Scout

Scout

Browser MCP server that connects to your existing browser. Your sessions, passwords, extensions — all preserved. No bot detection because it IS your real browser.

Gives AI agents a visually-grounded, semantically-precise view of any web page through hybrid A11y + Set-of-Marks grounding.

Why Scout?

Most browser automation launches a clean, disposable browser — no cookies, no history, no extensions. Every site detects it as a bot. Scout flips this: it connects to the browser you're already using via Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP).

• Connect to your browser — attach to Chrome with --remote-debugging-port, reuse all your logged-in sessions
• Accessibility tree extraction — scans the DOM for interactive elements, assigns each a stable numeric ID, returns a compact markdown summary
• Set-of-Marks badges — overlays numbered badges on a compressed screenshot so the agent can see what it's clicking
• Non-blocking human handoff — agent returns immediately, polls for completion. CAPTCHAs, MFA, SMS codes — you solve them in your own browser
• State healer — every action captures before/after state, telling the agent what changed

The result: agents reference elements by ID (scout_click(3)), not by CSS selector or pixel coordinate. No hallucination, no token bloat, no bot detection.

Quick start

Connect to your browser (recommended)

# 1. Start your browser with remote debugging enabled
google-chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222

# 2. Install and run Scout
npm install
SCOUT_MODE=connect SCOUT_CONNECT_URL=http://localhost:9222 npm run dev

Scout auto-discovers your browser and connects. All your open tabs, sessions, and saved passwords are available.

Launch a fresh browser

npm install
npx playwright install chromium
npm run dev

Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scout": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tsx", "src/index.ts"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/scout",
      "env": {
        "SCOUT_MODE": "connect",
        "SCOUT_CONNECT_URL": "http://localhost:9222"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

docker build -t scout .
docker run -it scout

Environment variables

Connection

| Variable | Default | Description | |---|---|---| | SCOUT_MODE | auto | connect (attach to your browser), launch (start fresh), auto (try connect, fallback to launch) | | SCOUT_CONNECT_URL | — | Explicit browser debug URL, e.g. http://localhost:9222 |

Browser

| Variable | Default | Description | |---|---|---| | SCOUT_HEADLESS | false | Run browser in headless mode (only applies to launch mode) | | SCOUT_BROWSER | chromium | Browser engine for launch mode (chromium or firefox) | | SCOUT_CDP_PORT | 9229 | Debug port when launching a fresh browser | | SCOUT_VIEWPORT_WIDTH | 1280 | Browser viewport width | | SCOUT_VIEWPORT_HEIGHT | 800 | Browser viewport height | | SCOUT_MAX_ELEMENTS | 1000 | Max elements per snapshot | | SCOUT_MAX_TABS | 10 | Max open tabs | | SCOUT_PROFILE_DIR | — | Persistent browser profile path (launch mode only) | | SCOUT_LOGIN_ENABLED | false | Enable scout_login tool for automated platform auth | | SCOUT_LCP_PORT | — | Enable HTTP dispatch server on this port |

Tools (27)

Navigation

| Tool | Params | Description | |---|---|---| | scout_navigate | url | Navigate and return full snapshot | | scout_back | — | Browser back | | scout_forward | — | Browser forward | | scout_refresh | — | Reload current page |

Observation

| Tool | Params | Description | |---|---|---| | scout_snapshot | — | Full snapshot: numbered element list + badged screenshot | | scout_elements | — | Element list only (faster, no screenshot) | | scout_screenshot | — | Plain screenshot without badges | | scout_console_logs | clear? | Last 100 browser console logs/errors |

Interaction

| Tool | Params | Description | |---|---|---| | scout_click | id | Click element by snapshot ID | | scout_type | id, text, clear? | Type into input (React-safe keyboard events) | | scout_select | id, value | Select dropdown option | | scout_hover | id | Hover over element | | scout_press_key | key | Press keyboard key (Enter, Escape, etc.) | | scout_drag | sourceId, targetId | Drag one element onto another | | scout_scroll | direction, pixels? | Scroll up/down/left/right |

Human-in-the-loop

| Tool | Params | Description | |---|---|---| | scout_handoff | instruction, timeout? | Show banner asking user to take manual action. Returns immediately with handoff_id — does NOT block. | | scout_handoff_check | handoff_id | Poll whether handoff is completed/expired | | scout_handoff_cancel | handoff_id | Cancel handoff and remove banner |

Tabs

| Tool | Params | Description | |---|---|---| | scout_tabs | — | List all open tabs | | scout_switch_tab | index | Switch active tab | | scout_new_tab | url? | Open a new tab |

Sessions

| Tool | Params | Description | |---|---|---| | scout_save_session | name | Save cookies + localStorage to ~/.scout-sessions/.json | | scout_load_session | name | Restore a saved session (restarts browser context) | | scout_list_sessions | — | List saved sessions |

Performance

| Tool | Params | Description | |---|---|---| | scout_wait | condition, value?, timeout? | Wait for navigation, network_idle, selector, or timeout | | scout_block_resources | types | Block resource types (e.g. ["image", "media"]) |

Login (opt-in)

| Tool | Params | Description | |---|---|---| | scout_login | platform, username, password | Automated social login with challenge detection. Requires SCOUT_LOGIN_ENABLED=true. |

How it works

Typical agentic loop

scout_navigate(url)
  → read numbered element list + badged screenshot
  → scout_click(3)          # healer returns stateChange
  → scout_snapshot()        # re-snapshot after state change
  → scout_type(7, "hello")
  → scout_handoff("Solve the CAPTCHA, then click Done")
  → scout_handoff_check(handoff_id)   # poll until completed

Connection modes

Connect mode (SCOUT_MODE=connect) — attaches to your running browser via CDP. Your open tabs, sessions, and passwords are all available. Start your browser with:

google-chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222

Scout auto-discovers the browser, or set SCOUT_CONNECT_URL=http://localhost:9222 explicitly. The browser stays running independently — Scout just connects to it.

Launch mode (SCOUT_MODE=launch) — starts a fresh Chromium instance. Use SCOUT_PROFILE_DIR for persistent cookies across restarts.

Auto mode (SCOUT_MODE=auto, default) — tries to discover a running browser first. If none found, launches a fresh one. Best of both worlds.

Browser persistence

In connect mode, Scout reconnects to your browser automatically if the MCP process restarts — the browser stays running.

In launch mode, Scout writes the CDP port to ~/.scout-browser.port and reconnects on restart if the browser is still alive.

Non-blocking handoff

Unlike blocking human-in-the-loop approaches, scout_handoff returns immediately with a handoff_id. The agent polls scout_handoff_check on its own schedule. The handoff banner re-injects across page navigations and auto-expires after timeout.

This matters because MCP tool calls often have timeouts (30-60s). A CAPTCHA that takes the user 2 minutes would kill a blocking approach.

HTTP dispatch server (optional)

Set SCOUT_LCP_PORT=8091 to expose an HTTP API alongside the MCP stdio transport. Useful for integrating Scout with non-MCP systems:

GET  /lcp/health              # Server status
POST /lcp/dispatch             # Execute tool operations
GET  /lcp/stream               # SSE event stream

> Security: The LCP server has no built-in authentication by default. Set SCOUT_LCP_SECRET to require an X-Scout-Secret header on all mutation endpoints. Do not expose the LCP port on a public network without authentication — it provides full control over the connected browser session.

License

MIT

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: Lautrek
• Source: Lautrek/Scout
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://lautrek.com/scout

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.