@raultov/browser-control-mcp 0.11.0-beta.16 → 0.11.0-beta.17

package/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -10,6 +10,88 @@ from a copy of its code: entries describe the differences from that release.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.11.0-beta.17] - 2026-11-02
+
+Public **BETA**. Fixes found probing the debugger, tab and raw protocol tools
+on both browsers. The browser's front tab now stays on the active tab (pages
+in background tabs were hidden, with `requestAnimationFrame` stopped and
+Chrome screenshots timing out); a click whose handler pauses or opens a
+dialog after an `await` is noted at once; Chrome `snapshot`,
+`find_in_snapshot` and `emulate` answer on a paused page; Firefox
+`search_scripts` sees inline scripts and modules, `step_over` and `resume`
+report a breakpoint hit again in a loop, and `get_custom_events` keeps every
+subscribed event and RDP event packets; Chrome `navigate` to a hash route
+reports the new URL; `webmcp_invoke_tool` passes a page tool's error and
+blocks through. Behaviour changes: `open_tab` makes the new tab active.
+
+### Changed
+
+- `open_tab` makes the new tab the active one (the tools that omit `tab_id`
+  act on it), as the browser shows it, Playwright MCP's `browser_tabs` and
+  chrome-devtools-mcp's `new_page` do. Before, the previous tab stayed
+  active while the browser showed the new one. (#68)
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Firefox: `profile_page_performance` with `action: "reload"` and
+  `disable_cache: true` no longer fails with `Argument "ignoreCache" is
+  not supported yet`: it bypasses the cache with `network.setCacheBehavior`
+  (restored on every exit path). A reload Firefox aborts with
+  `NS_BINDING_ABORTED` right after navigating to a page that mounts frames
+  during hydration (as MDN does) is retried once after 50 ms instead of
+  failing. `forced_reflows.total_ms` no longer serializes `-0.0` when there
+  are none. (#58)
+- Firefox: `search_scripts` finds every script of the page, not only the
+  first one Firefox announced: inline scripts, modules and scripts loaded
+  later were missing (`Total cached scripts: 1` on a page with five). Each
+  thread is now asked for its `sources`, merged with the announced ones;
+  pause locations and breakable columns use the same list. (#62)
+- The browser's front tab is kept on the active tab. After a click that
+  opened a tab (`target=_blank`, a popup, `window.open`), after
+  `close_tab` and after a page or the user closed a tab, the active tab was
+  left in the background: its page was `hidden`, `requestAnimationFrame`
+  stopped (Chrome) or ran at about 1 s (Firefox), and on Chrome an element
+  screenshot hung 10 s before a raw CDP timeout. On Chrome,
+  `capture_screenshot` of a tab still in the background now fails at once,
+  naming `switch_tab`. On Chrome, a click whose reply came before the new
+  tab was registered no longer misses the "opened tab" note: it waits (at
+  most 2 s) for the pages Chrome announced. (#68)
+- Chrome: `snapshot`, `find_in_snapshot` and `emulate` answer at once on a
+  page paused in the debugger, instead of failing after 10 s with
+  `CDP Error: Command Runtime.evaluate timed out after 10s`: their
+  synchronous snippets are no longer awaited (Chrome runs no microtask while
+  paused). `emulate` with `geolocation` on a paused page says the position
+  is read once the page resumes. (#64)
+- An input action (`click_element`, `press_key`, `fill_form`, `drag`,
+  `hover`) whose handler pauses in the debugger or opens a dialog after an
+  async step (an `await`, a timer, a fetch) no longer waits 2 s and answers
+  a plain success: the watch of the page settling ends at once and the
+  reply notes `{paused, location}` or `{dialog}`, as for a handler that
+  blocks right away. Both browsers. (#65)
+- Chrome: `navigate` to another fragment of the current page (a hash route
+  such as `#/contact`) answers the new URL; it often answered the previous
+  one, read from a history entry Chrome had not updated yet. The URL now
+  comes from the page's `Page.navigatedWithinDocument`. (#70)
+- Firefox: `step_over` and `resume` that stop at the same place again (a
+  breakpoint in a loop, hit on the next iteration) report the pause with
+  its location, instead of waiting 2 s and answering `paused: false` while
+  the page was paused. (#63)
+- `webmcp_invoke_tool` maps a page tool's MCP-shaped result
+  (`{content: [...], isError}`) to its own reply: the page's text and image
+  blocks as they are, and `isError: true` as a tool error. Before, a failed
+  page tool answered as a success with its error buried in the text, and
+  its output came as JSON escaped inside a string. (#72)
+- Firefox: `get_custom_events` gets every event the agent subscribed to
+  with `send_bidi_command`, also those the server handles itself
+  (`browsingContext.load`, `contextCreated`, `log.entryAdded`,
+  `network.*`...), which were silently dropped. A tab opening or closing,
+  and an event without a context (`script.realmDestroyed`), go to the
+  active tab. The event packets an actor sends after a `send_rdp_request`
+  to it (`evaluationResult` after `evaluateJSAsync`, `pageError` after
+  `startListeners`) are kept too, as `rdp.<type>` (at most 16 actors
+  watched). Firefox itself sends `script.realmCreated` only for a new
+  tab's first document. (#71)
+
 ## [0.11.0-beta.16] - 2026-11-02
 
