Chrome DevTools MCP Manager

Manage OpenClaw's built-in Chrome browser and chrome-devtools-mcp integration for browser automation via MCP protocol.

Overview

This skill manages two components:

1. OpenClaw's Built-in Chrome (openclaw profile) - The browser instance
2. chrome-devtools-mcp - The MCP server that exposes browser control tools

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│   OpenClaw      │────▶│  Built-in Chrome    │◀────│  chrome-devtools│
│   (browser tool)│     │  (CDP Port 18800)   │     │  -mcp (MCP srv) │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
                                                        │
                                                        ▼
                                                ┌─────────────────┐
                                                │  MCP Client     │
                                                │  (mcporter etc) │
                                                └─────────────────┘

Built-in Chrome (openclaw profile)

• CDP Port: 18800
• Managed by: OpenClaw's browser tool
• Auto-start: Yes, via browser(action: "open")
• Profile isolation: Separate user data directory

chrome-devtools-mcp

• Type: MCP (Model Context Protocol) server
• Transport: stdio (not HTTP)
• Lifecycle: Runs per MCP client session
• Connection: Connects to Chrome via CDP on port 18800

Component Status Check

1. Check Built-in Chrome Status

browser({
  action: "status",
  profile: "openclaw"
})

Expected running state:

{
  "enabled": true,
  "profile": "openclaw",
  "running": true,
  "cdpReady": true,
  "cdpPort": 18800,
  "cdpUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:18800"
}

2. Verify CDP Endpoint

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://localhost:18800/json/version" -Method GET

Expected response:

{
  "Browser": "Chrome/134.0.0.0",
  "Protocol-Version": "1.3",
  "User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0...",
  "V8-Version": "...",
  "WebKit-Version": "...",
  "webSocketDebuggerUrl": "ws://localhost:18800/devtools/browser/..."
}

3. Check MCP Server Status

Since chrome-devtools-mcp runs as a stdio service per MCP client session, there's no persistent process to check. Instead, verify the MCP configuration is correct.

Managing Built-in Chrome

Start Built-in Chrome

// Open a blank page to start Chrome
browser({
  action: "open",
  profile: "openclaw",
  url: "about:blank"
})

// Or navigate to a specific URL
browser({
  action: "open",
  profile: "openclaw",
  url: "https://chat.deepseek.com/"
})

Stop Built-in Chrome

browser({
  action: "stop",
  profile: "openclaw"
})

Restart Built-in Chrome

// Stop first
browser({ action: "stop", profile: "openclaw" })

// Then start
browser({ action: "open", profile: "openclaw", url: "about:blank" })

MCP Server Configuration

For mcporter CLI

Configure mcporter to use chrome-devtools-mcp:

# Add MCP server to mcporter
mcporter server add chrome-devtools \
  --command "npx" \
  --args "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest,--browserUrl,http://127.0.0.1:18800,--no-usage-statistics"

# Or with auto-connect (Chrome will be started if not running)
mcporter server add chrome-devtools \
  --command "npx" \
  --args "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest,--autoConnect,--no-usage-statistics"

For Claude Desktop / Other MCP Clients

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
        "--browserUrl", "http://127.0.0.1:18800",
        "--no-usage-statistics"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

# Disable usage statistics
$env:CHROME_DEVTOOLS_MCP_NO_USAGE_STATISTICS = "1"

# Enable debug logging
$env:DEBUG = "*"

Complete Setup Workflow

First-Time Setup

1. Verify built-in Chrome is ready:

   const status = await browser({ action: "status", profile: "openclaw" })
   if (!status.cdpReady) {
     await browser({ action: "open", profile: "openclaw", url: "about:blank" })
   }

2. Test CDP connection:

   Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "http://localhost:18800/json/version"

3. Configure MCP client (mcporter, Claude Desktop, etc.)

4. Test MCP connection:

   mcporter call chrome-devtools.list_pages

Daily Usage Pattern

1. Ensure Chrome is running (before MCP operations):

   const status = await browser({ action: "status", profile: "openclaw" })
   if (!status.cdpReady) {
     await browser({ action: "open", profile: "openclaw", url: "about:blank" })
     await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2000))  // Wait for startup
   }

2. Use MCP tools via mcporter or other MCP client

3. Keep Chrome running for subsequent operations

Available MCP Tools

Once connected via chrome-devtools-mcp, these tools are available:

Page Management

• list_pages - List all open tabs/pages
• new_page - Create new tab
• select_page - Switch to specific tab
• close_page - Close a tab
• navigate_page - Navigate to URL / back / forward / refresh

Interaction

• click - Click element by uid
• fill - Fill input field
• type_text - Type text
• press_key - Press keyboard key
• select_option - Select dropdown option

Inspection

• take_snapshot - Get accessibility tree snapshot
• take_screenshot - Capture screenshot
• evaluate_script - Execute JavaScript
• wait_for - Wait for text/element

Browser State

• get_browser_state - Get cookies, localStorage, etc.
• set_browser_state - Set cookies, localStorage, etc.

Integration with Other Skills

Example: deepseek-web-query

This skill uses chrome-devtools-mcp via mcporter:

# 1. Ensure Chrome is running (via browser tool)
# 2. Use mcporter to call MCP tools
mcporter call chrome-devtools.navigate_page type: "url" url: "https://chat.deepseek.com/"
mcporter call chrome-devtools.take_snapshot
mcporter call chrome-devtools.type_text text: "查询内容"
mcporter call chrome-devtools.press_key key: "Enter"
mcporter call chrome-devtools.evaluate_script function: '() => document.body.innerText'

Troubleshooting

"CDP not ready"

Symptoms: browser({ action: "status" }) shows cdpReady: false

Solutions:

1. Restart Chrome:

   browser({ action: "stop", profile: "openclaw" })
   browser({ action: "open", profile: "openclaw", url: "about:blank" })

2. Check for port conflicts:

   Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 18800

"Cannot connect to Chrome" from MCP

Symptoms: MCP server fails to connect

Solutions:

1. Verify CDP endpoint is accessible:

   curl http://localhost:18800/json/version

2. Check Windows Firewall isn't blocking localhost
3. Ensure Chrome was started with remote debugging enabled (built-in profile does this automatically)

MCP server exits immediately

This is normal behavior! The MCP server:

• Waits for JSON-RPC messages on stdin
• Exits when stdin closes (client disconnects)
• Is designed to be launched per-session by MCP clients

Port 18800 conflicts

Check what's using the port:

Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 18800 | 
  Select-Object LocalPort, State, OwningProcess, @{Name="ProcessName";Expression={(Get-Process -Id $_.OwningProcess -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Name}}

Kill conflicting process:

Get-Process -Id (Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 18800).OwningProcess | Stop-Process -Force

Best Practices

1. Always check Chrome status first before MCP operations
2. Reuse browser sessions - Don't close Chrome between operations
3. Use about:blank for quick startup when you don't need a specific page
4. Configure MCP client once - The config persists across sessions
5. Handle login states in your automation logic (e.g., deepseek-web-query handles DeepSeek login)

Quick Reference

References

• chrome-devtools-mcp GitHub
• MCP Protocol
• Chrome DevTools Protocol
• OpenClaw Browser Tool