Add Browser MCP to ZCode

Q: How do I add Browser MCP as an MCP server in ZCode?

Run npx @agent360/browser-mcp install to fetch the extension files, then in ZCode go to Settings → MCP Servers → New MCP Server, set type stdio, command npx, argument @agent360/browser-mcp. Load the Chrome extension once (Step 3), confirm browser-mcp shows Enabled, and restart ZCode if the tools don't appear immediately.

Q: How do I update it?

The MCP server updates itself — npx @agent360/browser-mcp always resolves to latest on npm, so there's nothing to do. The extension auto-updates only if you installed it from the Chrome Web Store; if you loaded it unpacked, re-run npx @agent360/browser-mcp install and click ↻ reload on chrome://extensions.

Q: ZCode isn't picking up the browser tools — what do I check?

First, confirm browser-mcp shows as Enabled in ZCode's MCP Servers list (adding it isn't always the same as it being active). Then confirm the Chrome extension is loaded under chrome://extensions — click the extension icon → "Reconnect" and give it 2–3 seconds, it scans ports 9876–9895 for the running MCP server. If both check out and it's still not showing, restart ZCode.

Give your ZCode agent control of your real, already-logged-in Chrome — install takes about 90 seconds.

Give your ZCode agent control of your real, already-logged-in Chrome — about 90 seconds, four steps. 41 browser tools, your actual cookies and sessions, works on 2FA and CAPTCHA-gated sites where headless tools (Playwright, Puppeteer) get blocked. MIT-licensed, free, and 100% local — nothing leaves your machine.

The whole thing, in four steps

1 — Install the Chrome extension. One click from the Chrome Web Store; Chrome keeps it updated. No store? The unpacked install is further down.

2 — Add the MCP server in ZCode. Settings → MCP Servers → New MCP Server — scope User, name browser-mcp, type stdio, command npx, argument @agent360/browser-mcp@latest. Required — the extension does nothing on its own.

3 — Restart ZCode. That is what starts the server. The extension icon turns green.

4 — Say this, to check it worked. Paste it to your ZCode agent:

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. → What else to say

Everything below is the long version.

Step-by-step install (ZCode)

Step 1 — Get the extension files

npx @agent360/browser-mcp install

This copies the Chrome extension to ~/.browser-mcp/extension/ and prints the path in your terminal — copy it, you'll need it in Step 3. (It also writes a Claude Code MCP config entry as a side effect; harmless to ignore if ZCode is the only agent you use — Step 2 is what actually wires it into ZCode.)

Step 2 — Add the MCP server in ZCode

Open ZCode → Settings → MCP Servers → New MCP Server (top-right corner).

Form mode (fastest):

Field	Value
Scope	`User` (available in every workspace) — or `Workspace` to scope it to the current project only
Name	`browser-mcp`
Type	`stdio` (leave HTTP/SSE alone — Browser MCP runs locally over stdio, it's not a remote service)
Command	`npx`
Arguments	`@agent360/browser-mcp@latest`
Environment variables	none — leave empty, no API key required

Or Full configuration mode — paste this JSON directly instead of filling the form:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "browser-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@agent360/browser-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

ZCode also advertises auto-detection of MCP servers you've already configured for Claude Code, Codex CLI, or OpenCode. If you ran Step 1 previously for one of those, check the "Configured MCP servers" list first — browser-mcp may already show up as a one-click import instead of something you need to type in. We couldn't pin down the exact detection path from ZCode's public docs, so treat this as a shortcut worth checking, not a guaranteed step.

Step 3 — Load the extension in Chrome

Chrome doesn't let extensions install themselves from npm, so this one step is manual:

Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions
Toggle Developer mode ON (top right)
Click Load unpacked (top left, next to "Pack extension")
Navigate to ~/.browser-mcp/extension/ and select it
Mac: in the file picker, press Cmd+Shift+G, paste ~/.browser-mcp/extension/, hit Enter
Windows: paste %USERPROFILE%\.browser-mcp\extension\ into the address bar
Linux: type ~/.browser-mcp/extension/ into the path field

Don't want Developer mode on? Use the Chrome Web Store install instead — see below.

