byob

Bring Your Own Browser — let your AI assistant use the Chrome you already have open.

English · 中文

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byob is a local MCP server that lets AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Windsurf, etc.) directly control your real Chrome — the one where you're already logged into everything.

"read my Twitter timeline and summarize the top 5 posts"
"google 'mcp protocol spec', click the first result, read the page"
"take a screenshot of example.com"
"grab my GitHub session cookie so I can curl with it"
"open my Gmail tab and tell me how many unread"
"fill in this form with my details and submit it"

	WebFetch	Headless Puppeteer	byob
Sees logged-in pages	❌	⚠️ manual cookie copy	✅ already logged in
Passes bot detection	❌	❌	✅ real human browser
Setup time	0	hours	~5 min
Cloud cost	free	$$	free

Compared with tools that attach over Chrome's remote-debugging port (DevTools MCP, agent-browser, Playwright --cdp): byob is an extension, so there's no debugging port to open, no "Allow remote debugging?" prompt on every connection, and nothing else on your machine can hijack your logged-in browser through it.

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Install

Quick install (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wxtsky/byob/main/install.sh | bash

On Windows, run the same command from Git Bash or MSYS2. The script checks prerequisites (Node.js ≥ 20, bun, Chrome/Edge/Brave), clones the repo, builds everything, and walks you through MCP registration interactively. If bun is not installed, it offers to install it for you using the native installer for your OS.

Set BYOB_INSTALL_DIR to change the install location (default: ~/byob). Advanced: BYOB_REPO, BYOB_REF, and BYOB_SKIP_SETUP=1 are supported for forks, pinned refs, and CI-style dependency install only.

Manual install

Prefer to do it yourself?

Requires Node.js ≥ 20, bun, Chrome, and any MCP-compatible AI tool.

git clone https://github.com/wxtsky/byob
cd byob
bun install
bun run setup

bun run setup walks through the install interactively:

1. Pick output language (English / 中文)
2. Generates a unique extension key for you
3. Builds the Chrome extension
4. Writes the config that lets Chrome talk to byob
5. Prompts you to multi-select your AI tools. Claude Code gets the bundled plugin (Skill + auto-started MCP); other clients get their MCP config.

After the script finishes, three manual steps remain:

Step 2 — Load extension in Chrome

Open chrome://extensions in Chrome.

1. Top-right → turn ON Developer mode
2. Top-left → click Load unpacked
3. Select the folder printed in your terminal, something like:

   /your/path/to/byob/packages/extension/output/chrome-mv3
   

Step 3 — Restart Chrome

Quit Chrome completely (⌘Q on Mac / close all windows on Windows), then reopen.

Closing a single tab or window is not sufficient — Chrome only reads the Native Messaging config at startup.

Step 4 — Claude Code plugin / manual MCP reference

The setup script registers your selected tools automatically. The block below is for reference only — use it if you skipped the prompt or want to register a different tool later:

Claude Code plugin (recommended)

claude plugin marketplace add wxtsky/byob
claude plugin install byob@byob --scope user

Run /reload-plugins in Claude Code after installing. The plugin includes the /byob:control-chrome Skill and starts its bundled MCP server automatically; do not also register a second byob MCP server.

For local development without installing:

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/byob/plugins/byob

Claude Code manual MCP fallback

claude mcp add byob -s user -- /path/to/tsx /path/to/byob-mcp.ts

To enable browser_evaluate, add -e BYOB_ALLOW_EVAL=1 after -s user.

Codex CLI

codex mcp add byob -- /path/to/tsx /path/to/byob-mcp.ts

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json (project) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "byob": {
      "command": "/path/to/tsx",
      "args": ["/path/to/byob-mcp.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json (same JSON format as Cursor):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "byob": {
      "command": "/path/to/tsx",
      "args": ["/path/to/byob-mcp.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Cline (VS Code)

Open Cline sidebar → MCP Servers → Configure, then add (same JSON format):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "byob": {
      "command": "/path/to/tsx",
      "args": ["/path/to/byob-mcp.ts"]
    }
  }
}

The actual paths are printed by the setup script. The examples above use shortened paths for readability.
To enable browser_evaluate, add "env": { "BYOB_ALLOW_EVAL": "1" } to the config (or -e BYOB_ALLOW_EVAL=1 for CLI tools).

Step 5 — Wait for setup to confirm the bridge is online

After you finish steps 2 and 3 (load the extension and ⌘Q-restart Chrome), setup auto-detects the bridge coming online and prints ✓ bridge online. The installation is complete — open a new session in your AI tool and try "use byob to read ...".

If you exited setup early with Ctrl+C, or want to check the state later:

bun run doctor

bun run doctor prints actionable fixes under every ✗ (e.g. "⌘Q-restart Chrome", "extension ID mismatch", etc.).

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Tools

v0.5 has 25 tools. Elements are targeted by refs from the snapshot ([ref=e12]), a CSS selector, or x/y.