 Public **BETA**. `audit_page` (`perf` group) audits the rendered page for

package/README.md

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ It is the successor of
 from a copy of its code) and complements Playwright MCP or
 chrome-devtools-mcp with runtime JavaScript debugging on both browsers.
 
-> **Status: BETA (0.11.0-beta.16).** This version contains known bugs and differences
+> **Status: BETA (0.11.0-beta.17).** This version contains known bugs and differences
 > between Chrome and Firefox (see [Limitations and TODO](#limitations-and-todo))
 > and parts that have not been verified (see [Untested](#untested)). Tool
 > replies may change in incompatible ways before 1.0. Please report problems
@@ -119,8 +119,8 @@ see the note.
 | `list_instances` | ✓ | ✓ | each instance reports its `browser` and `capabilities` |
 | `restart_browser` | ✓ | ✓ | was `restart_chrome`; refused on a Chrome already running on the port (attached, not launched by the server) |
 | `stop_browser` | ✓ | ✓ | was `stop_chrome`; on an attached Chrome or Firefox it only disconnects (Firefox: ends the session), the browser keeps running and the reply says so |
-| `open_tab` | ✓ | ✓ | |
-| `close_tab` | ✓ | ✓ | |
+| `open_tab` | ✓ | ✓ | the new tab becomes the active one, in front |
+| `close_tab` | ✓ | ✓ | the next active tab is brought to the front |
 | `list_tabs` | ✓ | ✓ | |
 | `switch_tab` | ✓ | ✓ | |
 | `navigate` | ✓ | ✓ | `history: "back"` or `"forward"` instead of `url` moves one entry in the tab's history and waits for the page to load (also when it comes from the back-forward cache, which fires no `load`); at either end it fails without moving; a URL the browser saves instead of opening (a download: `Content-Disposition: attachment`, or a type such as CSV) fails saying so, and the tab stays where it was; a page behind HTTP authentication (401) fails at once naming its scheme and realm and how to log in (credentials in the URL, `http://user:password@host/path`, which the browser keeps for the session); a page that pauses at a breakpoint or opens a dialog while loading fails at once naming it (see `resume`, `handle_dialog`) |
@@ -132,8 +132,8 @@ see the note.
 | `snapshot` | ✓ | ✓ | outline of the page: role, name, states, value and a ref (`e12`) per element, through open shadow roots and same-origin iframes, and on Chrome closed shadow roots too (pages up to 20 000 elements; their elements are reached by ref, not by `>>>`); frames of another origin are read too (at most 20, 5 deep), their iframe marked `[frame=f2]` and their refs prefixed (`f2e5`), and `selector: "f2"` outlines one; tables without headers (`th`, `thead`, `caption`) are layout and leave only their content, and a cell is named by its text only when it holds nothing else; comboboxes, spinbuttons and sliders built with ARIA show their value (the field's text, `aria-valuetext` or `aria-valuenow`, the option a button-like combobox shows), progress bars and meters theirs (`40/100`), and a `<details>` summary `[expanded=true|false]`; a field the page rejects (`aria-invalid`) or the browser does (`:user-invalid`, once the user changed it or tried to submit) is `[invalid]`, with `[error="..."]` from its `aria-errormessage`, `aria-describedby` or the browser's validation message; a native `<select>` lists its options under its combobox (`[selected]`, `[disabled]`, optgroups as groups; no refs: `fill_input` picks one), the first 25 and how many more, all of them for `find_in_snapshot`; what the page made inert is left out: `inert` subtrees and, while a modal `<dialog>` is open (marked `[modal]`), everything outside it; an element that is only clickable (a handler or a pointer cursor), draggable (`draggable="true"`, marked `[draggable]`) or a drop zone (`ondrop`/`ondragover`) is one named line with a ref for `drag`, unless it holds links, buttons or fields, which are listed under it; at most 50 000 characters (`selector` and `depth` narrow it); the same JavaScript on both browsers |
