playwright-mcp-manual-interaction

Playwright MCP - Manual Interaction Guide

Status

Playwright MCP is DISABLED BY DEFAULT in Claude Code CLI and Codex CLI for context optimization.

Location: Can be run locally but not installed to CLI by default

Why Disabled by Default

• Context Optimization: Reduces token usage during normal operations
• Manual Control: Available when explicitly needed for browser automation tasks
• Local Availability: Server can still be started manually for testing

Enabling Playwright MCP

Option 1: Enable in mcp_common.sh (Global)

# Set environment variable before running MCP setup
export PLAYWRIGHT_ENABLED=true
bash scripts/mcp_common.sh

Option 2: Manual Server Installation

# Install Playwright MCP server globally
npm install -g @playwright/mcp

# Verify installation
npx -y @playwright/mcp --help

Manual Interaction via Bash Commands

Starting the Playwright MCP Server Manually

Direct Node Execution:

# Start the server (stdio mode - for manual testing)
node "$(npm root -g)/@playwright/mcp/dist/index.js"

Using npx:

# Run directly with npx
npx -y @playwright/mcp

Server Communication Protocol

The Playwright MCP server uses JSON-RPC over stdio. Here's how to interact manually:

⚠️ Note on Protocol Version: The examples use protocol version "2024-11-05" which is current as of this writing. To verify the latest supported protocol version, consult the MCP specification or check the server's initialization response.

⚠️ Note on One-Shot Commands: The examples below use piped echo commands for demonstration. Each npx -y @playwright/mcp invocation starts a new server instance that exits after processing one message. For persistent sessions with multiple commands, use the Interactive Testing Script or Node.js REPL approaches shown later in this document.

1. Initialize the Server (one-shot example):

# Send initialization request (starts new server instance)
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"manual-test","version":"1.0.0"}}}' | npx -y @playwright/mcp

2. List Available Tools (one-shot example):

# Request tools list (starts new server instance)
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' | npx -y @playwright/mcp

3. Execute Browser Actions (one-shot examples):

# Navigate to URL
echo '{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "browser_navigate",
    "arguments": {
      "url": "https://example.com"
    }
  }
}' | npx -y @playwright/mcp

# Click element
echo '{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 4,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "browser_click",
    "arguments": {
      "selector": "button#submit"
    }
  }
}' | npx -y @playwright/mcp

# Take screenshot
echo '{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 5,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "browser_screenshot",
    "arguments": {
      "path": "docs/screenshot.png"
    }
  }
}' | npx -y @playwright/mcp

Integration with Claude Code (When Enabled)

If you enable Playwright MCP in your CLI configuration, it will be available as:

MCP Tool Pattern: mcp__playwright__*

Common Tools Available:

• browser_navigate - Navigate to URL
• browser_click - Click element by selector
• browser_screenshot - Capture screenshot
• browser_evaluate - Execute JavaScript in browser context
• browser_fill - Fill form fields
• browser_press - Press keyboard keys

Testing Locally Without CLI Installation

Interactive Testing Script

#!/bin/bash
# Save as: scripts/test_playwright_mcp.sh

# Create named pipe for bidirectional communication
PIPE_PATH=$(mktemp -u)
mkfifo "$PIPE_PATH"

# Start server reading from pipe, output to log
npx -y @playwright/mcp < "$PIPE_PATH" > /tmp/mcp-output.log 2>&1 &
SERVER_PID=$!

# Open pipe for writing
exec 3> "$PIPE_PATH"

# Wait for server to start
sleep 2

# Send test commands
echo "Initializing..."
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"test","version":"1.0"}}}' >&3

echo "Listing tools..."
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' >&3

# Wait for responses
sleep 2

# Cleanup
exec 3>&-
kill $SERVER_PID 2>/dev/null
rm -f "$PIPE_PATH"

# Show results
echo "Server output:"
cat /tmp/mcp-output.log

Using Node.js REPL

// Start Node.js REPL
const { spawn } = require('child_process');

// Spawn Playwright MCP server
const mcp = spawn('npx', ['-y', '@playwright/mcp']);

// Send JSON-RPC request
function sendRequest(method, params = {}, id = 1) {
  const request = JSON.stringify({
    jsonrpc: '2.0',
    id: id,
    method: method,
    params: params
  });
  mcp.stdin.write(request + '\n');
}

// Listen for responses
mcp.stdout.on('data', (data) => {
  console.log('Response:', data.toString());
});

// Initialize
sendRequest('initialize', {
  protocolVersion: '2024-11-05',
  capabilities: {},
  clientInfo: { name: 'node-test', version: '1.0.0' }
});

// List tools
sendRequest('tools/list', {}, 2);

Configuration Files

Where Playwright MCP Would Be Registered (If Enabled)

// ~/.claude/config.json (Claude Code CLI)
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@playwright/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

// ~/.codex/config.json (Codex CLI)
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@playwright/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Use Cases for Manual Interaction

1. Testing Browser Automation: Test Playwright scripts without full CLI integration
2. Debugging: Manually send commands to debug browser automation issues
3. CI/CD Integration: Run Playwright MCP in headless mode for automated testing
4. Development: Develop and test new browser automation workflows

Re-enabling for Specific Projects

If you need Playwright MCP for a specific project:

# Project-specific enable
cd /path/to/project
export PLAYWRIGHT_ENABLED=true
bash scripts/mcp_common.sh

# This will add Playwright MCP to your CLI configs

Troubleshooting

Server Not Starting

# Verify installation
npm list -g @playwright/mcp

# Reinstall if needed
npm install -g @playwright/mcp

# Check Node.js version (requires Node 18+)
node --version

Communication Issues

# Test stdio communication
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{}}' | npx -y @playwright/mcp

# Should see JSON-RPC response

Browser Launch Failures

# Install Playwright browsers
npx playwright install

# Install system dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian)
npx playwright install-deps

Alternative: Use Chrome Superpowers MCP

For simple browser automation needs, consider using Chrome Superpowers MCP which is enabled by default:

Tool: mcp__chrome-superpower__use_browser

See: .claude/skills/chrome-superpowers-reference.md

Related Files

• Installation Script: scripts/mcp_common.sh (PLAYWRIGHT_ENABLED flag)
• Chrome Alternative: .claude/skills/chrome-superpowers-reference.md
• Browser Testing: .claude/skills/browser-testing-ocr-validation.md

Notes

• Playwright MCP is a system-level MCP server, not a user-created skill
• Disabled by default to optimize context usage in normal operations
• Can be manually started and controlled via bash commands and JSON-RPC
• Full CLI integration available by setting PLAYWRIGHT_ENABLED=true