Rod Browser Automation
Rod-MCP provides browser automation capabilities for your applications by using Rod. The server provides many useful mcp tools enable LLMs to interact with the web pages, like click, take screenshot, save page as pdf etc.
What is Rod Browser Automation?
Rod Browser Automation is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to rod-mcp provides browser automation capabilities for your applications by using rod. the server provides many useful mcp tools enable llms to interact with the web pages, like click, take screenshot, ...
Rod-MCP provides browser automation capabilities for your applications by using Rod. The server provides many useful mcp tools enable LLMs to interact with the web pages, like click, take screenshot, save page as pdf etc.
This server falls under the Browser Automation category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- Rod-MCP provides browser automation capabilities for your ap
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx rodConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Rod Browser Automation
Rod-MCP is a browser automation MCP server powered by the Go Rod library, giving AI assistants the ability to control a real Chromium browser — clicking elements, taking screenshots, saving pages as PDF, navigating URLs, and interacting with web page content. Written in Go and using Chrome DevTools Protocol under the hood, it supports both headless and headed (visible) browser modes, proxy configuration, and a customizable YAML config file. Developers and testers use it to automate web tasks, capture visual snapshots, and drive browser-based workflows from natural language.
Prerequisites
- Go 1.23 or later installed (for building from source)
- Google Chrome or Chromium browser installed on the system
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code with MCP support
- Basic familiarity with YAML for configuring the rod-mcp.yaml config file
Clone and build the rod-mcp binary
Clone the repository, install Go dependencies, and build the rod-mcp binary.
git clone https://github.com/go-rod/rod-mcp.git
cd rod-mcp
go mod tidy
go build -o rod-mcp .Create a configuration file
Create a rod-mcp.yaml file in the same directory to configure the browser path, headless mode, and other options.
# rod-mcp.yaml
serverName: "Rod Server"
browserBinPath: "" # leave empty to auto-detect Chrome/Chromium
headless: true # set to false to see the browser UI
browserTempDir: "./rod/browser"
noSandbox: false
proxy: "" # optional: socks5://user:pass@host:portMove the binary to your PATH
Move or symlink the built rod-mcp binary to a directory on your PATH so your MCP client can execute it.
sudo mv rod-mcp /usr/local/bin/rod-mcpConfigure your MCP client
Add rod-mcp to your MCP client configuration. For Claude Desktop on macOS, edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.
{
"mcpServers": {
"rod-mcp": {
"command": "rod-mcp",
"args": ["-c", "/path/to/rod-mcp.yaml"]
}
}
}Restart your MCP client and test
Restart Claude Desktop or your chosen client. Ask the assistant to navigate to a URL or take a screenshot to confirm the browser automation server is working.
Rod Browser Automation Examples
Client configuration
Claude Desktop configuration for the Rod MCP server pointing to a local YAML config.
{
"mcpServers": {
"rod-mcp": {
"command": "rod-mcp",
"args": ["-c", "/Users/yourname/rod-mcp/rod-mcp.yaml"]
}
}
}Prompts to try
Example prompts for browser automation tasks using the Rod MCP server.
- "Navigate to https://example.com and take a screenshot"
- "Go to https://news.ycombinator.com, click the first story link, and return the page title"
- "Save https://golang.org/doc as a PDF file"
- "Navigate to a login page, fill in the username and password fields, and click the Sign In button"
- "Take a screenshot of https://github.com/go-rod/rod and describe what you see"Troubleshooting Rod Browser Automation
rod-mcp fails to launch with 'Chrome not found'
Set the browserBinPath in rod-mcp.yaml to the full path of your Chrome or Chromium binary (e.g., /usr/bin/google-chrome on Linux or /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome on macOS).
Browser crashes immediately in headless mode on Linux
Set noSandbox: true in rod-mcp.yaml when running in Docker containers or environments without kernel sandbox support. On bare-metal Linux, ensure Chrome's sandbox dependencies are installed.
Screenshots are blank or pages do not fully load
Switch headless to false temporarily to watch what the browser does. If the page loads slowly, the automation may be acting before content is rendered — check the rod-mcp repository for wait/sleep options or CSS selector readiness checks.
Frequently Asked Questions about Rod Browser Automation
What is Rod Browser Automation?
Rod Browser Automation is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that rod-mcp provides browser automation capabilities for your applications by using rod. the server provides many useful mcp tools enable llms to interact with the web pages, like click, take screenshot, save page as pdf etc. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Rod Browser Automation?
Follow the installation instructions on the Rod Browser Automation GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Rod Browser Automation?
Rod Browser Automation works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Rod Browser Automation free to use?
Yes, Rod Browser Automation is open source and available under the MIT license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
Rod Browser Automation Alternatives — Similar Browser Automation Servers
Looking for alternatives to Rod Browser Automation? Here are other popular browser automation servers you can use with Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.
Chrome DevTools MCP
★ 40.6kAI-powered Chrome automation server with natural language element detection. Control Chrome browser through MCP protocol for testing, debugging, and performance analysis. Features 91% accuracy in element location, works with free AI models, and suppo
UI TARS Desktop
★ 34.9k📇 🏠 - Browser automation capabilities using Puppeteer, both support local and remote browser connection.
Playwright
★ 32.8kA production-ready browser automation server that enables AI assistants to interact with web pages using tools for navigation, element interaction, and data extraction. It features a built-in Inspector UI and robust crash recovery for reliable automa
Page Agent
★ 18.0kJavaScript in-page GUI agent. Control web interfaces with natural language.
Chrome
★ 11.7kAn extension-based MCP server that enables AI assistants to control your browser, leveraging existing sessions and login states for automation and content analysis. It provides over 20 tools for semantic tab search, interactive element manipulation,
LAMDA
★ 7.8kThe most powerful Android RPA agent framework, next generation mobile automation.
Browse More Browser Automation MCP Servers
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Set Up Rod Browser Automation in Your Editor
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Quick Config Preview
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