Step 4 — Confirm it's enabled and reload ZCode

Check that browser-mcp shows as Enabled in ZCode's MCP Servers list. If your agent doesn't see the browser tools right away, restart ZCode — that forces it to pick up the new server. You'll also see the Browser MCP icon appear in your Chrome toolbar once the extension connects.

Verify it's working

Paste this to your ZCode agent:

Take a screenshot of my current Chrome tab.

If you get an image back instead of "I don't have browser access", both halves are talking to each other. That is the whole test.

Now what — things to actually say

Nothing happens until you ask, and the hardest part of a new tool is knowing what to ask for. Start with these:

Open my Gmail tab and tell me who sent my last 3 emails.

The one that shows the difference — it works because it is your browser, already signed in. A headless tool hits a login wall here.

Go to my analytics dashboard, pull this month's numbers, and put them in a table.

Any dashboard you are already logged into. No API key, no export, no integration to build first.

Fill in this signup form with my details. Stop and ask me before anything sensitive.

You stay in the loop — the agent hands control back for passwords, payment details, or anything it should not decide alone.

Log me in here. If it emails a code, read it from my Gmail tab and continue.

The move no API can make: it reads the one-time code out of your own inbox and finishes the sign-in.

Walk through my app's signup flow as a real user and tell me where it breaks.

End-to-end QA of your own product, in the same browser your users have.

The pattern: anything you would do yourself in a browser, on a site you are already signed into. It is strongest where there is no API — internal dashboards, admin panels, portals, LinkedIn. More examples.

Alternative installs

No Developer mode — Chrome Web Store

Install from the Chrome Web Store →

No Developer mode toggle needed, and Chrome updates the extension automatically in the background. You still need Step 2 (or the JSON block above) to register the server in ZCode.

No npm? Manual zip download

Download the extension zip from the latest GitHub release
Unzip it anywhere (e.g. ~/Downloads/browser-mcp-extension/)
Follow Step 3 above, but select the unzipped folder instead of ~/.browser-mcp/extension/
Add the server in ZCode using the JSON block from Step 2 — no npx install run needed for this path.

What your agent can do

The 2FA killer move

This is the reason people install Browser MCP: your ZCode agent hits a login wall, needs a verification code, and — because it's driving your actual logged-in Chrome rather than a fresh headless session — it can switch to your own Gmail tab, read the code, and finish the sign-in itself. No API can do that; there's no "read my 2FA code" endpoint to call. It works because Browser MCP isn't simulating a browser, it's operating yours: your cookies, your sessions, your already-passed 2FA challenges.

The same real-session advantage is why it works on 2FA- and CAPTCHA-gated sites that block Playwright and Puppeteer — it is not a fresh anonymous session, it is yours. (We do not build detection-evasion; see when-not-to-use.)

40 tools

Category	Tools
Navigation & content	`browser_navigate`, `browser_get_page_content`, `browser_screenshot`, `browser_execute_script`
Interaction	`browser_click`, `browser_fill`, `browser_press_key`, `browser_scroll`, `browser_wait`, `browser_hover`, `browser_select_option`, `browser_set_combobox`, `browser_set_date`, `browser_dismiss_overlays`, `browser_handle_dialog`
Tabs & frames	`browser_list_tabs`, `browser_switch_tab`, `browser_close_tab`, `browser_get_new_tab`, `browser_list_frames`, `browser_select_frame`
Data & network	`browser_get_cookies`, `browser_set_cookies`, `browser_get_local_storage`, `browser_set_local_storage`, `browser_fetch`, `browser_wait_for_network`, `browser_extract_token`, `browser_console_logs`, `browser_upload_file`, `browser_drop_file`
CAPTCHA assistance	`browser_solve_captcha` - detects reCAPTCHA v2/v3, hCaptcha, Turnstile and FunCaptcha, attempts the checkbox, then hands the challenge to you if it cannot. No third-party solving service
Human-in-the-loop	`browser_ask_user` — overlay dialog for 2FA, CAPTCHA, or credential input, right inside the page
Meta	`browser_about` — session/extension info

browser_extract_token ships with zero-config shortcuts for 9 common dashboards (Stripe, HubSpot, Slack, Shopify, Pipedrive, Calendly, Mailchimp, Google, LinkedIn) — but it isn't limited to those. For anything else, the agent falls back to browser_navigate + browser_get_page_content and walks the dashboard itself.

