on first use
- Writes log files to ~/playwright-mcp-server.log
- Binds a local port in HTTP mode (default 8931)
| - Local browser control: open tabs, navigate to any reachable URL, run bounded JavaScript
- Read and write browser Cookies, localStorage, and sessionStorage
- Read and modify request headers, user agent, HTTP cache, and browser permissions
- File upload and download (bounded by DP_MCP_UPLOAD_ROOT and DP_MCP_DOWNLOAD_ROOT), plus screenshot and PDF/MHTML artifact writes (bounded by DP_MCP_SCREENSHOT_ROOT and DP_MCP_ARTIFACT_ROOT)
- Access to authenticated sessions and page content in the local browser
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| Risks and side effects | - AI can execute JavaScript in a real browser, potentially accessing and manipulating sensitive web content
- Automatic browser downloads consume disk space and bandwidth
- HTTP mode binds to localhost only; exposing it via SSH tunnels still requires caution
| - The local browser may hold authenticated sessions, cookies, downloads, and page data, so mistakes can affect real accounts or production systems
- It can open and interact with any site reachable from the local machine, risking misuse or violation of site terms
- Coordinate-based interaction depends on the model's reading of screenshot coordinates and can click the wrong place, so observe and verify results
- Downloads, uploads, and exported artifacts write to the local file system, so review directories and content boundaries
- DP_NO_SANDBOX=1 disables the Chrome sandbox and should be reserved for restricted container or root environments
- The project is in beta; real browser behavior depends on the local Chrome/Chromium and target sites
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| Supported clients | Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cline, Cursor, VS Code | Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI/IDE, VS Code |
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| Tools | 1 | 69 |
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