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Quickstart

Four steps, about five minutes

You need Chrome or another Chromium browser, Node.js 20 or newer, and one agent CLI on your PATH: claude, codex or agy. Yarn is pinned inside the repository, so whichever yarn you have re-executes into the right one. There is no global install or Corepack setup.

Source on GitHub The long-form install guide

Before you start

Three things, and you probably have all of them

A Chromium browser

Chrome, Edge, Brave or Arc via Manifest V3. Firefox builds work too.

Node.js 20 or newer

Yarn is pinned inside the repository, so whichever yarn you have re-executes into the right one. No Corepack setup.

One agent CLI

claude, codex or agy on your PATH: the one you already signed in to. There is no API key to paste anywhere.

The four steps

From clone to a connected browser

  1. 01

    Clone and build both halves

    The extension and the daemon are separate packages. One command installs and builds both. It needs nothing on your PATH but Node 20+, because the pinned Yarn release ships in the repository.

    sh 
    git clone https://github.com/imshaikot/browsentic.git
cd browsentic
node scripts/setup.mjs
  2. 02

    Load the unpacked extension

    Open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, choose Load unpacked and select the build output. Firefox builds work too.

    path 
    dist/chrome-mv3
  3. 03

    Put the daemon on your PATH and pair

    The pairing code is single-use and lives for ten minutes. Paste it into the popup and press Connect. The daemon then issues a long-lived session key that survives browser and daemon restarts, and dies only when you revoke it.

    sh 
    yarn mcp:link        # global npm prefix, so it stays a separate step
browsentic-mcp pair  # prints a single-use code, valid for 10 minutes
  4. 04

    Point any MCP client at the same browser

    Your agent now commands 41 page tools plus browsentic_status, and three read-only resources that hand back page context without spending a tool call.

    sh 
    claude mcp add browsentic -- browsentic-mcp

Check it landed

Ask your agent what it can see

If the daemon is up and the browser is paired, this comes back with the active tab's title and URL rather than an error.

browsentic-mcp status
EXTENSION_OFFLINE

The daemon is running but no browser is paired. Redeem a pairing code in the popup.

AGENT_MISSING

The chosen CLI is not on the daemon's PATH. Set agents.<name>.bin to an absolute path.

TAB_UNREACHABLE

The content script has not been injected into that tab yet. Reload the page.

Troubleshooting Every error code

Keep reading

Pairing, in detail

The single-use code, the session key, and how to revoke either.

Your first instruction

A tour of the side panel and what to try first.

Add it to your MCP client

Claude Code, Cursor, Zed, Codex or Claude Desktop.

Stop describing the page. Hand it over.

Free and MIT licensed. Nothing to sign up for, no key to paste, and a fresh install connects to nothing until you redeem a pairing code yourself.

claude mcp add browsentic -- browsentic-mcp
Install in five minutes Star on GitHub