Set it up
- 1
Turn on Playwright in your AI
In Claude: open Settings → Connectors and add Playwright. In ChatGPT: Settings → Apps & Connectors.
- 2
Add it to your app once
Copy the short config below into your app. It just tells your AI where to find Playwright.
- 3
Just ask
Tell it what you want in plain words — no special commands.
For example, say
“Go to https://example.com, take a screenshot, and tell me what the page contains”
Need the exact config? Show it +
Add to your client
{
"mcpServers": {
"playwright": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@playwright/mcp@latest"]
}
}
}Paste into your client's MCP configuration file.
Quick skills
Copy one, paste it to your AI, watch it work.
Automated UI Testing
“Test the signup flow: go to /register, fill out the form with test data, and verify the confirmation email page appears”
Visual Screenshot Report
“Screenshot our homepage, pricing page, and dashboard at mobile and desktop widths”
In the wild
“I use MCP usually, because I heard it’s less detectable than playwright, and more robust against design changes”
“I wanted to build something from scratch which demonstrated the power of using pre-built mcp servers and cursor to orchestrate most of the work: scaffolding, tests, git operations, CI, and deployment.”
Good to know
- · First run downloads browser binaries — expect a few hundred MB
- · Headless browsing can be detected and blocked by some sites
- · Running in headful mode opens visible browser windows on your machine
When to use
- ✓ You need to test web apps automatically without writing code
- ✓ You want to take screenshots or record UI states
- ✓ You're scraping websites that require JavaScript to load
- ✓ You need to fill forms or interact with web UIs automatically
When not to use
- × You only need simple static HTML scraping (use fetch-mcp instead)
- × You're on a headless server without display capabilities
- × You want lightweight, fast web access (browser is resource-intensive)
About
This server gives your AI a real web browser it can control. You can ask it to 'go to this website and fill out this form', 'take a screenshot of how our app looks on mobile', or 'test if the checkout flow works'. Your AI becomes a user that can actually click, type, and navigate websites.
The official Microsoft Playwright MCP server provides cross-browser automation capabilities for AI assistants. Support for Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit browsers. Navigate, interact, screenshot, and test web applications with natural language commands.
Maintained by Microsoft with production-grade reliability. Preferred over Puppeteer for multi-browser and enterprise testing scenarios.
Workflows That Use Playwright MCP
Describe a user flow in English. Playwright MCP runs it as a real browser test, no test code required.
Real-time search, page scraping, and full browser automation — Claude works with what's on the web right now.
Works With
Also Consider
FAQ
What does Playwright MCP do? +
This server gives your AI a real web browser it can control. You can ask it to 'go to this website and fill out this form', 'take a screenshot of how our app looks on mobile', or 'test if the checkout flow works'. Your AI becomes a user that can actually click, type, and navigate websites.
Do I need to know how to code? +
No. Turn it on in your AI's settings and ask in plain English — no terminal, no coding.
When should I use Playwright MCP? +
Reach for it when you need to: You need to test web apps automatically without writing code; You want to take screenshots or record UI states; You're scraping websites that require JavaScript to load; You need to fill forms or interact with web UIs automatically.
When should I avoid Playwright MCP? +
Skip it when: You only need simple static HTML scraping (use fetch-mcp instead); You're on a headless server without display capabilities; You want lightweight, fast web access (browser is resource-intensive).
Is Playwright MCP free? +
Playwright MCP is free and open source (Apache-2.0 license).
How do I install Playwright MCP? +
In Claude Code, run: claude mcp add playwright -- npx -y @playwright/mcp@latest. Copy-paste configs for Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf are at the top of this page.
