Playwright Fetch MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol server that provides web content fetching capabilities using Playwright for browser automation. This server enables LLMs to retrieve and process JavaScript-rendered content from web pages, converting HTML to markdown for easier consumption.
Author
Created by Wyatt Roersma with assistance from Claude Code.
Key Features
- Browser Automation: Uses Playwright to render web pages with full JavaScript support
- Content Extraction: Automatically identifies and extracts main content areas from web pages
- Markdown Conversion: Converts HTML to clean, readable markdown
- Pagination Support: Handles large content through pagination
- Robots.txt Compliance: Respects robots.txt directives for autonomous fetching
- Proxy Support: Allows routing requests through a proxy server
- Docker Ready: Available as pre-built Docker images via Docker Hub and GitHub Container Registry
Available Tools
playwright-fetch- Fetches a URL using Playwright browser automation and extracts its contents as markdown.url(string, required): URL to fetchmax_length(integer, optional): Maximum number of characters to return (default: 5000)start_index(integer, optional): Start content from this character index (default: 0)raw(boolean, optional): Get raw content without markdown conversion (default: false)wait_for_js(boolean, optional): Wait for JavaScript to execute (default: true)
Prompts
- playwright-fetch
- Fetch a URL using Playwright and extract its contents as markdown
- Arguments:
url(string, required): URL to fetch
Requirements
- Python 3.13.2 or newer
- uv package manager
- Playwright browsers installed
Installation
1. Install with uv (recommended)
uv pip install git+https://github.com/ThreatFlux/playwright-fetch.git
# Install Playwright browsers
uv pip exec playwright install
Alternatively, clone the repository and install:
git clone https://github.com/ThreatFlux/playwright-fetch.git
cd playwright-fetch
uv pip install -e .
# Install Playwright browsers
uv pip exec playwright install
2. Using Docker
You can use our pre-built Docker images from Docker Hub or GitHub Container Registry:
# From Docker Hub
docker pull threatflux/playwright-fetch:latest
# From GitHub Container Registry
docker pull ghcr.io/threatflux/playwright-fetch:latest
Or build it yourself:
docker build -t threatflux/playwright-fetch .
Configuration
Configure for Claude.app
Add to your Claude settings:
Using uvx
"mcpServers": {
"playwright-fetch": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mcp-server-playwright-fetch"]
}
}
Using docker
"mcpServers": {
"playwright-fetch": {
"command": "docker",
"args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "threatflux/playwright-fetch"]
}
}
Configure for VS Code
For manual installation, add the following JSON block to your User Settings (JSON) file in VS Code.
Using uvx
{
"mcp": {
"servers": {
"playwright-fetch": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["mcp-server-playwright-fetch"]
}
}
}
}
Using Docker
{
"mcp": {
"servers": {
"playwright-fetch": {
"command": "docker",
"args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "threatflux/playwright-fetch"]
}
}
}
}
Command Line Options
The server supports these command-line options:
--user-agent: Custom User-Agent string--ignore-robots-txt: Ignore robots.txt restrictions--proxy-url: Proxy URL to use for requests--headless: Run browser in headless mode (default: True)--wait-until: When to consider navigation succeeded (choices: "load", "domcontentloaded", "networkidle", "commit", default: "networkidle")
Example Usage
# Run with default settings
uv run mcp-server-playwright-fetch
# Run with a custom user agent and proxy
uv run mcp-server-playwright-fetch --user-agent="MyCustomAgent/1.0" --proxy-url="http://myproxy:8080"
# Run with visible browser for debugging
uv run mcp-server-playwright-fetch --headless=false
Debugging
You can use the MCP inspector to debug the server:
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx mcp-server-playwright-fetch
Differences from Standard Fetch Server
This implementation differs from the standard fetch MCP server in these ways:
- Browser Automation: Uses Playwright to render JavaScript-heavy pages
- Content Extraction: Attempts to extract main content from common page structures
- Wait Options: Configurable page loading strategy (wait for load, DOM content, network idle)
- Visible Browser Option: Can run with a visible browser for debugging
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.