AI Browser Automation - MCP Server for Claude & ChatGPT

Enable AI assistants to control web browsers through natural language. This Apify Actor is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI agents 17 browser automation tools to scrape data, fill forms, take screenshots, and automate any web task.

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What is MCP Browser Automation?

This Actor transforms your AI assistant into a browser automation expert. Instead of writing complex scripts, describe what you need in plain English—your AI handles everything using a real Chrome browser.

Example conversation with Claude:

"Go to example.com, extract all product prices, and take a screenshot of the pricing table"

Claude automatically uses the right tools (navigate → extract → screenshot) and returns the results.

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Key Features

Feature	Description
17 Browser Tools	Complete automation: navigate, click, type, screenshot, extract, scroll, and more
Session Persistence	Browser state maintained across multiple tool calls
Concurrent Browsers	Up to 10 parallel browser instances for faster scraping
Real Chrome Engine	Full JavaScript support—handles React, Vue, Angular, SPAs
Dataset Storage	Large outputs (screenshots, HTML) automatically stored in Apify Dataset
No Coding Required	Describe tasks in natural language to your AI assistant

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What Data Can You Extract?

Data Type	Examples	Use Cases
Product Data	Prices, descriptions, reviews	Price monitoring, market research
Contact Info	Emails, phone numbers, addresses	Lead generation, prospecting
Content	Articles, posts, comments	Content aggregation, research
Screenshots	Full page or specific elements	Visual monitoring, documentation
Dynamic Content	Lazy-loaded, infinite scroll, SPAs	Modern web apps, JavaScript-heavy sites

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Quick Start: Connect to Claude Desktop

Step 1: Start the Actor on Apify

1. Click "Try for free" on the Actor page
2. Keep default settings (or adjust timeout for slow sites)
3. Click "Start"
4. Copy the Actor endpoint URL from run details

Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop

Find your Claude config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add this configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "puppeteer-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://meysamazing--puppeteer-mcp.apify.actor?token=apify_api_..."
    }
  }
}

or run the CLI:

claude mcp add --transport http puppeteer-mcp https://meysamazing--puppeteer-mcp.apify.actor?token=apify_api_...

Restart Claude Desktop. Done!

Step 3: Start Automating

Try these prompts with Claude:

• "Navigate to reddit.com and extract the top 5 post titles"
• "Go to example.com/pricing and take a screenshot"
• "Fill the contact form with name 'John' and email 'john@test.com'"

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All 17 Browser Tools

Your AI automatically selects the right tool based on your request.

Navigation

Tool	What It Does
navigate	Go to any URL, wait for page load
goBack	Navigate back in browser history
goForward	Navigate forward in browser history
getCurrentUrl	Get current page URL and title

Interaction

Tool	What It Does
click	Click elements (CSS selector, XPath, or text match)
type	Type text into inputs with optional delay
hover	Hover over elements to trigger tooltips/menus
scroll	Scroll page or scroll to specific element
select	Choose options from dropdown menus
pressKey	Press keyboard keys (Enter, Tab, Escape, etc.)

Data Extraction

Tool	What It Does
screenshot	Capture full page or element screenshots
getContent	Get page content as HTML, text, or markdown
extract	Extract text/attributes from single or multiple elements
evaluate	Execute custom JavaScript on the page
waitForSelector	Wait for elements to appear before acting

Session Management

Tool	What It Does
listSessions	View all active browser sessions
destroySession	Close a specific browser session

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Input Configuration

Customize the Actor for your needs:

Setting	Default	Description
headlessMode	true	Run browser without UI (disable for debugging)
defaultTimeout	30000	Max wait time per operation (ms)
maxConcurrency	1	Parallel browser instances (1-10)
logLevel	info	Logging verbosity (debug/info/warn/error)
sessionTimeoutMs	1800000	Idle session timeout (30 min default)
viewportWidth	1280	Browser viewport width (px)
viewportHeight	720	Browser viewport height (px)

Recommended for slow websites:

{
  "defaultTimeout": 60000,
  "maxConcurrency": 1
}

Recommended for faster scraping:

{
  "defaultTimeout": 30000,
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}

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Output Examples

Navigation Result

{
  "sessionId": "abc-123",
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "title": "Example Domain",
  "status": 200
}

Data Extraction Result

{
  "sessionId": "abc-123",
  "selector": ".product-price",
  "count": 5,
  "values": ["$19.99", "$24.99", "$29.99", "$34.99", "$39.99"]
}

Screenshot Result (Large Images Stored in Dataset)

{
  "sessionId": "abc-123",
  "format": "png",
  "sizeKB": 450,
  "storedInDataset": true,
  "datasetItemUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/.../items"
}

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How Much Does It Cost?

This Actor runs on Apify's platform. Pricing will be Pay Per Event (PPE) based on tool usage.

Current model (until PPE is finalized):

• Compute Units: ~$0.50/hour of browser runtime
• Free tier: 5 hours/month included with Apify account

Estimated costs:

Usage	Operations	Estimated Cost
Light	~50 pages/day	Free tier
Medium	~500 pages/day	$5-15/month
Heavy	~5,000 pages/day	$50-100/month

Cost tips:

• Use maxConcurrency: 1 for simple tasks
• Increase concurrency for time-sensitive bulk scraping
• Screenshots and full-page content use more resources

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Integrations

Claude Desktop (Recommended)

Best native MCP support. See Quick Start above.

ChatGPT & Other AI Assistants

Any AI supporting the Model Context Protocol can connect. Check your AI's documentation for MCP integration.

Apify API

Integrate directly into your applications:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/YOUR-ACTOR-ID/runs" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR-API-TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"headlessMode": true, "maxConcurrency": 1}'

Apify Integrations

Connect scraped data to 1000+ apps:

• Google Sheets - Auto-populate spreadsheets
• Zapier & Make - Trigger workflows
• Slack & Email - Get notifications
• AWS S3, Dropbox - Export to cloud storage

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FAQ

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Troubleshooting

"Element not found" errors

• Ask AI to wait first: "Wait for the page to load, then click..."
• Use more specific descriptions: "Click the blue 'Submit' button in the footer"
• Increase defaultTimeout to 60000ms

Timeout errors

• Page takes longer than default 30 seconds
• Increase timeout in Actor input
• Check if site requires authentication

"Failed to acquire browser" errors

• All browsers in pool are busy
• Increase maxConcurrency or wait for tasks to complete

Connection refused

• Ensure Actor is running in Apify Console
• Verify endpoint URL matches the running Actor
• Restart Claude Desktop after config changes

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Is Web Scraping Legal?

Web scraping of public data is generally legal. This Actor operates ethically:

• ✅ Only extracts publicly visible data
• ✅ Respects robots.txt guidelines
• ✅ Does not bypass authentication or CAPTCHAs
• ✅ Does not collect private user data

Your responsibility: Review each website's Terms of Service. For questions about your specific use case, consult legal counsel.

Read more: Is web scraping legal? (Apify Blog)

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Privacy & Security

• Isolated execution: Each run uses a sandboxed Docker container
• No data persistence: Browser data deleted after each run
• Non-root container: Runs as unprivileged user
• Limited permissions: Actor only accesses its own storages
• Session cleanup: Automatic cleanup of expired sessions

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Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Apify Support: Contact Apify
• MCP Documentation: modelcontextprotocol.io
• Apify Docs: docs.apify.com

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What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard by Anthropic that lets AI assistants connect to external tools. Think of it as "USB for AI"—a universal way for AI models to access capabilities beyond their training.

You don't need to understand MCP to use this Actor. Your AI handles all communication automatically.

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License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

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