 | `find_in_snapshot` | ✓ | ✓ | `text` (case-insensitive) or `regex` over the whole outline; matching lines under their ancestors, at most 20 |
 | `save_pdf` | ✓ | ✓ | `files` group; prints the tab as the browser's print does (`landscape`, `print_background`, `scale` 0.1–2, `page_ranges` like `1-3, 5`); with `path` (an absolute `.pdf` under the upload roots) writes the file and answers `{path, bytes, pages}`, else returns the PDF as an embedded `application/pdf` resource (at most 5 MB); Chrome `Page.printToPDF`, Firefox `browsingContext.print` |
-| `capture_screenshot` | ✓ | ✓ | `format` `png`, `jpeg` (or `jpg`) or `webp`; `full_page` at most 16 384 px per side (a text note says when cut); `selector` captures one element (CSS, `host >>> inner` or a snapshot ref), scrolled into view, whole even when taller than the viewport |
-| `click_element` | ✓ | ✓ | scrolls the element into view; `button` (left/right/middle), `click_count` (2 = double click) and `modifiers`; fails without clicking when it is hidden, covered (its own label on top does not count: styled checkboxes and switches are clicked through it; a covered element first gets the mouse, so controls shown only on hover are revealed and clicked) or a disabled control, whose handler would never run; an element a CSS selector does not find yet, or a disabled control, is checked again for up to 2 s, as pages add elements and enable buttons a moment after the previous action (a ref that names nothing, a hidden or a covered element fail at once); `host >>> inner` selectors reach open shadow roots and same-origin iframes (also in `fill_input`, `scroll`, `wait_for`); a dialog or debugger pause the click causes is noted in a successful reply (`{dialog}` or `{paused, location}`) |
+| `capture_screenshot` | ✓ | ✓ | `format` `png`, `jpeg` (or `jpg`) or `webp`; `full_page` at most 16 384 px per side (a text note says when cut); `selector` captures one element (CSS, `host >>> inner` or a snapshot ref), scrolled into view, whole even when taller than the viewport; on Chrome a tab in the background (hidden) is refused at once, naming `switch_tab` |
+| `click_element` | ✓ | ✓ | scrolls the element into view; `button` (left/right/middle), `click_count` (2 = double click) and `modifiers`; fails without clicking when it is hidden, covered (its own label on top does not count: styled checkboxes and switches are clicked through it; a covered element first gets the mouse, so controls shown only on hover are revealed and clicked) or a disabled control, whose handler would never run; an element a CSS selector does not find yet, or a disabled control, is checked again for up to 2 s, as pages add elements and enable buttons a moment after the previous action (a ref that names nothing, a hidden or a covered element fail at once); `host >>> inner` selectors reach open shadow roots and same-origin iframes (also in `fill_input`, `scroll`, `wait_for`); a dialog or debugger pause the click causes is noted in a successful reply (`{dialog}` or `{paused, location}`), also when its handler blocks the page after an `await` or a timer, while the page is watched to settle |
 | `fill_input` | ✓ | ✓ | picks `<select>` options (on a `<select multiple>`, exactly the ones named one per line; an unknown one changes nothing); sets `date`, `time`, `datetime-local`, `month`, `week`, `range` and `color` inputs to the text in their own format (`2026-10-31`, `13:45`, `72`, `#ff0000`), firing `input` and `change`, noting a value the input adjusted (a range snaps to its step) and failing, without changing it, on a malformed one; fails without typing on elements that cannot take the text; `append: true` types after the content instead of replacing it (a number or email field, which has no caret, is retyped