Browser Bridge (BBX)

Chrome Web Store: Install Browser Bridge (BBX) from the Chrome Web Store. For local or custom builds, use the unpacked install flow in docs/unpacked-extension.md.

A local bridge between your coding agent and a real Chrome tab. Browser Bridge gives the agent structured access to DOM, styles, layout, console, network, and reversible patches - starting from the actual tab you already have open, with all its real state intact.

See Quickstart to get started in another repo, or browse the rest of the guides in docs/index.md.

Supported Agents

Managed installs support OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, OpenCode, Antigravity, Windsurf, and generic .agents layouts for both MCP and CLI skill setup.

What it's for

• Debugging a UI on localhost: read DOM, computed styles, layout, console logs, and network state without a screenshot
• Verifying a code change actually rendered the expected result in Chrome
• Patching the live page to prove a fix visually, then moving it into source and rolling the patch back
• Running structured browser checks from any local agent or IDE, not just one AI product

Why Browser Bridge

Most adjacent tools optimize for different goals. Playwright and headless automation stacks are excellent for deterministic tests and CI - but they start from a clean browser context by design. Claude in Chrome is great for integrated Claude workflows, but is vendor-specific. Generic MCP browser servers offer broad control without the developer-focused depth.

Browser Bridge is optimized for the opposite starting point: inspect the state that already exists in a real tab - logged-in sessions, feature flags, seeded storage, SPA state - use structured reads to understand it, test a patch in place, then fix the source. It's open-source, agent-agnostic, and scoped to explicit tab sessions rather than ambient browser control.

Setup

1. Install Browser Bridge from the Chrome Web Store
2. npm install -g @browserbridge/bbx - installs the CLI and native host
3. In the extension side panel, install MCP or CLI (skill) for your agent of choice
4. Enable Browser Bridge for the Chrome window you want to inspect/control with the AI agent
5. Ask your agent to use Browser Bridge via MCP (BB MCP or Browser Bridge MCP), or invoke the browser-bridge / $bbx skill in CLI mode

How it works

• The extension is scoped to one explicitly enabled Chrome window at a time - no ambient browser access
• Requests default to the active tab in that window unless a tab is targeted explicitly
• Sessions are tab and origin scoped, auto-refreshed when possible
• All patch operations are reversible and session-scoped
• Structured DOM/style/layout reads are the primary transport; screenshots are a fallback
• Open-ended investigation should start with structured reads on a smaller, lower-cost subagent when the client supports delegation
• The native host daemon auto-starts on demand

Documentation

• Quickstart
• Usage scenarios
• Manual setup
• CLI guide
• MCP vs CLI
• Troubleshooting
• BridgeClient API

Privacy

Browser Bridge itself routes extension data locally through the Chrome extension, native host, and the local client you choose to connect. Browser Bridge does not operate a Browser Bridge cloud service.

Your connected agent or IDE may still forward tool calls or tool results to remote services under that product's own settings and privacy policy. See PRIVACY.md for the Browser Bridge policy.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.