Full source: github.com/Agent360dk/browser-mcp.

Why this over Playwright MCP

	Browser MCP	Playwright MCP
Browser	Your real Chrome	Headless (fresh session)
Logins/cookies	Already authenticated	Must log in every time
2FA / CAPTCHA-gated sites	Works — it's your session	Frequently blocked
Human-in-the-loop	`browser_ask_user`	None
Multi-session	20 concurrent sessions, color-coded tab groups	Single session
Provider dashboards	Zero-config shortcuts for 9 common ones, works with any	None
Install	Chrome extension + one `mcp.json` entry	`npx @playwright/mcp`

Works with any MCP client

Browser MCP is a standard stdio MCP server — it has no idea which agent is driving it, and doesn't need to. The setup is identical for Cursor, VS Code agent mode, Claude Code, or anything else that speaks MCP: point the client at npx @agent360/browser-mcp with no arguments, and the 40 tools show up. This ZCode guide and the Claude Code guide differ only in Step 2 — how each client's UI registers a stdio server.

Running more than one agent session at once

Each session gets its own MCP server on its own port (9876–9895), and the extension keeps every session's tabs in a separate color-coded Chrome tab group — one session can't see or click another's tabs. Idle sessions auto-exit after 4 hours without commands.

FAQ

How do I add Browser MCP as an MCP server in ZCode? Run npx @agent360/browser-mcp install to fetch the extension files, then in ZCode go to Settings → MCP Servers → New MCP Server, set type stdio, command npx, argument @agent360/browser-mcp. Load the Chrome extension once (Step 3), confirm browser-mcp shows Enabled, and restart ZCode if the tools don't appear immediately.

What is Browser MCP? An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives ZCode — or any MCP client, including Claude Code, Cursor, and VS Code agent mode — control of your actual, already-logged-in Chrome: your cookies, your sessions, your 2FA. 40 tools, MIT-licensed, 100% local.

Is it free? Yes. MIT license, no account, no paid tier.

Does it only work with ZCode? No. It's a standard MCP server, so it works with any MCP-compatible client. Only Step 2 — how you register the server — differs between clients; Cursor and VS Code agent mode both take the same {"mcpServers": {"browser-mcp": {"command": "npx", "args": ["@agent360/browser-mcp@latest"]}}} block.

Why do I have to load the extension manually instead of it just installing? Chrome blocks extensions from self-installing from npm or any script — that's a Chrome security boundary, not a Browser MCP limitation. Loading unpacked once, or installing from the Chrome Web Store, are the only two ways in.

Does my browsing data leave my machine? No. The MCP server runs locally over stdio, talks to the extension over a local WebSocket, and the extension talks to Chrome through Chrome's own APIs. Nothing is sent to a remote server.

How do I update it? The MCP server updates itself — npx @agent360/browser-mcp always resolves to latest on npm, so there's nothing to do. The extension auto-updates only if you installed it from the Chrome Web Store; if you loaded it unpacked, re-run npx @agent360/browser-mcp install and click ↻ reload on chrome://extensions.

ZCode isn't picking up the browser tools — what do I check? First, confirm browser-mcp shows as Enabled in ZCode's MCP Servers list (adding it isn't always the same as it being active). Then confirm the Chrome extension is loaded under chrome://extensions — click the extension icon → "Reconnect" and give it 2–3 seconds, it scans ports 9876–9895 for the running MCP server. If both check out and it's still not showing, restart ZCode.

Is this the same as browsermcp.io? No — different project, same underlying idea (MCP + your real Chrome), separate codebase. If you found this page searching generically for "browser mcp," make sure you're grabbing the one you meant: this one is @agent360/browser-mcp on npm, github.com/Agent360dk/browser-mcp on GitHub.

Can I run it across multiple ZCode sessions at once? Yes — up to 20 concurrent sessions, each on its own port with its own color-coded Chrome tab group, so sessions can't see or control each other's tabs.