whole); an editor of its own (an element with an `EditContext` or a focusable `textbox` role, or the hidden input of a code editor such as Monaco or Ace) gets the keys a user presses: a click on the editor when its input has no visible box, Control+A (Command+A on macOS) or Control+End, then the text, and the reply says its content could not be checked; in a contenteditable element (including rich text editors such as Slate, Lexical, ProseMirror or CodeMirror 6) it selects the content (a range, then Control+A as a user would) and types over it, so the editor records the edit; types key by key on both (key handlers run; newlines and tabs inserted as text), about 1 ms per character; `change` on leaving the field, or at the end when the window has no focus |
 | `press_key` | ✓ | ✓ | one key (a character, Enter, Tab, Escape, arrows, F1–F12...) with Control / Shift / Alt / Meta held (in `modifiers`, or written before the key as `Control+a`, `Shift+Tab` or `ControlOrMeta+c`: Meta on macOS, Control elsewhere), in `selector` (focused first) or the focused element; a shortcut types nothing |
 | `hover` | ✓ | ✓ | moves the mouse over the element (scrolled into view; fails when hidden or covered) |
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ see the note.
 | `list_routes` | ✓ | ✓ | `network` group; the tab's routes with the `hits` each answered |
 | `remove_route` | ✓ | ✓ | `network` group; one route by id, or all |
 | `set_offline` | ✓ | ✓ | `network` group; requests fail as without a network and `navigator.onLine` is false, until set back (Chrome `Network.emulateNetworkConditions`, Firefox `emulation.setNetworkConditions`); mocked routes still answer; Chrome still serves what its HTTP cache holds, as an offline browser does, Firefox fails every request |
-| `get_custom_events` | ✓ | partial | `raw` group; `{events, total, truncated}`, the newest `limit` events; `clear` removes the returned ones; params over 64 000 characters of JSON are replaced by `{truncated, characters}`; Firefox: events of the modules subscribed with `send_bidi_command` |
+| `get_custom_events` | ✓ | ✓ | `raw` group; `{events, total, truncated}`, the newest `limit` events; `clear` removes the returned ones; params over 64 000 characters of JSON are replaced by `{truncated, characters}`; Firefox: events of the modules subscribed with `send_bidi_command` (also those the server handles, such as `browsingContext.load`; a tab opening or closing, or an event without a context, goes to the active tab) and the event packets of actors addressed with `send_rdp_request` (`rdp.<type>`, e.g. `rdp.evaluationResult`) |
 | `get_performance_metrics` | ✓ | partial | `perf` group; Chrome's metrics sorted by name, with the live `Documents`, `Nodes` and `JSEventListeners` of `Memory.getDOMCounters`; `collect_garbage: true` collects garbage first (`HeapProfiler.collectGarbage`), so reads after repeating an action show what it leaked; Firefox: `Nodes`, `Frames`, `Resources`, `TransferSize` from the Web Performance APIs (no Performance domain) and no garbage collection (WebDriver BiDi has none), plus notes |
 | `profile_page_performance` | ✓ | partial | `perf` group; `save_path` (Chrome only) writes the raw trace (`.json` or `.json.gz`, under the upload roots) for Chrome DevTools or Perfetto; `insights: true` adds what explains the numbers, read with the Web Performance APIs and the DOM (same JavaScript on both): the document's TTFB, server time and compression, the LCP element, its breakdown (TTFB, load delay, load, render delay) and image discovery (`lazy_loaded`, `fetch_priority`), Interaction to Next Paint (`inp`: duration, event, target and input/processing/presentation breakdown), layout-shift culprits, render-blocking requests, the slowest requests, the scripts of long animation frames, DOM size (`nodes`, `max_depth`, `widest_element`, `max_children`), oversized