Safari DevTools MCP

Safari DevTools MCP

safari-devtools-mcp lets your coding agent (such as Claude, Cursor, Copilot or Gemini) control and inspect a live Safari browser on macOS. It acts as a Model-Context-Protocol (MCP) server, giving your AI coding assistant access to Safari DevTools for debugging, automation, and testing.

Chrome developers get powerful AI debugging through chrome-devtools-mcp by Google. Safari developers should have something equivalent — this project brings that same experience to Safari, with matching tool names and parameter schemas so you can swap between browsers with minimal friction.

Changelog | Contributing

Note: This server exposes browser content (page data, console logs, network traffic) to MCP clients. Avoid browsing sensitive websites or entering credentials while a session is active.

Why safari-devtools-mcp?

This project uses WebDriver for capabilities that scripting alone cannot provide:

• Network request/response body capture — intercepts fetch and XHR calls with full headers, payloads, and timing
• DOM snapshots via accessibility tree — stable element UIDs that survive page re-renders, not brittle CSS selectors
• CSS computed style inspection — read any computed property from any element
• Cookie and storage management — read, write, and delete cookies, localStorage, and sessionStorage
• Element-level screenshots — capture individual elements, not just the full viewport
• Session auto-recovery — detects dead SafariDriver sessions and reconnects transparently

Key features

• Browser debugging: Capture console logs, inspect network requests, and evaluate JavaScript — with stack traces and full request/response details.
• Reliable automation: Click, type, fill forms, drag and drop, and press keyboard shortcuts using accessibility-tree snapshots with stable UIDs.
• Native macOS integration: Tab management via AppleScript for listing, switching, and controlling Safari tabs across windows

Requirements

• macOS (Safari and SafariDriver are Apple-exclusive)
• Node.js 18+ (22+ recommended)
• Safari with remote automation enabled

Safari setup

1. Open Safari > Settings > Advanced > check "Show features for web developers"
2. Develop menu > check "Allow Remote Automation"
3. Authorize SafariDriver:

   sudo safaridriver --enable
   

Getting started

Standard MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "safari-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "safari-devtools-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add safari-devtools -- npx -y safari-devtools-mcp@latest

copilot mcp add safari-devtools -- npx -y safari-devtools-mcp@latest

gemini mcp add safari-devtools -- npx -y safari-devtools-mcp@latest

git clone https://github.com/HayoDev/safari-devtools-mcp.git
cd safari-devtools-mcp
npm install && npm run build

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "safari-devtools": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/path/to/safari-devtools-mcp/build/src/bin/safari-devtools-mcp.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Your first prompt

Navigate to https://example.com, take a snapshot, and list any console errors.

Slim mode

Use --slim to reduce token usage with shorter tool descriptions. Useful when working with context-limited models or long conversations:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "safari-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "safari-devtools-mcp@latest", "--slim"]
    }
  }
}

Prompts (skills)

The server exposes guided debugging workflows as MCP prompts. Clients that support prompts (e.g. Claude Desktop, Claude Code) can invoke them by name:

Tools (45)

Debugging

Page content

Navigation

Scroll

CSS inspection

Cookies & storage

Input automation

iOS Safari validation

Architecture

MCP Client (Claude, Cursor, etc.)
    | stdio (MCP protocol)
    v
Safari DevTools MCP Server
    |
    v
+-------------------------------+
|  SafariDriver                 |
|  +-- Selenium WebDriver       | <-- Browser automation
|  +-- JS Injection             | <-- Console/Network capture
|  +-- AppleScript (osascript)  | <-- Native tab management
+-------------------------------+
    |
    v
Safari Browser

Known limitations

• Single session: Safari only allows one WebDriver session at a time. Running multiple instances is not supported.
• macOS only: Safari and SafariDriver are Apple-exclusive — this server does not work on Linux or Windows.
• No headless mode: Safari does not support headless operation. A visible browser window is required.
• Console pre-injection gap: Console messages logged before the capture script is injected are not captured.
• Network pre-injection gap: Network requests made before injection are backfilled via the Performance API with limited detail (timing and size, but no headers or status codes).
• PNG only: Safari WebDriver only supports PNG screenshots — no JPEG or WebP. Full-page capture is not available.
• AppleScript permissions: Tab management features require macOS Accessibility permissions for osascript.

Credits

• chrome-devtools-mcp by Google/ChromeDevTools — the inspiration and interface standard this project mirrors. Tool names and schemas are intentionally compatible so you can switch between Chrome and Safari seamlessly.
• safari-mcp-server — prior art for Safari MCP integration that we studied during development.

License

MIT