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Install Browser MCP for GitHub Copilot agent mode

Give Copilot agent mode control of your real, already-logged-in Chrome - about 90 seconds, four steps. Your cookies, your sessions, your 2FA, instead of a blank browser that hits every login wall as a stranger.

The whole thing, in four steps

1 - Install the Chrome extension. One click from the Chrome Web Store.

2 - Add the server. Easiest way: Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P) → MCP: Add Server → follow the guided flow and pick Workspace or Global.

3 - Or write the file yourself - .vscode/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "servers": {
    "browser-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@agent360/browser-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

4 - Say this, to check it worked. In agent mode:

Take a screenshot of my current Chrome tab.

You get an image back instead of "I don't have browser access". That's it - you're running.

The one thing that trips everyone up

The key is servers. Not mcpServers.

Every other client on this site uses mcpServers. VS Code does not. If you paste a working block from Cline, Cursor or Claude Desktop straight into .vscode/mcp.json, nothing happens and nothing tells you why. It is the single most common reason this looks broken.

Things worth knowing before you hit them

You will get a trust dialog the first time the server starts, and you should. Their documentation notes that starting a server directly from the mcp.json file skips that prompt - which is worth knowing rather than relying on.

No restart needed. VS Code starts servers that have never run and restarts ones whose config changed. MCP: List Servers gives you manual start, stop and restart per server.

There may be a tool ceiling. The VS Code issue tracker reports a limit of 128 tools per chat request in Copilot agent mode, mitigated by github.copilot.chat.virtualTools.threshold. It is not in the official documentation, so treat it as a thing to recognise if you see it rather than a rule.

Copilot's own file is not ours, and not Cline's. Three MCP config files can live in one editor: .vscode/mcp.json (Copilot, key servers), Cline's own settings file (key mcpServers), and the user-level file behind MCP: Open User Configuration.

What Copilot can do with your real browser

It browses as you. Your admin dashboard already signed in, the 2FA code from the Gmail tab you already have open, the form on the page you were looking at. Nothing to re-authenticate, because it is your authenticated browser.

And when it hits something only you can decide, browser_ask_user stops, asks you on your own screen, and carries on in the same tab.

Frequently asked questions

Does this work in Copilot chat, or only agent mode? Agent mode. MCP tools are an agent-mode feature.

Where is the user-level config file? VS Code does not publish the path - use MCP: Open User Configuration from the Command Palette and it opens the right one for your profile.

Why does the extension show nothing after step 3? The server only takes a port the first time real work arrives. Ask for a screenshot and the badge appears.

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