chrome-devtools-mcp vs playwright (MCP)
Both in the agentic & browser category. Side-by-side — pick the one that fits your stack tonight.
Give your agent the same debug tools you use in Chrome's inspector.
- rating
- 4★
- tested
- ✓ loya-tested
- cost
- free
- install
- drop-in
- stars
- 36,664
- updated
- 4d ago
You never hit 'Inspect' in Chrome and don't care what's happening under the hood.
Claude can open a browser, click, type, and screenshot. Works out the box.
- rating
- 4★
- tested
- ✓ loya-tested
- cost
- free
- install
- drop-in
- stars
- 31,230
- updated
- 4d ago
You need heavy anti-bot bypass or complex iframe navigation — browser-harness handles those better.
why it matters · chrome-devtools-mcp
The Chrome DevTools panel — the thing you see when you right-click and hit Inspect — has network tabs, console logs, performance profilers, and memory tools. This plug exposes all of that to Claude. Your agent can watch network requests, read console errors, run Lighthouse audits, and take performance traces — then fix the bug directly. Built by the Google Chrome team. Pair it with Playwright for actions + DevTools for observation.
why it matters · playwright (MCP)
Playwright is Microsoft's browser automation toolkit. The Claude Code integration lets your agent open a page, click, type, take screenshots, check the console, and handle popups — all with no setup. Every screenshot in the Armory build came from this — it's the go-to when an agent needs to verify a UI change. Simpler than browser-harness for most jobs — pick this one if you just need Claude to poke at your own local site. Free.