WebMCP Browser Tools

WebMCP Browser Tools

WebMCP is a browser API specification — published as a W3C Community Group Draft by contributors from Google and Microsoft (February 2026) — that enables web applications to expose their own UI functionality as MCP tools to AI agents.

Direction of data flow: Web App → exposes tools → AI Agent calls them.

This is the reverse of web scraping. The web app author decides what functions agents can call. The agent doesn't read the page — it calls structured tools the page registered.

Critical Distinction

WebMCP is not a web scraper, crawler, or search engine. It is a tool registration protocol for web apps that want to be first-class AI-callable services.

Status (as of 2026-02-22)

• Spec: W3C Community Group Draft — https://github.com/webmachinelearning/webmcp
• Browser support: Early preview in Chrome 146 Canary (shipped February 2026) behind the Experimental Web Platform Features flag. Stable rollout expected mid–late 2026.
• Installable packages: YES — the @mcp-b/ ecosystem provides working npm packages today (polyfill + React integration)

Available npm packages

Install:

npm install @mcp-b/​react-webmcp
# or for raw usage:
npm install @mcp-b/​transports @modelcontextprotocol/​sdk zod

How WebMCP Works

A web app registers tools with the browser. An AI agent (that has been granted access) can call those tools. The handler runs as client-side JavaScript with full access to the page's state.

// Web app registers tools for AI agents to call
if ('modelContext' in window.navigator) {
  window.navigator.modelContext.provideContext({
    tools: [
      {
        name: 'filterProducts',
        description: 'Filter the product list by a natural language query',
        inputSchema: {
          type: 'object',
          properties: {
            query: { type: 'string', description: 'Natural language filter' },
          },
          required: ['query'],
        },
        execute({ query }, agent) {
          // Runs in-browser, has access to current UI state
          const results = productService.filter(query);
          return { content: [{ type: 'text', text: JSON.stringify(results) }] };
        },
      },
    ],
  });
}

React integration (via @mcp-b/​react-webmcp)

import { useTool } from '@mcp-b/​react-webmcp';

function ProductList({ products }) {
  useTool({
    name: 'filterProducts',
    description: 'Filter products visible on screen',
    inputSchema: {
      /​* ... */
    },
    execute({ query }) {
      return products.filter(p => p.name.includes(query));
    },
  });
  return (
    <ul>
      {products.map(p => (
        <li key={p.id}>{p.name}</​li>
      ))}
    </​ul>
  );
}

Key Differences from Standard MCP

When to Use This Skill

Use Skill({ skill: 'webmcp-browser-tools' }) when:

• Designing a web app that should expose UI actions to AI agents (e.g., a dashboard that agents can query, a form workflow agents can submit)
• Integrating an existing web app with Claude via browser-side tools rather than building a backend MCP server
• Planning agent-to-web-app collaboration where the agent and user share the same browser interface (human-in-the-loop workflows)
• Evaluating whether to use WebMCP vs. backend MCP for a new product feature

Do NOT use this skill when:

• You need to fetch or scrape content from external sites → use WebFetch or mcp__Exa__web_search_exa
• You need browser automation (click, fill, navigate) → use mcp__chrome-devtools__*
• The web app does not support WebMCP → build a standard backend MCP server instead

Real-World Use Cases

• E-commerce agent: Product page registers searchInventory, addToCart, applyPromoCode — agent calls them without scraping
• Analytics dashboard: Dashboard registers runQuery(metric, timeRange) — agent can answer data questions without screen-reading
• Browser IDE: Code editor registers insertSnippet, runTests, openFile — agent assists without Playwright automation
• Figma/​design tool: Registers createComponent, applyTheme — agent can directly modify designs

agent-studio Integration Path

Today (Chrome Canary + @mcp-b polyfill)

1. Install @mcp-b/​webmcp-polyfill or @mcp-b/​react-webmcp in the target web app
2. Register tools using window.navigator.modelContext.provideContext()
3. Claude Code (with the mcp__chrome-devtools__* tools available) can discover and call registered tools on the page

When Chrome Stable Ships (~mid-2026)

1. No polyfill needed — native browser API available
2. Update this skill's examples to reflect the stable API surface
3. Consider creating a dedicated webmcp-integration workflow for onboarding web apps as agent-callable services

Monitoring

Watch: https://github.com/webmachinelearning/webmcp for:

• Chrome intent-to-ship / origin trial announcements
• Firefox and Safari implementation signals
• Breaking changes in the window.navigator.modelContext API surface
• @mcp-b/ package releases for updated polyfill patterns

Anti-Patterns

• Do NOT use WebMCP to scrape or read content from sites you don't control — that's WebFetch / Exa
• Do NOT confuse with Anthropic's MCP (Model Context Protocol) — same underlying protocol, different surface: WebMCP is the browser-side extension of MCP
• Do NOT build production systems that require Chrome stable WebMCP until the API ships; use the @mcp-b/​webmcp-polyfill for progressive enhancement today
• Do NOT register tools that require server-side data access — those belong in a backend MCP server, not a browser tool

Assigned Agents

Iron Laws

1. ALWAYS gate WebMCP usage behind if ('modelContext' in window.navigator) feature detection
2. NEVER use WebMCP for external page fetching or web scraping — use WebFetch or Exa instead
3. ALWAYS define JSON Schema for tool inputs before writing the handler (schema-first design)
4. NEVER register WebMCP tools that replicate backend requests — exploit current page state instead
5. ALWAYS use the polyfill (@mcp-b/​webmcp-polyfill) for development until Chrome stable ships the native API

Anti-Patterns

Memory Protocol (MANDATORY)

Before starting: Read .claude/​context/​memory/​learnings.md

After completing:

• New WebMCP pattern or API update → .claude/​context/​memory/​learnings.md
• Browser support change (Chrome flag, origin trial) → .claude/​context/​memory/​learnings.md
• Architecture decision for agent-browser integration → .claude/​context/​memory/​decisions.md
• Breaking change in @mcp-b/ packages → .claude/​context/​memory/​issues.md

ASSUME INTERRUPTION: If it's not in memory, it didn't happen.