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Catalogmcp

Playwright MCP

shipBlueshift — gaining momentum

Microsoft's MCP server for browser automation via accessibility snapshots — no vision model required.

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ledger entry · observed by @whysanesanders

The default browser MCP: structured accessibility snapshots instead of screenshots, npx install, published to the official MCP registry on each release. Still a 0.0.x line, and it launches a real browser on your machine.

Strengths

  • Official Microsoft server with a11y snapshots — no vision model required.
  • One-line install: npx @playwright/mcp@latest; works with Cursor, Claude, VS Code.
  • Released to the official MCP registry on each tag.

Known limitations

  • Version line is still 0.0.x (v0.0.79 as of 2026-08-06).
  • Launches a real browser on the host — stdio is a local-privilege process.
  • Not a replacement for Playwright Test; this is agent control, not CI.

Use it when

  • Agents that need to click through a live page without screenshot tokens.
  • Coding agents that already speak MCP and need a browser, not a test runner.

Skip it when

  • You need Chrome DevTools traces, heap snapshots, or a live debugging session.
  • You cannot let an agent drive a local browser process.
  • You wanted the unmaintained ExecuteAutomation fork instead of Microsoft's.

Floor guide

Install

npx @playwright/mcp@latest — then attach the stdio server in the harness MCP config.

Requirements

  • A desktop/CI that can launch Chromium
  • A harness that speaks MCP

Cost

The server is Apache-2.0. You pay the model tokens and the machine that runs the browser.

Security

This launches a real browser on the host. Stdio MCP is a local-privilege process. Do not attach it to an agent that talks to strangers.

Breaks when

  • You needed DevTools traces or heap snapshots — use chrome-devtools-mcp instead.
  • The environment cannot launch a browser (some CI images).

Buy-check

  • ·Price — free, Apache-2.0; npx @playwright/mcp@latest; you pay the model, not Microsoft as of 2026-08-26. Open the pricing page, not a screenshot.
  • ·Free tier — Free tier exists — burn it first.
  • ·Cancel fallout — What happens to your data/projects on cancel — check the ToS, not the FAQ.
  • ·Seat math — Per-seat pricing multiplies quietly. Count seats before the annual plan.
  • ·Who skips it — Also skipped when: You need Chrome DevTools traces, heap snapshots, or a live debugging session.; You cannot let an agent drive a local browser process..

Price trailchangelog →

No price move in this repo yet.

Facts

pricing
free1
price note
Apache-2.0; npx @playwright/mcp@latest; you pay the model, not Microsoft
free tier
yes
open source
yes
api
yes
self-host
yes
category
mcp
evidence
source-verified

Data: trains on inputs unknown · local processing yes

Sources

  1. 1github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp[snapshot]
  2. 2playwright.dev/docs/getting-started-mcp[snapshot]

No source, no number.

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