Tool	What it does
browser_snapshot	The page as an accessibility outline with refs — interactive-only, diff, scoped; iframes (even cross-origin) inline
browser_find	Find by role+name / text / label / placeholder / testId, optionally click/fill/check right away
browser_click	Click (real mouse events), double/right click, modifiers; auto-waits and reports navigation / new tabs / dialogs
browser_type	Fill inputs, textareas, contenteditable (React/Vue-safe); per-key mode; submit
browser_press_key	Keys and combos with real key codes (Enter, Shift+Tab, ControlOrMeta+A)
browser_hover / browser_select / browser_scroll / browser_drag	Menus, <select>, page or container scrolling, HTML5 drag-and-drop
browser_upload_file	Attach local files to <input type=file>
browser_batch	Many steps in one call (fill a whole form and submit)
browser_wait	Wait for element state, text, URL, load / network idle
browser_read	Content as text / markdown (reader mode) / html / links / tables, with outline and filter
browser_screenshot	Viewport / full page / element / clip → image returned to the model; ref labels; PDF
browser_navigate	Open a URL in a background tab, back / forward / reload
browser_tabs	List / open / select / close tabs, search history
browser_console	Console messages and page errors, buffered
browser_network	Record traffic (summary / JSON / HAR) or intercept: block / mock / modify
browser_inspect	Element box / state / styles, Web Vitals
browser_storage	Cookies and local/session storage — get / set / clear
browser_dialog	Answer alert / confirm / prompt explicitly
browser_emulate	Device, dark mode, geolocation, timezone, locale, offline, headers
browser_clipboard	Read / write clipboard text
browser_download_images	Save a page's images
browser_evaluate	Run page JavaScript (only with BYOB_ALLOW_EVAL=1)

Schemas: shared/src/tools.ts. Upgrading from 0.4? Tool names changed — see the changelog.

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How it works

AI tool → byob-mcp → byob-bridge → Chrome extension → your tab
         (stdio)    (Unix socket) (Native Messaging) (Chrome DevTools Protocol)

• byob's own page scripts run in an isolated world: they share the DOM but not JavaScript with the page — no window.__byob*, no data-byob-* attributes, nothing a site can see or tamper with.
• Refs live in the extension's memory, bound to Chrome's backend node ids; they survive re-renders and are refused (never silently re-targeted) after navigation.
• Each MCP client session has its own working tab; tabs the agent opens are grouped under byob and never steal focus.

All communication stays local. No data leaves your machine. When Chrome closes, all byob processes exit automatically.

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Everyday commands

bun run setup      # install or re-install
bun run doctor     # check what's working
bun run bridges    # list running bridge processes
bun run logs       # tail the bridge log
bun run unsetup    # remove everything
bun run policy     # show / change which sites byob may touch (flags below)

All run from the byob repo root.

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Reliability

• Auto-waiting actions. Before clicking or typing, byob waits until the element is attached, visible, stable, enabled and actually on top at its center; errors say what's wrong ("covered by <div#cookie-banner>").
• Actions report their effects — navigation (waited for), same-page URL changes, new tabs, JS dialogs — so the agent doesn't have to poll.
• Dialogs never hang a call. A click that opens confirm() returns immediately with the dialog text.
• End-to-end cancellation. Ctrl+C propagates through the entire chain (MCP → bridge → extension → Chrome).
• Sleep/wake recovery. After a laptop sleep cycle, byob resets its debug sessions so the next call starts clean.
• Tested end to end on Chrome for Testing: BYOB_E2E=1 bun test e2e (see CONTRIBUTING).

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Security

• browser_evaluate (and browser_wait's fn) are off by default — enable with BYOB_ALLOW_EVAL=1. Every call is audit-logged.

• chrome://, file://, Google/MS/Apple login pages are blocked by default.

• Per-site allow/deny lists, set by you — never by the agent:

  bun run policy --deny "**.chase.com" "mail.proton.me"   # never touch these
  bun run policy --allow "**.github.com"                  # or: only these
  bun run policy --clear-allow --clear-deny                # reset
  bun run policy --allow-file on                           # permit file:// URLs

  Patterns: example.com (exact), *.example.com (subdomains only), **.example.com (apex + subdomains), * (everything). Deny wins over allow. A non-empty allow list means allow-list-only. Enforced when byob attaches to a tab, so it covers every tool.

• JS dialogs are never auto-accepted; a confirm stays open until the agent answers it explicitly.

• Credential fields are redacted. Values in password / OTP / card / email inputs are never sent to the model; they surface as [redacted].

• Each install gets a unique extension key — no collisions.

• Socket files are 0600, dirs are 0700. Other users can't see them.

• Zero outbound network traffic. No analytics, no pings, no crash reports.

• Chrome displays a "byob is debugging this browser" banner on active tabs. This is a Chrome security feature and cannot be suppressed.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
No live bridge	Chrome not running or extension disabled	Check chrome://extensions
cdp_attach_failed	DevTools open on that tab	Close DevTools
url_forbidden	Blocked by your site policy	bun run policy
stale_ref	The page navigated since the snapshot	Snapshot again
element_covered	A banner / modal is on top	Close it, or force:true
extension_not_connected	Extension lost connection	Reload at chrome://extensions
Nothing works after install	Chrome was not fully restarted	Quit Chrome completely (⌘Q) and reopen

Run bun run doctor for detailed diagnostics on which step failed.

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Platform notes

Platform	Auto	Manual
macOS	Auto-registers selected MCP tools	Open chrome://extensions and load the unpacked extension
Windows	Same + writes Native Messaging host to registry	Same as macOS
Linux	Auto-registers selected MCP tools	Same as macOS

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More

• Changelog
• Contributing
• Manual release checklist

MIT licensed. byob has broad access to your browser — only use it on machines and accounts you own.