ChromeDevTools / ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp

Plugin mode: support --browserUrl via pluginConfigs

Open
#1,232 7 comments 8 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

confirmed feature
Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
52.3k
Forks
4.3k
Avg merge
2d 7h
Merged PRs (30d)
83

Description

Problem

When using chrome-devtools-mcp as a Claude Code plugin (chrome-devtools-mcp@claude-plugins-official), the MCP server is launched as:

npx chrome-devtools-mcp@latest

There is no way to pass --browserUrl http://127.0.0.1:9222 (or other CLI flags) through the plugin configuration system. This means the plugin cannot connect to an existing Chrome instance with remote debugging enabled.

Current workaround

Disable the plugin and configure a standalone MCP server in .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["chrome-devtools-mcp@latest", "--browserUrl", "http://127.0.0.1:9222"]
    }
  }
}

This works for tools, but loses the plugin's bundled skills (a11y-debugging, debug-optimize-lcp, chrome-devtools, troubleshooting).

Proposed solution

Support --browserUrl (and potentially other CLI flags like --autoConnect, --channel) as user-configurable options through Claude Code's pluginConfigs mechanism in settings.json:

{
  "pluginConfigs": {
    "chrome-devtools-mcp@claude-plugins-official": {
      "mcpServers": {
        "chrome-devtools": {
          "browserUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:9222"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

This would allow users to connect to an existing Chrome instance while retaining the plugin's skills.

Environment

  • OS: Windows 11
  • Claude Code plugin: chrome-devtools-mcp@claude-plugins-official
  • chrome-devtools-mcp version: 0.19.0
  • Chrome remote debugging enabled on 127.0.0.1:9222

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing how Claude Code's pluginConfigs reaches the MCP server and how the existing --browserUrl, --autoConnect, and --channel options are parsed. Define done as allowing browserUrl through the shown pluginConfigs shape while preserving the bundled skills, with coverage for connecting to an existing Chrome instance.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
cli, devtools, tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.