How do I install Remix Browser?

Copy the stdio config for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or VS Code on this page. It uses the publisher's install, not a PlugMCP proxy.

Does Remix Browser need an API key?

No required environment variable is listed on this record.

What transport does Remix Browser use?

Remix Browser runs locally over stdio.

When was Remix Browser last checked?

Last checked 2026-10-28. A Rust MCP server for headless Chrome automation via CDP — built as a Claude Code plugin.

Remix Browser MCP server

A Rust-native MCP server that gives AI agents full control over a real Chrome browser through the Chrome DevTools Protocol. No browser extensions, no Puppeteer, no Node.js — just a single binary that speaks CDP.

Benchmarks

Method	Time	Cost	Turns	Success
remix-browser	3m 35s	$0.83	23	100%
Dev Browser	3m 53s	$0.88	29	100%
Playwright MCP	4m 31s	$1.45	51	100%
Playwright Skill	8m 07s	$1.45	38	100%
Claude Code Native Chrome	12m 54s	$2.81	80	100%

_See dev-browser-eval for methodology. The model used was sonnet 4.5

Why remix-browser?

	remix-browser	Extension-based MCPs	Puppeteer wrappers
Startup	Single binary, instant	Requires browser extension install	Node.js + npm install
Reliability	Hybrid click strategy with automatic fallback	Extension message passing	Basic click only
Multi-tab	Built-in tab pool management	Limited by extension API	Manual page tracking
Network capture	First-class network monitoring	Not available	Requires extra setup
Console logs	Built-in capture with filtering	Not available	Requires extra setup
Selectors	CSS + Text + XPath	CSS only	CSS + XPath
Language	Rust (fast, safe, single binary)	JavaScript	JavaScript

Installation

Claude Code Plugin (recommended)

/plugin marketplace add hkd987/remix-browser
/plugin install remix-browser@hkd987-remix-browser

That's it — the binary downloads automatically on first use. No Rust required.

Download pre-built binary

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hkd987/remix-browser/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

From source

git clone https://github.com/hkd987/remix-browser.git
cd remix-browser
cargo build --release

Requirements

Google Chrome or Chromium installed (auto-detected)
Rust 1.88+ only needed if building from source

Quick Start

Add to Claude Code

Add to your Claude Code MCP config (~/.claude/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remix-browser": {
      "command": "/path/to/remix-browser"
    }
  }
}

That's it. Claude now has a browser.

Headed mode (see what's happening)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remix-browser": {
      "command": "/path/to/remix-browser",
      "args": ["--headed"]
    }
  }
}

Connect to your existing browser

Chrome 144+ has a built-in toggle that lets any agent connect to your running browser — no extensions needed.

Open chrome://inspect/#remote-debugging in Chrome
Enable the remote debugging toggle
Connect remix-browser:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remix-browser": {
      "command": "/path/to/remix-browser",
      "args": ["--cdp-url", "ws://127.0.0.1:9222"]
    }
  }
}

Or use an environment variable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remix-browser": {
      "command": "/path/to/remix-browser",
      "env": {
        "CDP_URL": "ws://127.0.0.1:9222"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP URLs also work — the WebSocket URL is auto-discovered from /json/version:

CDP_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9222 remix-browser

When connected to an external browser, remix-browser uses your existing tabs and gracefully disconnects on exit without closing Chrome.

Best performance tip

For the best experience, add this line to your project's CLAUDE.md (or ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md for all projects):

When I ask to use Chrome or browser automation, use remix-browser MCP tools.
For 1-2 simple actions, granular tools are fine.
For workflows with 3+ actions, loops, or extraction, prefer `run_script`.
Use `fill` for setting any form control — it auto-detects input type (text, select, checkbox, range slider).
Snapshots auto-append after every tool call, so [ref=eN] selectors are always fresh.

This tells Claude to automatically reach for remix-browser whenever you mention browser tasks — no need to say "remix-browser" by name.

Performance Usage Pattern

Use granular tools for short flows (navigate -> click -> get_text).
Use run_script for multi-step workflows, loops, and repeated extraction.
Use fill instead of type_text + select_option — it auto-detects the control type (text, select, checkbox, range slider, ARIA slider).
Snapshots auto-append after every tool call, so [ref=eN] selectors are always available without a separate snapshot call.
All interaction tools (click, type_text, fill) include auto-wait — they poll up to 5 seconds for the element to appear before acting, eliminating timing errors on dynamic pages.

Tools

remix-browser exposes a broad toolset organized by category.