or unsized images, and third-party origins by duration and bytes (at most 5 each), plus `findings` from the web.dev and Lighthouse thresholds; on Chrome, `forced_reflows` from the trace (`Layout`/`UpdateLayoutTree` forced by a script, grouped by call site, a finding over 30 ms) and, with `action: "reload"`, `unused_code` (`unused_js_bytes`, `unused_css_bytes` and the 5 files with most unused bytes, from the `Profiler` precise coverage and `CSS` rule usage of the reload; a finding over 50 KB; without a reload it is `null`: code run before the recording would count as unused); Firefox: FCP, LCP, DCL and Load; no trace (`save_path` fails), so `total_blocking_time_ms` and `top_long_tasks` are `null`, and its insights have no layout shifts, render-blocking requests, long frames, forced reflows or unused code (`null`, with notes) |
 | `audit_page` | ✓ | ✓ | `perf` group; accessibility (images without alt, fields, buttons and links without a name, `html lang`, heading order, duplicate ids, broken `aria-labelledby`/`aria-describedby`, `tabindex` > 0, targets under 24×24 px too close to another, text contrast under WCAG AA), SEO (title, meta description, viewport, vague link text, uncrawlable links, canonical, `noindex`) and best practices (doctype and quirks mode, HTTPS, mixed content, distorted images, console errors); the same script on both browsers; each failing check lists its first 10 elements with a snapshot ref, a selector, its start tag and a detail (the contrast ratio, the size...), then the ids that passed or did not apply; `categories` narrows it; not checked: text over background images or gradients, iframes, closed shadow roots, response headers |
@@ -159,14 +159,14 @@ see the note.
 | `resume` | ✓ | ✓ | |
 | `step_over` | ✓ | ✓ | |
 | `evaluate_on_call_frame` | ✓ | ✓ | |
-| `search_scripts` | ✓ | ✓ | a long line's preview is 100 characters on each side of the match; frames of another origin too (Chrome ids such as `2.17`) |
+| `search_scripts` | ✓ | ✓ | a long line's preview is 100 characters on each side of the match; inline scripts and modules included; frames of another origin too (Chrome ids such as `2.17`) |
 | `pause_on_load` | ✓ | ✗ | TODO on Firefox, see [Limitations and TODO](#limitations-and-todo) |
 | `enable_proxy_auth` | ✓ | partial | needs `--proxy-server`; a request the proxy rejects twice is cancelled; untested on Firefox against a real proxy |
 | `send_cdp_command` | ✓ | ✗ | `raw` group; raw Chrome DevTools Protocol; refuses `Network`/`Page`/`Runtime`/`Log`/`Debugger.disable` and `Browser.close`; `Fetch.enable` comes with a note |
 | `send_bidi_command` | ✗ | ✓ | `raw` group; raw WebDriver BiDi; refuses `session.new`, `session.end`, `browser.close` |
-| `send_rdp_request` | ✗ | ✓ | `raw` group; raw Firefox RDP request to an actor (`thread`, `console`, `root` shortcuts) |
+| `send_rdp_request` | ✗ | ✓ | `raw` group; raw Firefox RDP request to an actor (`thread`, `console`, `root` shortcuts); the event packets that actor sends afterwards go to `get_custom_events` (at most 16 actors watched) |
 | `webmcp_list_tools` | ✓ | ✗ | needs `--enable-webmcp`; WebMCP is a Chrome testing feature; every annotation Chrome reports is listed (`readOnly`, `consequential`, `untrustedContent`, `debugging`, `autosubmit`, newer ones as they are) |
-| `webmcp_invoke_tool` | ✓ | ✗ | needs `--enable-webmcp`; the output of an `untrustedContent` tool comes with a note to treat it as data |
+| `webmcp_invoke_tool` | ✓ | ✗ | needs `--enable-webmcp`; a tool answering in MCP shape (`{content, isError}`) gives its own text and image blocks, and its `isError` makes the reply an error; other output comes as JSON; the output of an `untrustedContent` tool comes with a note to treat it as data |
 | `webmcp_get_invocation` | ✓ | ✗ | needs `--enable-webmcp` |
 | `webmcp_list_invocations` | ✓ | ✗ | needs `--enable-webmcp` |
 
