# bgaze/snapstack-server [Health: Active]

**Category:** 📂 Browser Automation  
**Repository:** https://github.com/bgaze/snapstack-server  
**GitHub Stars:** 1  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 222  
**Views:** 3  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/bgaze-snapstack-server

## Description
Pipe one-click browser-tab screenshots into any MCP client, 100% local — a companion extension captures, the local server stacks them and serves them to your LLM on demand.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "snapstack-server": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","-p","snapstack-server","snapstack","mcp"],
    "env": {
      "SNAPSTACK_DIR": "",
      "SNAPSTACK_PORT": ""
    }
  }
}
```

**Requires environment variables:** `SNAPSTACK_DIR`, `SNAPSTACK_PORT` — the values above are empty placeholders; fill in real credentials before running (see the repository for what each one is for).

## Documentation

## What bgaze/snapstack-server MCP server does

The bgaze/snapstack-server MCP server connects a browser capture extension to an MCP client through a local Node.js process. The extension sends encoded screenshots to the server, which stores them under `~/.snapstack/` by default. Each capture has an image file and a matching JSON file containing the page URL, title, timestamp, and dimensions.

The server exposes three MCP tools. `get_screenshots` returns a manifest containing stable capture numbers, absolute file paths, dimensions, and metadata; it does not return image bytes or remove files. `count_screenshots` reports how many captures are waiting. `clear_screenshots` deletes selected captures or the entire stack. Capture numbering restarts at `01` after the stack becomes empty.

This is intended for local browser-context workflows rather than general browser control. The companion extension performs the capture, encoding, downscaling, and full-page stitching before sending the result to the server.

## How it works

The running process listens only on `127.0.0.1`. The extension posts captures to `/push`, while MCP clients connect through `/mcp` when using Streamable HTTP. The same on-disk stack is available to the stdio MCP front end, which a client can spawn with `snapstack mcp`. HTTP requests are stateless, and capture intake remains handled by the always-on process independently of the MCP front end.

The server stores WebP or PNG captures with metadata sidecars. The extension can also use JPG according to the configured capture policy. MCP retrieval returns paths rather than embedding image data, allowing the client to read only the files it needs. Deletion is explicit: reading or counting captures never clears them.

## Setup and configuration

To run the bgaze/snapstack-server MCP server, use Node.js 18 or newer, install the npm package globally with `npm i -g snapstack-server`, and enable the background service with `snapstack enable`. The service can start at login and restart after a crash. `snapstack run` starts the daemon in the foreground, while `snapstack start`, `stop`, and `restart` control it.

For HTTP clients, register `http://127.0.0.1:4123/mcp` after the server is running. For stdio clients, use `npx -y -p snapstack-server snapstack mcp`. The browser must also have the companion `snapstack-extension` loaded; the server alone does not capture browser tabs.

`SNAPSTACK_DIR` changes the stack directory and defaults to `~/.snapstack`. `SNAPSTACK_PORT` changes the local listening port and defaults to `4123`; the host remains `127.0.0.1`. Capture settings are stored in `~/.snapstack/config.json` and managed from the extension's options page. Supported settings include format, lossy quality, maximum width, and the maximum number of full-page slices.

## Limitations and notes

The supplied material documents local HTTP and stdio transports but does not identify specific MCP client applications. The server requires the companion browser extension for capture intake. It does not provide browser navigation or interaction tools; its documented MCP operations concern listing, counting, and deleting stored screenshots. On Windows, the README advises using an Administrator terminal for global npm installation and scheduled-task registration.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/bgaze-snapstack-server/readme_