Give Claude on the web control of your browser
Settings → Connectors → Add → Add custom connector. One URL, 27 browser tools — works in claude.ai chats, Cowork sessions, and the mobile apps.
Click path walked end to end and verified: August 2026
In short
Claude supports custom connectors backed by a remote MCP server. Open Settings → Connectors → Add → Add custom connector, paste your Vibe relay URL, and Claude can navigate, click, type, scroll, screenshot, and read your real Chrome — including pages behind a login. No domain verification, no allowlist, no OAuth. Because the connector is brokered by your Claude account, it works in Cowork and on mobile, not just Claude Desktop.
The problem
- Claude Desktop can run a local MCP server; Claude on the web, in a Cowork session, or on your phone cannot — it has no way to spawn a process on your machine.
- So the moment you leave the desktop app, Claude loses access to your browser and to everything behind your logins.
- Web search is not a substitute: it sees the anonymous public internet, not your dashboards, your inbox, or your admin panels.
What Vibe MCP changes
- A custom connector is just a URL, so it works from every Claude surface at once — web, Cowork, desktop, mobile.
- The Vibe relay bridges that URL to the Chrome extension on your machine, so Claude acts in the browser you are already signed into.
- Nothing to install beyond the extension: no npx, no local server, no second browser profile.
- Toggle it per conversation, so a chat only reaches your browser when you want it to.
Install in 3 steps
1Install the Vibe extension in Chrome
Add Vibe AI Browser from the Chrome Web Store (Chrome, Brave, Edge, or any Chromium browser). This is the piece that lets an agent drive the browser you are already logged into — no second browser profile, no re-authentication.
2Copy your agent connection URL from the extension
Click the Vibe icon → Settings → turn on "Enable external AI agent control" → choose Remote (internet) → copy the Agent connection URL. The last path segment is your routing UUID. The connector URL is https://relay.api.vibebrowser.app/mcp/ followed by that UUID. Leave the extension running and remote control on — the connector talks to this browser, so if it is closed there is nothing on the other end.
Vibe extension → Settings → Agent connection URLurlhttps://relay.api.vibebrowser.app/mcp/<your-routing-uuid>3Add it under Settings → Connectors → Add → Add custom connector
In Claude on the web, open Settings → Connectors. Click Add, then Add custom connector. Give it a name (for example "Vibe Browser"), paste the URL from the previous step into the URL field, and click Add. Claude connects and discovers the tool list — 27 browser tools at the time of writing. There is no domain verification, no allowlist, and no OAuth step: the URL is the whole configuration. Custom connectors are a paid-plan feature; check your plan if the option is missing.
Your relay URL / extension UUID grants live control of your browser session. Treat it like a password: never commit it or paste it into a shared chat.
Your connector URL is a password. Treat it like one.
That URL is a bearer capability for your real, logged-in browser. There is no second factor: anyone who holds it can open your tabs, read the pages you are signed into, and act as you. Nothing else is needed to use it.
- Never paste it into a shared chat, a ticket, a README, a screenshot, or a support thread. Redact the UUID before sharing anything.
- Never commit it to a repo or write it into a config file that gets committed. Keep it out of shell history and CI logs.
- If it leaks — or you are unsure — open the Vibe extension settings and regenerate the connection URL. The old UUID stops routing immediately, and you re-paste the new URL into the connector.
- Turn "Enable external AI agent control" off when you are not using it. With it off, the URL routes nowhere.
What “connected” looks like
- The connector appears in the Settings → Connectors list with its name and a tool count — 27 tools on the current extension build.
- Right after you add it, Claude shows "You are not connected to Vibe Browser yet". This is expected and does not mean the setup failed. Claude only marks a connector as connected once a chat has actually invoked one of its tools — send a prompt first, then re-check.
- In a chat, the + button → Connectors lists Vibe with a toggle. Turn it on for that conversation.
- On the first real request you will see Claude call tools such as New page and Take snapshot, and your own browser will visibly navigate.
Verify it actually works
Do not trust a green checkmark. Run this prompt in a conversation with the connector enabled and check the answer yourself.
