browser-use-rs

The browser-use-rs project provides a built-in MCP server written in Rust that enables AI-driven browser automation via the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP). It exposes a lightweight, thread-safe API for controlling a Chromium-based browser from within an MCP workflow, with capabilities such as navigating pages, clicking elements, sending input, taking screenshots, and extracting DOM information. The server integrates an MCP interface so agents can reason about and orchestrate browser actions using the Model Context Protocol, enabling AI-powered automation tasks without relying on Node.js.

To use the server, start the MCP server binary provided by the project. By default you can run it in headless mode with the built-in mcp-server binary, or pass a flag to run with a visible browser window. Once running, clients can send MCP-shaped requests to perform actions like navigation, interaction, DOM extraction, and content capture. Typical workflows involve launching a session, performing a sequence of actions (navigate, click, type), and then extracting content or DOM data for analysis by the AI agent.

Prerequisites:

• Rust and Cargo (install via rustup: https://rustup.rs/)
• Chrome or Chromium installed

Installation steps:

1. Ensure Rust is installed and updated:
   • curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
   • source $HOME/.cargo/env
2. Clone the repository (or download the source):
   • git clone <repository_url>
   • cd browser-use-rs
3. Build and run the MCP server:
   • cargo build --release
   • cargo run --bin mcp-server
   • To run with a visible browser window: cargo run --bin mcp-server -- --headed

Notes:

• The browser-use-rs crate is a pure Rust implementation with no Node.js dependency. You’ll interact with the mcp-server binary directly.
• If you are integrating it into an MCP automation workflow, ensure your environment can reach the server process and that Chrome/Chromium is installed and accessible.

Environment tips:

• Ensure Chrome/Chromium is installed and reachable by the Rust process.
• If running headless, make sure the display/server environment supports headless Chrome.
• The MCP server exposes actions such as navigate, click, input, screenshot, and extract_dom. Use extract_dom to obtain DOM data for AI reasoning and element indexing.
• If you encounter port or binding issues, verify any firewall rules or port configurations used by the MCP framework.
• No npm packages are required for this server since it is a pure Rust implementation.