A side-by-side look at the Playwright MCP and Shiplight MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Playwright MCP for browser automation work as a local process; choose Shiplight for browser automation. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
browser_close, browser_resize, browser_console_messages.Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | S Shiplight | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Browser Automation | Browser Automation |
| Quality signal | 88/100 · Excellent | 36/100 · Fair |
| Install command | Confirmed | Not confirmed yet |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | — |
| Auth | No auth required | Not declared |
| Pricing | Free | Not declared |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Verified | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 38,215 | — |
| Directory activity | 3 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 25 | Not listed |
| Full listing | View Playwright MCP | View Shiplight |
browser_closeClose the pagebrowser_resizeResize the browser windowbrowser_console_messagesReturns all console messagesbrowser_handle_dialogHandle a dialogbrowser_emulate_mediaEmulate CSS media features for the page, for example switch between the light and dark color scheme. Omitted parameters are left unchanged; null clears an override.browser_evaluateEvaluate JavaScript expression on page or elementbrowser_file_uploadUpload one or multiple filesbrowser_dropDrop files or MIME-typed data onto an element, as if dragged from outside the page. At least one of "paths" or "data" must be provided.browser_findSearch the accessibility snapshot of the current page for text or a regular expression. Returns matching snapshot nodes with a few lines of surrounding context (like search snippets), each shown under its path from the root of the tree, which is cheaper than capturing the whole snapshot when you only need to locate an element and its ref.browser_fill_formFill multiple form fieldsbrowser_press_keyPress a key on the keyboardbrowser_typeType text into editable elementNo tool names declared yet. Check the project README from the listing page.
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
{
"mcpServers": {
"microsoft-playwright-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@playwright/mcp@latest"
]
}
}
}
No confirmed install command for Shiplight yet — follow the setup steps linked from its listing page rather than a guessed package name.