Navigation

Tool	Description
`navigate`	Go to a URL. Supports `load`, `domcontentloaded`, and `networkidle` wait strategies.
`go_back`	Navigate back in history.
`go_forward`	Navigate forward in history.
`reload`	Reload the current page.
`get_page_info`	Get current URL, title, and viewport dimensions.

Finding Elements

Tool	Description
`find_elements`	Find elements by CSS selector, text content, or XPath. Returns tag, text, attributes, and node IDs.
`get_text`	Extract text content from a matched element.
`get_html`	Get inner or outer HTML of the page or a specific element.
`wait_for`	Wait for an element to appear, disappear, or become visible. Configurable timeout.

Snapshot

Tool	Description
`snapshot`	Return a compact list of interactive elements with stable refs like `[ref=e0]` that can be reused in selectors.

Interaction

Tool	Description
`click`	Click elements using a hybrid strategy — tries real mouse events first, falls back to JS dispatch if the element is obscured. Auto-waits up to 5s for the element to appear.
`type_text`	Type into input fields. Optionally clear existing content first. Auto-waits up to 5s for the element to appear.
`fill`	Smart form control setter — auto-detects input type and sets the value appropriately. Works with text inputs, textareas, `<select>`, checkboxes, `input[type=range]` sliders, and ARIA `role="slider"` elements.
`hover`	Hover over elements (fires `mouseenter`, `mouseover`, `mousemove`).
`select_option`	Select an option in a `<select>` dropdown by value.
`press_key`	Press keyboard keys (`Enter`, `Tab`, `ArrowDown`, etc.) with optional modifiers.
`scroll`	Scroll the page or a specific element in any direction.

Screenshots

Tool	Description
`screenshot`	Capture the viewport, full page, or a specific element as base64 PNG/JPEG.

JavaScript & Console

Tool	Description
`execute_js`	Run arbitrary JavaScript and get the result back as JSON.
`read_console`	Read captured `console.log`/`warn`/`error` output. Filter by level or regex pattern.

Network Monitoring

Tool	Description
`network_enable`	Start capturing network requests. Optionally filter by URL patterns.
`get_network_log`	Query captured requests by URL pattern, HTTP method, or status code. Includes timing data.

Tab Management

Tool	Description
`new_tab`	Open a new tab, optionally navigating to a URL.
`close_tab`	Close a specific tab or the active one.
`list_tabs`	List all open tabs with their URLs and titles.

Script Automation

Tool	Description
`run_script`	Execute multi-step browser automation in one tool call with a synchronous `page.*` API. Includes `page.fill()`, `page.click()`, `page.type()`, `page.js()`, and more. `[ref=eN]` selectors auto-resolve inside `page.js()` expressions. Best for loops, repeated actions, and extraction workflows.

Selector Types

All element-targeting tools support three selector strategies:

CSS (default):  "button.submit", "#login-form", "div > p:first-child"
Text:           "Sign In", "Submit Order", "Click here"
XPath:          "//button[@type='submit']", "//div[contains(@class, 'menu')]"

Text selectors use a TreeWalker to find elements by their visible text content — no need to inspect the DOM to find the right CSS class.

The Hybrid Click

Most browser automation tools fail on modern JS-heavy sites. Dropdown menus, overlays, dynamically positioned elements — they all break simple element.click().

remix-browser uses a hybrid click strategy:

Auto-wait up to 5 seconds for the element to appear in the DOM
Scroll the element into view
Check visibility and whether it's obscured by other elements
Dispatch real mouse events (mousedown -> mouseup -> click) at the element's coordinates
If the element is obscured (e.g., behind an overlay), automatically fall back to JavaScript click()
Report which method was used so you know exactly what happened

This means clicks just work — even on sites with complex overlays, sticky headers, dynamic menus, and late-loading elements.

Configuration

Option	Default	Description
`--headed`	`false`	Show the browser window instead of running headless
`--cdp-url`	—	Connect to an existing browser via CDP WebSocket or HTTP URL
`CDP_URL` env var	—	Same as `--cdp-url` (env var alternative)
`RUST_LOG` env var	`info`	Control log verbosity (`debug`, `trace`, etc.)

Chrome Detection

remix-browser automatically finds Chrome on your system:

macOS: /Applications/Google Chrome.app, Homebrew paths, Chrome Canary
Linux: /usr/bin/google-chrome, snap packages, Chromium
Windows: Program Files, Local AppData

Falls back to which google-chrome / which chromium if standard paths don't exist.

