remix-browser

remix-browser

Blazing fast headless Chrome automation via CDP — no extension needed.

Installation · Tools · Configuration · Architecture

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A Rust-native MCP server that gives AI agents full control over a real Chrome browser through the Chrome DevTools Protocol. No browser extensions, no Puppeteer, no Node.js — just a single binary that speaks CDP.

Benchmarks

Method	Time	Cost	Turns	Success
remix-browser	3m 35s	$0.83	23	100%
Dev Browser	3m 53s	$0.88	29	100%
Playwright MCP	4m 31s	$1.45	51	100%
Playwright Skill	8m 07s	$1.45	38	100%
Claude Code Native Chrome	12m 54s	$2.81	80	100%

_See dev-browser-eval for methodology. The model used was sonnet 4.5

Why remix-browser?

	remix-browser	Extension-based MCPs	Puppeteer wrappers
Startup	Single binary, instant	Requires browser extension install	Node.js + npm install
Reliability	Hybrid click strategy with automatic fallback	Extension message passing	Basic click only
Multi-tab	Built-in tab pool management	Limited by extension API	Manual page tracking
Network capture	First-class network monitoring	Not available	Requires extra setup
Console logs	Built-in capture with filtering	Not available	Requires extra setup
Selectors	CSS + Text + XPath	CSS only	CSS + XPath
Language	Rust (fast, safe, single binary)	JavaScript	JavaScript

Installation

Claude Code Plugin (recommended)

/plugin marketplace add hkd987/remix-browser
/plugin install remix-browser@hkd987-remix-browser

That's it — the binary downloads automatically on first use. No Rust required.

Download pre-built binary

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hkd987/remix-browser/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

From source

git clone https://github.com/hkd987/remix-browser.git
cd remix-browser
cargo build --release

Requirements

• Google Chrome or Chromium installed (auto-detected)
• Rust 1.88+ only needed if building from source

Quick Start

Add to Claude Code

Add to your Claude Code MCP config (~/.claude/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remix-browser": {
      "command": "/path/to/remix-browser"
    }
  }
}

That's it. Claude now has a browser.

Headed mode (see what's happening)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remix-browser": {
      "command": "/path/to/remix-browser",
      "args": ["--headed"]
    }
  }
}

Connect to your existing browser

Chrome 144+ has a built-in toggle that lets any agent connect to your running browser — no extensions needed.

1. Open chrome://inspect/#remote-debugging in Chrome
2. Enable the remote debugging toggle
3. Connect remix-browser:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remix-browser": {
      "command": "/path/to/remix-browser",
      "args": ["--cdp-url", "ws://127.0.0.1:9222"]
    }
  }
}

Or use an environment variable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remix-browser": {
      "command": "/path/to/remix-browser",
      "env": {
        "CDP_URL": "ws://127.0.0.1:9222"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP URLs also work — the WebSocket URL is auto-discovered from /json/version:

CDP_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9222 remix-browser

When connected to an external browser, remix-browser uses your existing tabs and gracefully disconnects on exit without closing Chrome.

Best performance tip

For the best experience, add this line to your project's CLAUDE.md (or ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md for all projects):

When I ask to use Chrome or browser automation, use remix-browser MCP tools.
For 1-2 simple actions, granular tools are fine.
For workflows with 3+ actions, loops, or extraction, prefer `run_script`.
Use `fill` for setting any form control — it auto-detects input type (text, select, checkbox, range slider).
Snapshots auto-append after every tool call, so [ref=eN] selectors are always fresh.

This tells Claude to automatically reach for remix-browser whenever you mention browser tasks — no need to say "remix-browser" by name.

Performance Usage Pattern