Use Chrome DevTools MCP for reliable Chrome automation, especially when the bundled Chrome extension cannot switch tabs, click controls, capture screenshots, inspect DOM/network state, download files, or control an existing Chrome session. Also use when setting up, verifying, or debugging the ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp server in Codex.
Use when finding academic papers through Chrome or Google Scholar, checking publisher or library SSO access for a user-specified institution, downloading authorized PDFs, exporting BibTeX, or adding reusable publisher-site download notes. Must be used together with chrome-mcp for Chrome control; use Chrome DevTools MCP as the browser-control surface for tab/page selection, navigation, clicks, screenshots, downloads, and page inspection.