Go to duckduckgo.com and find out when the first GPT model was released.Expected answer: 2018
Pick this over "open google.com" because a wrong answer is unmistakable: the assistant cannot satisfy it from memory-free small talk, and you can watch the tab actually navigate. If the answer comes back as 2018 and you saw your browser move, the connector is wired end to end. If the assistant answers 2018 without your browser doing anything, it answered from its own knowledge — ask it again and require it to cite the page it opened.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The client rejects the URL with a 401, or tool calls fail with 401 Unauthorized. | The routing UUID in the URL is wrong, mistyped, or no longer valid — usually because it was regenerated in the extension after you pasted it. | Re-copy the Agent connection URL from the Vibe extension settings and re-paste the whole URL. Check you kept the /mcp/ path segment and did not drop or duplicate a character at either end. |
| The connector saved fine and tools are listed, but every tool call errors or hangs. | Nothing is on the other end of the relay: the browser with the Vibe extension is closed, or external agent control is switched off, or the mode is set to Local instead of Remote (internet). | Open the browser that has the Vibe extension, click the Vibe icon → Settings, confirm "Enable external AI agent control" is on and the mode is Remote (internet). Then retry the prompt. |
| No tools show up at all after saving the connector. | The URL points at the plain relay root rather than your routing path, so there is no session to enumerate tools for. | The URL must be https://relay.api.vibebrowser.app/mcp/<your-routing-uuid> — with the UUID as the last path segment. Remove the connector, re-add it with the full URL, and reload the page. |
| The assistant answers the question but your browser never moved. | It answered from its own knowledge instead of calling a tool. This is a prompt problem, not a connection problem. | Re-ask and require evidence: "Use your browser tools to open duckduckgo.com, then tell me which page you read." If it still refuses, check the connector is toggled on for that specific conversation. |
Tools Claude (web, Cowork & mobile) gets
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| navigate_to_url | Navigate to any URL |
| go_back / go_forward | Browser history navigation |
| click | Click elements on the page |
| type / fill | Enter text into inputs |
| scroll | Scroll the page |
| take_screenshot | Capture screenshots |
| get_page_content | Extract page text or HTML |
| get_tabs / create_new_tab / switch_to_tab / close_tab | Tab management |
| keyboard_shortcut | Press keyboard combinations |
| web_search | Search the web |
How it compares
| Feature | Vibe MCP | Playwright MCP | BrowserMCP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-agent support | Yes | No | No |
| Uses your browser profile | Yes | No | No |
| Logged-in sessions | Yes | No | No |
| No separate browser | Yes | No | No |
| Local & private | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Content-script based | Yes | No | No |
Claude (web, Cowork & mobile) browser control — FAQ
- Can Claude control my browser from claude.ai, not just Claude Desktop?
- Yes, via a custom connector. Claude Desktop can launch a local MCP server, but claude.ai, Cowork, and mobile cannot — they need a remote MCP server reachable over the public internet. The Vibe relay is exactly that, so one connector URL covers every Claude surface.
- How do I add a custom connector in Claude?
- Open Settings → Connectors, click Add, then Add custom connector. Give it a name, paste the remote MCP server URL, and click Add. Then in a chat use the + button → Connectors and toggle it on for that conversation.
- Claude says "You are not connected to Vibe Browser yet" — did it fail?
- No. Claude reports a custom connector as not connected until the first time a conversation actually calls one of its tools. Send a prompt that requires the browser — for example asking it to open a page — and the status resolves. If tool calls then fail, see the troubleshooting table.
- Do I need to verify a domain or get allowlisted?
- No. Adding a custom connector in Claude needs nothing but the URL — no domain verification, no allowlist request, and no OAuth configuration.
- Does this work in a Cowork session?
- Yes. A custom connector is brokered through your Claude account rather than tied to one machine, so a Cowork session reaches it the same way a Desktop chat does. A local Desktop Extension would not — that is scoped to the desktop app on that one computer.
- Why does the URL end in my routing UUID?
- The connector UI accepts a bare URL and cannot attach a custom request header, so the relay reads the routing UUID from the URL path instead. It is the same credential that CLI clients pass in the X-Remote-Session header.
- Do I still need to install anything?
- Only the Vibe Chrome extension. On the remote-connector path there is no npx command and no local MCP server — the hosted assistant talks to the Vibe relay over HTTPS, and the relay forwards to your extension.
- Do I need domain verification, an allowlist, or OAuth?
- No. Neither Claude nor ChatGPT requires domain verification, an allowlist entry, or an OAuth flow for this connector. You paste a URL and save. The routing UUID inside the URL is the only credential involved.
- Is the UUID in the URL a secret?
- Yes. That UUID is the credential that routes an agent to your browser — anyone who has it can drive your logged-in session. Treat the connector URL like a password: never post it in a shared chat, screenshot, README, or issue. If it leaks, regenerate it in the Vibe extension settings and paste the new URL into the connector.
- What is the difference between this and the local MCP server?
- The local path (npx @vibebrowser/mcp) runs on your machine and suits desktop clients that can spawn a process — Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Codex CLI. The remote path suits hosted assistants that only accept a URL. Both end up driving the same Chrome tab through the same extension.
- Does my page content go through your servers on this path?
- Yes — unlike the local STDIO path, tool calls and their results traverse the Vibe relay, because the assistant is running in the vendor cloud and cannot reach your machine directly. If you need page content to never leave your machine, use the local MCP server with a desktop client instead.
Works with your other agents too
The same MCP server powers every client. Multiple agents can drive the same browser at once.
Ready to connect Claude (web, Cowork & mobile)?
Connecting an agent to your logged-in browser has real privacy consequences. Read what is transmitted, logged and retained in the Privacy Policy.