cdp as an MCP plugin

Expose the browser to Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex through the cdp MCP server.

cdp ships an MCP server (cdp -mcp) that exposes its Chrome DevTools Protocol toolkit — navigate, click/type, screenshot, PDF, extract text/HTML, capture HAR/HARL, intercept and block requests, manage cookies and storage, and emulate devices. Captured HAR and source-capture output is secret-redacted by default.

The MCP tool surface is still moving: tool names and arguments have changed and may change again (see How cdp works), and most of the open bugs in Known issues are in these tools. Pin a pseudo-version if an agent workflow depends on a specific tool name.

The same server backs three packaging targets:

Target	Format	Files
Claude Code	repo-as-plugin / marketplace	`.claude-plugin/plugin.json`, `.mcp.json`, `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`
Claude Desktop	MCP bundle (`.mcpb`)	`plugins/mcpb/`
Codex	`config.toml`	`plugins/codex/`

Prerequisite

All three launch the cdp binary; none embed it. Install it (Go 1.26+):

go install github.com/tmc/cdp/cmd/cdp@latest

This lands at $(go env GOPATH)/bin/cdp (typically ~/go/bin/cdp). The Claude Code and Codex integrations resolve cdp from your shell PATH, so add that directory to PATH. The Claude Desktop bundle instead launches the binary by absolute path (a GUI app does not inherit your shell PATH), defaulting to ~/go/bin/cdp.

Claude Code

The repository is itself a Claude Code plugin and a single-plugin marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add tmc/cdp
/plugin install cdp@cdp

These two commands were not executed for this revision; the plugin files they read are present on main.

/plugin marketplace add reads marketplace.json from the repository’s default branch. For local development, load the plugin directly from a checkout:

claude --plugin-dir .

Either way you get the cdp MCP server (see .mcp.json) and the browser-automation skills under skills/. The plugin prompts for a “Run Chrome headless” toggle at enable time (default on); turn it off to watch the browser.

Claude Desktop

Build the MCP bundle:

cd plugins/mcpb
npx -y @anthropic-ai/mcpb pack .   # writes cdp-0.1.0.mcpb

Open the .mcpb with Claude Desktop and enable it in Settings → Extensions. Set “Path to the cdp binary” if your install isn’t at the ~/go/bin/cdp default. See plugins/mcpb/README.md for customizing the launch (visible browser, capture directory, extra tools).

Codex

codex mcp add cdp -- cdp -mcp -headless

Or append the block in plugins/codex/config.toml to ~/.codex/config.toml. See plugins/codex/README.md.

Launch options

cdp -mcp takes the same flags as the CLI (cdp accepts both -flag and --flag). Common adjustments:

drop -headless to watch Chrome while the agent drives it;
-output-dir <dir> to persist HAR/HARL captures and saved page sources;
-enable-inspect to expose the reversing/inspection tools;
-tools-dir <dir> to register custom .cdp tool definitions;
-no-scrub to disable secret redaction (on by default).

Run cdp -help for the full list.

Next steps

Electron debugging — driving Electron apps over the same server.
Command reference — go doc ./cmd/cdp for every MCP-related flag.
How cdp works — what the agent is actually driving.