@@ -379,7 +379,12 @@ claude mcp add browser-control-mcp -- npx -y @raultov/browser-control-mcp
   lazily, on the first tool that needs them, with an ephemeral profile.
 - **Tabs.** `open_tab`, `list_tabs`, `switch_tab`, `close_tab`. Every tool
   takes `instance_id` and `tab_id`; without them it targets the default
-  instance and its active tab. An argument a tool does not have fails the
+  instance and its active tab. The active tab is the one the browser shows:
+  `open_tab` makes its new tab active, `close_tab` brings the next one to
+  the front, and after a page opens or closes a tab (a `target=_blank`
+  link, a popup, `window.close()`) the active tab is brought back to the
+  front. Background tabs are hidden to their pages (no
+  `requestAnimationFrame`, throttled timers). An argument a tool does not have fails the
   call before anything runs (a `tabId` typo answers "did you mean
   `tab_id`?"), so a typo never falls back to the active tab.
 - **Same replies on both browsers.** `navigate` and `reload` answer once the
@@ -513,7 +518,7 @@ one subscription per session, routed by browsing context id.
 
 Chrome and Firefox take the same calls:
 
-1. `navigate` to the page (or `open_tab` + `switch_tab`).
+1. `navigate` to the page (or `open_tab`).
 2. `search_scripts` with a needle to find the script URL and line.
 3. `set_breakpoint` with `url` and `line_number` (0-based).
 4. Trigger the code (`click_element`, `evaluate_js` with a `setTimeout`, a
@@ -601,6 +606,10 @@ incompatible:
 - **TODO** `rust-mcp-sdk` 2.0: the server stays on 1.1.0 (MCP protocol
   2025-11-25). 2.0 moves to the stateless MCP protocol (2026-07-28), which
   today's MCP clients probably do not speak yet; upgrade once the clients do.
+- On Firefox, a reload with `disable_cache: true` bypasses the cache with
+  `network.setCacheBehavior` (Firefox rejects `ignoreCache` on
+  `browsingContext.reload`); a reload Firefox aborts with
+  `NS_BINDING_ABORTED` is retried once after 50 ms.
 - `get_performance_metrics` and `profile_page_performance` are partial on
   Firefox: it has no Performance or Tracing domain, so they read what the
   Web Performance APIs give and say what is missing (JS heap, layout and

package/npm-shrinkwrap.json

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
       "hasInstallScript": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "name": "@raultov/browser-control-mcp",
-      "version": "0.11.0-beta.16"
+      "version": "0.11.0-beta.17"
     },
     "node_modules/detect-libc": {
       "engines": {
@@ -48,5 +48,5 @@
     }
   },
   "requires": true,
-  "version": "0.11.0-beta.16"
+  "version": "0.11.0-beta.17"
 }

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "artifactDownloadUrls": [
-    "https://github.com/raultov/browser-control-mcp/releases/download/v0.11.0-beta.16"
+    "https://github.com/raultov/browser-control-mcp/releases/download/v0.11.0-beta.17"
   ],
   "author": "raultov <raultov@protonmail.com>",
   "bin": {
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@
       "zipExt": ".tar.xz"
     }
   },
-  "version": "0.11.0-beta.16",
+  "version": "0.11.0-beta.17",
   "volta": {
     "node": "18.14.1",
     "npm": "9.5.0"