| name | chrome-profile-bridge |
| description | Enhanced browser automation with Chrome profile targeting. Use this skill BEFORE playwright-cli when the user needs to work with a specific Chrome profile (e.g., "open my tax site", "check my bank account", "use my work profile"). This skill handles profile selection, then hands off to playwright-cli for actual browser control. |
| allowed-tools | Bash(pw:*), Bash(playwright-cli:*) |
Chrome Profile Bridge
Enhancement layer on top of playwright-cli that adds Chrome profile targeting.
When to Use This Skill
Use this when the user mentions:
- A specific Chrome profile ("use my work profile", "open in Jack's browser")
- An authenticated site that requires existing login state (tax, banking, email)
- Any task where the correct Chrome profile matters
For tasks that don't need a specific profile, use playwright-cli directly.
Architecture
This skill (profile targeting) → playwright-cli (browser control) → Chrome Extension → Real Chrome
Why This Exists
| Approach | Problem |
|---|
| MCP | Loads ~25 tool definitions per session (~114K tokens). 4x heavier than Skill mode. |
| Claude in Chrome | Blocks financial/banking sites. Requires Anthropic login. Ecosystem lock-in. |
| Direct CDP | Chrome 136+ blocks remote debugging on default user data dir. |
| This Skill | Works inside Chrome (no restrictions), preserves all login state, zero site blocking. |
Prerequisites
- @playwright/cli —
npm install -g @playwright/cli@latest
- Playwright MCP Bridge Chrome extension — Install from Chrome Web Store
- Token — Copy from the extension's status page, set as
PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXTENSION_TOKEN env var
- pw wrapper — Copy
scripts/pw to somewhere in your $PATH (e.g., ~/.local/bin/pw)
Usage
List available Chrome profiles
pw list-profiles
Open browser with a target profile
pw open --extension
pw open --extension --pw-profile="Profile 1"
Control the browser (all playwright-cli commands work)
playwright-cli goto https://example.com
playwright-cli snapshot
playwright-cli click e15
playwright-cli fill e7 "some text"
playwright-cli screenshot --filename=result.png
playwright-cli close
Tool Selection Note
Browser automation involves multiple sub-problems (finding URLs, reading pages, filling forms, checking state). Each has a best-fit tool. See the Tool Selection Strategy section in the playwright-cli skill for detailed guidance. Key takeaway: don't path-depend on one approach — match each step to the right tool.
Browser Hygiene
When using Chrome profiles, cleanup is especially important — leftover tabs persist across sessions since profiles are real user data.
- Close all task-related tabs before finishing. Profile tabs survive after
playwright-cli close. Audit with tab-list and close each one.
- Extension bridge sessions are isolated. Each
pw open --extension creates a new browser window. tab-list and tab-close only affect tabs in THAT window. Tabs from a previous session (killed or disconnected) become orphaned — only closable manually in Chrome. Always close all opened tabs before playwright-cli close. There is no way to retroactively clean up another session's tabs.
- Clean temp files after each task:
rm -rf .playwright-cli/*
- See the Browser Hygiene section in
playwright-cli skill for full details.
Troubleshooting
- ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT: Extension not installed in target profile. Install from Chrome Web Store.
- Extension timeout: Chrome opened wrong profile. Use
--pw-profile="Default" explicitly.
- Token mismatch: Verify env var matches the token shown in the extension's status page (
chrome-extension://mmlmfjhmonkocbjadbfplnigmagldckm/status.html).
- Extension ID confusion: The Web Store version is
mmlmfjhmonkocbjadbfplnigmagldckm. The dev/sideloaded version jakfalbnbhgkpmoaakfflhflbfpkailf is NOT compatible with @playwright/cli.
