Playwright Stealth Browser MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides browser automation capabilities using Playwright with stealth features. This server enables LLMs to interact with web pages through structured accessibility snapshots or vision-based interactions, while avoiding detection by anti-bot systems.

Key Features

• Stealth browsing: Uses playwright-stealth to avoid detection by anti-bot systems
• Fast and lightweight: Uses Playwright's accessibility tree by default, not pixel-based input
• LLM-friendly: No vision models needed for default mode, operates purely on structured data
• Deterministic tool application: Avoids ambiguity common with screenshot-based approaches
• Vision mode support: Optional screenshot-based interactions for visual-based models
• Complete feature parity: Matches all capabilities of the official Playwright MCP server

Installation

Using uvx (Recommended)

The easiest way to use this MCP server is with uvx, which handles the Python environment automatically:

uvx stealth-browser-mcp

or via docker

docker run --rm -p 3000:3000 stealth-browser-mcp

MCP Client Configuration

VS Code / Cursor / Windsurf

Add this configuration to your MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "stealth-browser": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["stealth-browser-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add this to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "stealth-browser": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["stealth-browser-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Vision Mode

To enable vision mode (screenshot-based interactions), add the --vision flag:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "stealth-browser": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["stealth-browser-mcp", "--vision"]
    }
  }
}

Usage

The server provides two interaction modes:

1. Snapshot Mode (default): Uses accessibility snapshots for better performance and reliability
2. Vision Mode: Uses screenshots for visual-based interactions

Quick Start

1. Install and configure the MCP server in your client
2. Start a conversation with your AI assistant
3. Ask it to navigate to a website:

   Please navigate to https://example.com and take a snapshot of the page
   

Available Tools

Navigation

• browser_navigate - Navigate to a URL
• browser_navigate_back - Go back to the previous page
• browser_navigate_forward - Go forward to the next page

Interactions

• browser_snapshot - Capture accessibility snapshot of the current page
• browser_click - Perform click on a web page element
• browser_type - Type text into editable elements
• browser_hover - Hover over page elements
• browser_drag - Perform drag and drop between elements
• browser_select_option - Select options in dropdowns
• browser_press_key - Press keyboard keys
• browser_wait_for - Wait for conditions (time, text appear/disappear)
• browser_file_upload - Upload files through file inputs
• browser_handle_dialog - Handle browser dialogs (alerts, confirms, prompts)

Resources

• browser_take_screenshot - Take screenshots of the page or elements
• browser_pdf_save - Save page as PDF
• browser_network_requests - List all network requests
• browser_console_messages - Get browser console messages

Tab Management

• browser_tab_list - List all open tabs
• browser_tab_new - Open new tabs
• browser_tab_select - Switch between tabs
• browser_tab_close - Close tabs

Utilities

• browser_install - Install required browser binaries
• browser_close - Close the browser
• browser_resize - Resize browser window

Testing

• browser_generate_playwright_test - Generate Playwright test code

Vision Mode Tools

• browser_screen_capture - Take screenshots
• browser_screen_move_mouse - Move mouse to coordinates
• browser_screen_click - Click at coordinates
• browser_screen_drag - Drag between coordinates
• browser_screen_type - Type text in vision mode

Stealth Features

This server includes advanced stealth capabilities to avoid detection by anti-bot systems:

• User Agent Spoofing: Uses realistic browser user agents
• WebGL Fingerprinting: Spoofs WebGL vendor and renderer information
• Language Headers: Sets appropriate language preferences
• Automation Detection Bypass: Disables automation control features
• Stealth Scripts: Injects scripts to hide automation indicators

Browser Setup

The server will automatically install the required Chromium browser on first run. If you encounter issues, you can manually install browsers:

# Install Playwright browsers
uvx playwright install chromium

# Or if you have the package installed locally
playwright install chromium

Development

Local Development

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd stealth_browser_mcp

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

# Run the server
python playwright_mcp.py

# Run with vision mode
python playwright_mcp.py --vision

Testing

# Install development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests (if available)
pytest

# Format code
black .
ruff check .

Troubleshooting

Browser Installation Issues

If you encounter browser installation issues:

# Use the browser_install tool through your MCP client, or manually:
uvx playwright install chromium

Permission Issues

On some systems, you may need to install additional dependencies:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install libnss3 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libdrm2 libxkbcommon0 libxcomposite1 libxdamage1 libxrandr2 libgbm1 libxss1 libasound2

# CentOS/RHEL/Fedora
sudo yum install nss atk java-atk-wrapper at-spi2-atk gtk3 libdrm libxkbcommon libxcomposite libxdamage libxrandr mesa-libgbm

Network Issues

If you encounter network-related issues, the server includes network monitoring tools:

• Use browser_network_requests to see all network activity
• Check console messages with browser_console_messages

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit pull requests or open issues for bugs and feature requests.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built on top of Playwright
• Uses playwright-stealth for anti-detection
• Inspired by the official Playwright MCP Server
• Built with FastMCP