33rd of 111 in MCP servers for developers
playwright-mcp
MCP server that lets LLMs drive a browser through Playwright accessibility snapshots
- Stars
- 39.5k
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Last commit
- Nov 2026
- Last release
- Nov 2026
- Language
- TypeScript
30,844 on 20 Apr 202639,500 on 9 Nov 2026
From GitHub's daily star counts.
Checked on GitHub.
Overview
Runs as an MCP server, started with `npx @playwright/mcp@latest`, and exposes Playwright browser control to any MCP client. It feeds the model structured accessibility-tree snapshots instead of screenshots, so no vision model is required. Options cover Chrome, Firefox, WebKit and Edge, CDP or extension attachment to a running browser, proxies, device emulation and origin allow/block lists.
Who it is for: Developers giving LLM agents browser automation through MCP clients
Strengths
- Uses accessibility snapshots, so text-only models can operate pages without vision
- Works with many MCP clients: VS Code, Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Goose and others
- Can attach to a running Chrome or Edge via CDP endpoint or the Playwright Extension
- Many flags: isolated profiles, secrets file, URL param redaction, init scripts, proxy, device emulation
Weaknesses
- README says tool schemas and verbose snapshots cost more tokens than the Playwright CLI with skills
- README recommends the separate Playwright CLI for high-throughput coding agents
- Origin allow/block lists are documented as not a security boundary
- Headed browser by default, so servers need --headless
What it needs
- no GPU
- Docker
- Needs Node.js 18 or newer, Playwright browsers (Chrome, Firefox, WebKit or Edge), MCP client
- Models: Any LLM via an MCP client
What changed
From the release notes. No flag means the note does not say so, not that the upgrade is safe.
Quick answers
Is playwright-mcp open source?
Yes. Its code is on GitHub under the Apache-2.0 license.
Can you run playwright-mcp with Docker?
Yes. Its repository has a Docker setup: a Dockerfile, a Compose file or a published image.
Head to head
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