Chrome MCP Remote-Debug Skill

Use this skill to run Chrome DevTools MCP by connecting to a manually launched Chrome instance. This avoids macOS sandbox/permission issues and user-data-dir lock problems.

Quick Start

1. Start the dedicated Chrome instance:

bash "<path-to-skill>/scripts/start-chrome-mcp.sh"

2. Ensure your Chrome DevTools MCP server points to the same port (default 9223). The config should use:

--browserUrl http://127.0.0.1:9223

3. Use Chrome MCP tools normally. If a page needs login, log in manually in the MCP Chrome window.

Environment knobs

The script supports overrides:

• CHROME_MCP_PORT (default 9223)
• CHROME_MCP_PROFILE (default /tmp/chrome-devtools-mcp-profile)
• CHROME_MCP_CHROME (default /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome)

Example:

CHROME_MCP_PORT=9333 CHROME_MCP_PROFILE=/tmp/mcp-profile bash "<path-to-skill>/scripts/start-chrome-mcp.sh"

If you change the port, update your MCP server args to match.

Login guidance

For sites requiring authentication:

• Prefer manual login in the MCP Chrome window. Cookies are stored in the dedicated profile dir.
• If you must have the agent fill credentials, provide them explicitly for this session only; do not store secrets in files.

Troubleshooting (fast checks)

• Verify remote debugging is up:

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9223/json/version

• If empty or 404, ensure Chrome was started with the remote-debugging flags and a non-default user-data-dir.