Default Browser Settings

Viewport: 1280x720
Headless mode: --headless=new (Chrome's latest headless implementation)
Extensions, sync, popups, and first-run prompts are all disabled for a clean automation environment

Architecture

src/
├── main.rs                # CLI entry point
├── server.rs              # MCP ServerHandler — routes tool calls
├── browser/
│   ├── session.rs         # Browser lifecycle management
│   ├── pool.rs            # Multi-tab tracking (TabPool)
│   └── launcher.rs        # Chrome binary detection & launch config
├── tools/
│   ├── navigation.rs      # navigate, go_back, go_forward, reload
│   ├── dom.rs             # find_elements, get_text, get_html, wait_for
│   ├── interaction.rs     # click, type_text, fill, hover, select_option, press_key, scroll
│   ├── screenshot.rs      # screenshot capture
│   ├── snapshot.rs        # compact interactive tree + ref generation
│   ├── javascript.rs      # execute_js, console log capture
│   ├── network.rs         # network monitoring
│   ├── page.rs            # tab management
│   └── script.rs          # run_script JS engine and page API
├── interaction/
│   ├── click.rs           # Hybrid click strategy implementation
│   ├── keyboard.rs        # Key press & text input
│   ├── scroll.rs          # Scroll logic
│   └── wait.rs            # Auto-wait polling for element existence
└── selectors/
    ├── mod.rs             # Selector normalization & :has-text() conversion
    ├── css.rs             # CSS selector resolution
    ├── text.rs            # Text content matching via TreeWalker
    ├── xpath.rs           # XPath evaluation
    └── ref.rs             # [ref=eN] snapshot reference resolution

Built on:

rmcp — Rust MCP framework
chromiumoxide — CDP client for Rust
tokio — Async runtime

Testing

# Run all 50 integration tests (uses real headless Chrome)
cargo test -- --test-threads=4

# Run a specific test
cargo test test_navigate

Tests use fixture HTML files and spin up isolated Chrome instances with unique profiles — no shared state, no flakiness.

License

MIT

Method

Time

Cost

Turns

Success

remix-browser

3m 35s

$0.83

100%

Dev Browser

3m 53s

$0.88

100%

Playwright MCP

4m 31s

$1.45

100%

Playwright Skill

8m 07s

$1.45

100%

Claude Code Native Chrome

12m 54s

$2.81

100%

remix-browser

Extension-based MCPs

Puppeteer wrappers

Startup

Single binary, instant

Requires browser extension install

Node.js + npm install

Reliability

Hybrid click strategy with automatic fallback

Extension message passing

Basic click only

Multi-tab

Built-in tab pool management

Limited by extension API

Manual page tracking

Network capture

First-class network monitoring

Not available

Requires extra setup

Console logs

Built-in capture with filtering

Not available

Requires extra setup

Selectors

CSS + Text + XPath

CSS only

CSS + XPath

Language

Rust (fast, safe, single binary)

JavaScript

When I ask to use Chrome or browser automation, use remix-browser MCP tools. For 1-2 simple actions, granular tools are fine. For workflows with 3+ actions, loops, or extraction, prefer `run_script`. Use `fill` for setting any form control — it auto-detects input type (text, select, checkbox, range slider). Snapshots auto-append after every tool call, so [ref=eN] selectors are always fresh.

Tool

Description

navigate

Go to a URL. Supports load, domcontentloaded, and networkidle wait strategies.

go_back

Navigate back in history.

go_forward

Navigate forward in history.

reload

Reload the current page.

get_page_info

Get current URL, title, and viewport dimensions.

Tool

Description

find_elements

Find elements by CSS selector, text content, or XPath. Returns tag, text, attributes, and node IDs.

get_text

Extract text content from a matched element.

get_html

Get inner or outer HTML of the page or a specific element.

wait_for

Wait for an element to appear, disappear, or become visible. Configurable timeout.

Tool

Description

snapshot

Return a compact list of interactive elements with stable refs like [ref=e0] that can be reused in selectors.

Tool

Description

click

Click elements using a hybrid strategy — tries real mouse events first, falls back to JS dispatch if the element is obscured. Auto-waits up to 5s for the element to appear.

type_text

Type into input fields. Optionally clear existing content first. Auto-waits up to 5s for the element to appear.

fill

Smart form control setter — auto-detects input type and sets the value appropriately. Works with text inputs, textareas, <select>, checkboxes, input[type=range] sliders, and ARIA role="slider" elements.

hover

Hover over elements (fires mouseenter, mouseover, mousemove).

select_option

Select an option in a <select> dropdown by value.

press_key

Press keyboard keys (Enter, Tab, ArrowDown, etc.) with optional modifiers.

scroll

Scroll the page or a specific element in any direction.

