cloakbrowser-mcp

cloakbrowser-mcp is a Model Context Protocol browser automation server that runs upstream @playwright/mcp with the CloakBrowser Chromium binary. It provides Playwright MCP-compatible tools through a thin CloakBrowser bridge for npm and Docker users over stdio or Streamable HTTP.

Documentation: swimmwatch.github.io/cloakbrowser-mcp

Cross-platform checks cover npm on Linux x64/arm64, macOS arm64/x64, and Windows x64 across Node.js 22-26. Docker images are built and smoke-tested for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64.

The server is intentionally thin:

• upstream Playwright MCP owns browser tool schemas, descriptions, and responses;
• this package generates a Playwright MCP config that points launchOptions.executablePath to CloakBrowser;
• the bridge exposes upstream tools unchanged;
• the only local tools are cloakbrowser_binary_info and cloakbrowser_bridge_info.

Version compatibility

cloakbrowser-mcp	@playwright/mcp	CloakBrowser	Node.js	Platform
1.4.0	^0.0.76	^0.3.32	>=22.12	npm on Linux x64/arm64, macOS arm64/x64, Windows x64; Docker linux/amd64, linux/arm64
1.3.0	^0.0.75	^0.3.31	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.2.7	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.2.6	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.2.5	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.2.3	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.2.2	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.2.1	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.2.0	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.1.0	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.0.2	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.0.1	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local
1.0.0	^0.0.75	^0.3.30	>=20	Docker linux/amd64, Node.js local

See Version Compatibility for the maintained compatibility table.

Registry visibility

cloakbrowser-mcp publishes server.json to the official MCP Registry. GitHub's github.com/mcp registry is a separate curated discovery surface, so an official MCP Registry release may not appear there immediately.

Verify the current official registry entry and GitHub MCP visibility probe with:

npm run registry:check

Use npm run registry:check:strict only when GitHub MCP listing visibility should be treated as a required release gate.

Run from npm

npx -y cloakbrowser-mcp@latest --help
npx -y cloakbrowser-mcp@latest doctor
npx -y cloakbrowser-mcp@latest doctor --json
npx -y cloakbrowser-mcp@latest
npx -y cloakbrowser-mcp@latest --transport streamable-http --http-port 3000
npx -y cloakbrowser-mcp@latest --transport streamable-http --http-protocol https --https-cert ./cert.pem --https-key ./key.pem

Requires Node.js 22.12 or newer. The first real browser action may download the CloakBrowser binary unless it is already cached. Use doctor for local diagnostics before connecting an MCP client. It checks the Node.js engine, project metadata, upstream Playwright MCP resolution, and CloakBrowser binary metadata without starting the bridge or downloading a browser. The default transport is stdio. Streamable HTTP binds to 127.0.0.1 by default, serves MCP at /mcp, and exposes fixed GET /healthz and GET /readyz probes. Use --http-protocol https with --https-cert and --https-key or --https-pfx for direct TLS. If --http-auth-token is set, the probes require the same Authorization: Bearer ... header as MCP requests. For the complete generated CLI flag reference, see the published CLI Reference.

Run from Docker

docker pull swimmwatch/cloakbrowser-mcp:latest
docker run --rm --init -i \
  -v "$PWD/artifacts:/data" \
  swimmwatch/cloakbrowser-mcp:latest

docker run --rm --init -p 127.0.0.1:3000:3000 \
  -v "$PWD/artifacts:/data" \
  swimmwatch/cloakbrowser-mcp:latest \
  --transport streamable-http --http-host 0.0.0.0 --http-port 3000

curl http://127.0.0.1:3000/healthz
curl http://127.0.0.1:3000/readyz

For direct HTTPS from the container, mount your TLS files and select HTTPS:

docker run --rm --init -p 127.0.0.1:3000:3000 \
  -v "$PWD/artifacts:/data" \
  -v "$PWD/certs:/certs:ro" \
  swimmwatch/cloakbrowser-mcp:latest \
  --transport streamable-http --http-host 0.0.0.0 --http-port 3000 \
  --http-protocol https --https-cert /certs/cert.pem --https-key /certs/key.pem

The Docker image is based on the pinned official Playwright MCP image, installs the bridge under /opt/cloakbrowser-mcp, writes artifacts to /data by default, and is published for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64. The same tags are also published to ghcr.io/swimmwatch/cloakbrowser-mcp.

MCP client configuration

npm

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cloakbrowser": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "cloakbrowser-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_OUTPUT_DIR": "/tmp/cloakbrowser-artifacts",
        "PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HEADLESS": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cloakbrowser": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "--init",
        "-i",
        "-v",
        "/tmp/cloakbrowser-artifacts:/data",
        "swimmwatch/cloakbrowser-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Configuration

Use upstream PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_* variables for browser, artifact, timeout, network, and tool capability settings. Cloak-specific bridge toggles use CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_*. CLI flags are documented in the generated CLI Reference.

Common variables:

Variable	Default	Description
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_TRANSPORT	stdio	MCP transport exposed by the bridge: stdio or streamable-http.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTP_PROTOCOL	http	Streamable HTTP listener protocol: http or https.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTP_HOST	127.0.0.1	Streamable HTTP bind host.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTP_PORT	3000	Streamable HTTP bind port.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTP_ENDPOINT	/mcp	Streamable HTTP endpoint path.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTP_AUTH_TOKEN	unset	Optional Bearer token for Streamable HTTP.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTP_SESSION_BACKEND	memory	Session metadata backend. Only memory is implemented in this release.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTP_SESSION_IDLE_TTL_MS	3600000	Idle TTL for Streamable HTTP sessions.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTP_SESSION_MAX	32	Maximum active Streamable HTTP sessions in one process.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTPS_CERT	unset	TLS certificate PEM path for HTTPS Streamable HTTP.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTPS_KEY	unset	TLS private key PEM path for HTTPS Streamable HTTP.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTPS_PFX	unset	TLS PFX/PKCS12 path for HTTPS Streamable HTTP.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HTTPS_PASSPHRASE	unset	Passphrase for an encrypted HTTPS key or PFX.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_LOG_LEVEL	info	Streamable HTTP operational log level: trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal, or silent.
PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_BROWSER_ENGINE	cloak	cloak uses CloakBrowser. playwright uses the upstream Playwright MCP browser runtime.
PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_HEADLESS	true	Runs Chromium headless.
PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_OUTPUT_DIR	.playwright-mcp	Artifact directory for npm usage. Docker defaults to /data.
PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_OUTPUT_MODE	stdout	Upstream output mode, either stdout or file.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_CONSOLE_FALLBACK	true	Enables the compatibility patch for console messages.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_STEALTH_ARGS	true	Adds CloakBrowser default stealth launch arguments.
CLOAK_PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXTRA_ARGS	unset	Comma-separated or JSON array of extra Chromium launch arguments.

The old CLOAKBROWSER_MCP_* variables are not supported.

Tools

The upstream Playwright MCP tool list is authoritative. This project does not reimplement or re-document upstream browser schemas in source code.

Local tools:

• cloakbrowser_binary_info returns CloakBrowser package, platform, cache, and resolved binary data.
• cloakbrowser_bridge_info returns bridge metadata, upstream package/version, and local tool names.

Development

npm install
npm run build
npm test
npm run docker:build
npm run docker:smoke
npm run server:validate
npm run bridge:compare -- cloakbrowser-mcp:dev --report bridge-parity-report.json

Documentation starts at docs/getting-started.md. Contributor material is grouped under docs/contributor-guide.md.