pagerunner 0.1.1

Browser automation MCP server for AI agents — drives real Chrome with your profiles
pagerunner-0.1.1 is not a library.

Pagerunner

A Chrome browser automation MCP server. Connect Claude (or any MCP client) to a real Chrome session — using your existing profiles with their cookies, saved passwords, and history.

[!WARNING] Pagerunner is early-stage software (v0.x). APIs and configuration formats may change between releases.

Contents

How it works

Pagerunner launches Chrome with your existing user profile via CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) and exposes it as an MCP server over stdin/stdout. Claude can then navigate, click, type, screenshot, and run JavaScript in the live browser.

Setup

1. Install

# Option A — Homebrew (easiest on macOS/Linux):
brew tap enreign/pagerunner
brew install pagerunner

# Option B — Cargo (if you have Rust):
cargo install pagerunner

# Option C — Pre-built binary (no dependencies):

# macOS arm64 (Apple Silicon):
curl -L https://github.com/Enreign/pagerunner/releases/latest/download/pagerunner-macos-arm64 \
  -o pagerunner && chmod +x pagerunner

# macOS x86_64 (Intel):
curl -L https://github.com/Enreign/pagerunner/releases/latest/download/pagerunner-macos-x86_64 \
  -o pagerunner && chmod +x pagerunner

# Linux x86_64:
curl -L https://github.com/Enreign/pagerunner/releases/latest/download/pagerunner-linux-x86_64 \
  -o pagerunner && chmod +x pagerunner

# macOS: if Gatekeeper blocks the binary on first run:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine pagerunner

# Option B — install via cargo (requires Rust):
cargo install --git https://github.com/Enreign/pagerunner --locked

# Option C — build locally:
cargo build --release

2. Auto-detect Chrome profiles

pagerunner init

This reads Chrome's profile list and writes ~/.pagerunner/config.toml automatically. Run pagerunner status to verify.

Alternatively, write ~/.pagerunner/config.toml by hand — see pagerunner example-config for the format.

3. Register as MCP server

# If installed (Options A or B — binary is in PATH):
claude mcp add pagerunner "$(which pagerunner)" mcp

# If built locally (Option C):
claude mcp add pagerunner "$(pwd)/target/release/pagerunner" mcp

For Claude Desktop, add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pagerunner": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/pagerunner",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Note: The mcp subcommand is required — registering just the binary path without mcp will not work.

Note: Chrome locks profile directories. Close any Chrome window using a profile before opening a Pagerunner session on it.

4. (Optional, --features ner builds only) Download the NER model

pagerunner download-model   # ~65MB, enables PERSON/ORG name detection

Using with your project

Copy the example agent instructions into your project root so Claude (or any agent) immediately knows how to use Pagerunner:

# Claude Code projects:
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Enreign/pagerunner/main/docs/examples/CLAUDE.md -o CLAUDE.md

# Other agents (Gemini, Codex, etc.):
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Enreign/pagerunner/main/docs/examples/AGENTS.md -o AGENTS.md

Or paste the content manually and extend it with project-specific instructions.

Using Pagerunner with Claude Code

For comprehensive guidance, workflows, and examples tailored to 4 different use cases, install the Pagerunner Skill:

# Install the skill (once available in skills.sh registry)
claude skill install pagerunner-skill

Or explore the skill repository directly: pagerunner-skill

The skill includes:

  • Quick starts for 4 ICPs: Solo Developer, Power User, Security-Conscious, Server-Side
  • 11 workflow patterns: form filling, authentication, scrolling, multi-step interactions
  • Complete reference: all 27 tools with parameters and examples
  • Security guide: PII anonymization, audit logging, encryption
  • Real-world examples: end-to-end workflows with error handling
  • Troubleshooting: common issues and solutions

Start with the skill's SKILL.md to find your use case and quick start path.

