Browser Agent Bridge · MCP
Let AI agents read your logged-in Chrome
Web2MD Agent Bridge connects Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and other MCP agents to the browser session you already use. It turns authenticated, JavaScript-heavy, and crawler-blocked pages into clean Markdown without sharing your password with a hosted scraper.
The short answer
Use a hosted URL-to-Markdown API for ordinary public pages. Use Agent Bridge when the useful content only exists after you sign in, pass a site challenge, or let JavaScript finish rendering. The agent receives the page as deterministic Markdown rather than a screenshot or an AI-written summary.
Browser agent bridge vs hosted fetchers
| Need | Hosted fetcher | Agent Bridge |
|---|---|---|
| Public URLs at large scale | Best fit | Works, but your browser is the bottleneck |
| Logged-in pages | No user session by default | Uses your existing Chrome session |
| Late-rendered JavaScript | Requires browser infrastructure | Reads the rendered DOM |
| Crawler-blocked sites | May receive 403 or an empty shell | Reads the page you can already see |
| General browser actions | Depends on the service | Out of scope — conversion only |
Product-team demonstration
See the browser-to-agent handoff
The recording shows the local bridge receiving an MCP conversion request, opening the URL in Chrome, and returning Markdown. It demonstrates the workflow, not universal compatibility with every private website.
First-party demo · no passwords or cookies are sent to the MCP client.
Compatibility matrix and failure boundaries
“Uses your browser” does not mean “bypasses the website.” Agent Bridge can read only content your current Chrome session is authorized to render.
| Page condition | Expected behavior | What the user must do | Boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary public HTML | Supported | Keep Chrome and the extension running | Hosted API is usually faster at scale |
| Signed-in page visible in Chrome | Supported when the rendered DOM contains the content | Sign in normally and keep the session valid | No login or permission bypass |
| JavaScript-heavy SPA | Supported after useful content renders | Wait for loading to finish before capture | Unrendered or canvas-only content may be absent |
| MFA-protected service | Supported after the user completes MFA | Complete MFA in Chrome | The bridge cannot perform or bypass MFA |
| CAPTCHA or bot challenge | Supported only after the user clears the challenge | Resolve the challenge manually | No CAPTCHA bypass |
| Infinite scroll / lazy loading | Only currently loaded DOM is dependable | Scroll or expand the material you need | Off-screen, never-loaded items can be missing |
| Cross-origin iframe / browser internal page | Limited or blocked by browser security | Use an allowed source or direct page URL | Chrome Web Store, chrome:// and restricted frames are out of scope |
How it works
- 1
Install the local bridge
One setup command detects supported MCP clients and registers the native messaging host.
- 2
Ask your agent for a page
The agent calls agent_convert or agent_batch_convert with the URLs it needs.
- 3
Receive clean Markdown
Chrome opens each page, Web2MD extracts the rendered content, and the bridge returns structured Markdown.
npm i -g web2md-mcp-server && web2md-mcp-setupWhere it is useful
- Research across Reddit, X, community sites, and subscribed publications
- Batch collection for RAG, competitive research, and knowledge bases
- Reading dashboards and documentation that require your account
- Chinese social platforms that rely on a real rendered browser session
The honest limits
- Chrome and the Web2MD extension must be running
- It does not bypass authentication or a site's permissions
- It converts content; it is not a general click-and-type automation tool
- For thousands of public URLs, a hosted crawler remains the better architecture
Agent Bridge FAQ
What is an Agent Bridge?
An Agent Bridge connects an AI agent to a capability on your own computer. Web2MD Agent Bridge exposes two MCP tools that ask the Web2MD Chrome extension to open a URL, read the rendered page, and return clean Markdown. The conversion stays tied to the Chrome session you control.
Can Claude Code or Cursor read pages I am logged in to?
Yes, when Chrome is open, the Web2MD extension is installed, and the local bridge is connected. The agent reads the page through your existing browser session, so it can access content you are already authorized to view. It does not bypass a login or grant access you do not have.
How is Agent Bridge different from a hosted web scraper?
A hosted scraper fetches a URL from a datacenter and is best for large public crawls. Agent Bridge uses your real browser, which is better for authenticated pages, late-rendered JavaScript, and sites that return an empty shell to server-side fetchers. The tradeoff is that Chrome must be running on your computer.
Which AI agents work with Web2MD Agent Bridge?
Any client that can connect to a local MCP server can use it. The setup command detects common clients including Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Codex and configures the clients it finds.
Can an agent convert more than one page?
Yes. agent_convert handles one URL and agent_batch_convert accepts up to 50 URLs per call. Batch URLs are processed sequentially through your browser and each page is returned as Markdown.