Tool

Description

screenshot

Capture the viewport, full page, or a specific element as base64 PNG/JPEG.

Tool

Description

execute_js

Run arbitrary JavaScript and get the result back as JSON.

read_console

Read captured console.log/warn/error output. Filter by level or regex pattern.

Tool

Description

network_enable

Start capturing network requests. Optionally filter by URL patterns.

get_network_log

Query captured requests by URL pattern, HTTP method, or status code. Includes timing data.

Tool

Description

new_tab

Open a new tab, optionally navigating to a URL.

close_tab

Close a specific tab or the active one.

list_tabs

List all open tabs with their URLs and titles.

Tool

Description

run_script

Execute multi-step browser automation in one tool call with a synchronous page.* API. Includes page.fill(), page.click(), page.type(), page.js(), and more. [ref=eN] selectors auto-resolve inside page.js() expressions. Best for loops, repeated actions, and extraction workflows.

CSS (default): "button.submit", "#login-form", "div > p:first-child" Text: "Sign In", "Submit Order", "Click here" XPath: "//button[@type='submit']", "//div[contains(@class, 'menu')]"

Option

Default

Description

--headed

false

Show the browser window instead of running headless

--cdp-url

—

Connect to an existing browser via CDP WebSocket or HTTP URL

CDP_URL env var

—

Same as --cdp-url (env var alternative)

RUST_LOG env var

info

Control log verbosity (debug, trace, etc.)

src/ ├── main.rs # CLI entry point ├── server.rs # MCP ServerHandler — routes tool calls ├── browser/ │ ├── session.rs # Browser lifecycle management │ ├── pool.rs # Multi-tab tracking (TabPool) │ └── launcher.rs # Chrome binary detection & launch config ├── tools/ │ ├── navigation.rs # navigate, go_back, go_forward, reload │ ├── dom.rs # find_elements, get_text, get_html, wait_for │ ├── interaction.rs # click, type_text, fill, hover, select_option, press_key, scroll │ ├── screenshot.rs # screenshot capture │ ├── snapshot.rs # compact interactive tree + ref generation │ ├── javascript.rs # execute_js, console log capture │ ├── network.rs # network monitoring │ ├── page.rs # tab management │ └── script.rs # run_script JS engine and page API ├── interaction/ │ ├── click.rs # Hybrid click strategy implementation │ ├── keyboard.rs # Key press & text input │ ├── scroll.rs # Scroll logic │ └── wait.rs # Auto-wait polling for element existence └── selectors/ ├── mod.rs # Selector normalization & :has-text() conversion ├── css.rs # CSS selector resolution ├── text.rs # Text content matching via TreeWalker ├── xpath.rs # XPath evaluation └── ref.rs # [ref=eN] snapshot reference resolution

Add this server

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Server facts

Tools

Questions

How do I install Remix Browser?

Does Remix Browser need an API key?

What transport does Remix Browser use?

When was Remix Browser last checked?

Documentation

Benchmarks

Why remix-browser?

Installation

Claude Code Plugin (recommended)

Download pre-built binary

From source

Requirements

Quick Start

Add to Claude Code

Headed mode (see what's happening)

Connect to your existing browser

Best performance tip

Performance Usage Pattern

Tools

Navigation

Finding Elements

Snapshot

Interaction

Screenshots

JavaScript & Console

Network Monitoring

Tab Management

Script Automation

Selector Types

The Hybrid Click

Configuration

Chrome Detection

Default Browser Settings

Architecture

Testing

License

Add this server

Host a copy with our keys and logs.

Server facts

Tools

Questions

How do I install Remix Browser?

Does Remix Browser need an API key?

What transport does Remix Browser use?

When was Remix Browser last checked?

Documentation

Benchmarks

Why remix-browser?

Installation

Claude Code Plugin (recommended)

Download pre-built binary

From source

Requirements

Quick Start

Add to Claude Code

Headed mode (see what's happening)

Connect to your existing browser

Best performance tip

Performance Usage Pattern

Tools

Navigation

Finding Elements

Snapshot

Interaction

Screenshots

JavaScript & Console

Network Monitoring

Tab Management

Script Automation

Selector Types

The Hybrid Click

Configuration

Chrome Detection

Default Browser Settings

Architecture