Tools

Sessions & tabs

Tool Description
list_profiles List configured Chrome profiles
open_session Launch Chrome for a profile, returns session_id
close_session Kill a Chrome session
list_sessions List active sessions
list_tabs List open tabs in a session
new_tab Open a new tab, returns target_id

Navigation & content

Tool Description
navigate Navigate a tab to a URL
wait_for Wait for a CSS selector, URL pattern, or fixed delay
get_content Get visible text content of a tab
screenshot Capture a tab as PNG (saved to temp file or inline base64)
evaluate Run JavaScript in a tab, returns the result

Interactions

Tool Description
click Click an element by CSS selector
type_text Type text at the focused element or a given selector
fill Set input value with React/Vue/Angular synthetic events
select Choose a dropdown option by value
scroll Scroll the page by pixels or scroll an element into view

Snapshots & tab state

Tool Description
save_snapshot Save current page cookies/localStorage to the encrypted DB
restore_snapshot Restore a saved snapshot into the current tab
list_snapshots List saved snapshots (optionally across all profiles)
delete_snapshot Delete a saved snapshot
save_tab_state Save all open tab URLs to the DB
restore_tab_state Reopen the previously saved tabs

Key-value store

Tool Description
kv_set Store a value in a persistent namespace
kv_get Retrieve a value by key
kv_delete Delete a key
kv_list List keys in a namespace (with optional prefix filter)
kv_clear Delete all keys in a namespace

Anonymization (PII protection)

Pass anonymize: true to open_session to strip PII from all get_content and evaluate results before they reach Claude. Screenshots are blocked in anonymization mode.

{ "tool": "open_session", "profile": "personal", "anonymize": true }

Detected by default: EMAIL, PHONE, CREDIT_CARD, IBAN, SSN, IP With --features ner build: also detects PERSON and ORG names via a local ONNX model

Modes

  • tokenize (default): replaces PII with tokens like [EMAIL:a3f9b2]. Pass tokens back to fill/type_text — Pagerunner de-tokenizes before writing to the DOM.
  • redact: one-way replacement with [EMAIL] — no vault, no de-tokenization.

NER setup (PERSON and ORG name detection)

# 1. Build with NER support:
cargo build --release --features ner

# 2. Download the model (one-time, ~65MB):
pagerunner download-model

Disable globally in ~/.pagerunner/config.toml:

[ner]
enabled = false

Stealth mode

Pass stealth: true to open_session to enable anti-detection: hides automation signals, injects scripts to mask navigator.webdriver, and adds human-like delays between inputs.

{ "tool": "open_session", "profile": "personal", "stealth": true }

Example session

open_session(profile="personal")          → session_id: abc123
new_tab(session_id, url="https://...")    → target_id: TAB456
get_content(session_id, target_id)        → "page text..."
click(session_id, target_id, "#button")
type_text(session_id, target_id, "hello", selector="#input")
screenshot(session_id, target_id)         → "data:image/png;base64,..."
close_session(session_id)

Daemon (multiple Claude Code sessions / persistent state)

By default each pagerunner mcp process opens the database directly — only one can run at a time. If you open Pagerunner in a second Claude Code window you'll hit a DB lock error.

Start the daemon once to share state across any number of sessions:

pagerunner daemon &

Each pagerunner mcp instance automatically detects the daemon, connects to it over a Unix socket (~/.pagerunner/daemon.sock), and proxies all tool calls through it. All Claude Code windows share the same open browsers, KV store, and snapshots.

To stop:

pkill -f "pagerunner daemon"

Install as a background service (starts at login, restarts on crash):

cargo build --release
./scripts/install-launchd.sh

Logs at ~/.pagerunner/daemon.log.

Snapshots

Save authenticated browser state to the encrypted local DB:

save_snapshot(session_id, target_id, origin="https://github.com")

Restore it in any future session:

restore_snapshot(session_id, target_id, origin="https://github.com")

Snapshots are encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The key is stored in macOS Keychain under pagerunner / db_key — never written to disk in plaintext.

Legal & Responsible Use

Pagerunner automates a browser you own, using your own credentials. You are responsible for complying with the Terms of Service of any website you automate, applicable data protection laws (GDPR, CCPA), and authorized-access requirements (CFAA and equivalents).

Using anonymize: true is recommended for any workflow that involves processing personal data belonging to other people.

See DISCLAIMER.md for the full legal disclaimer, limitation of liability, and responsible use obligations.