ChromeWalk

ChromeWalk

A real, private browser your AI can use, running on your own computer.

Ask your AI assistant to open a page, check a site or collect data, and ChromeWalk does it in its own browser on your machine. No cloud relay, no tunnel, and never your personal Chrome profile.

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What it does

• Opens pages in a real browser, including pages that block simple downloaders, and hands your AI the text, status and title. A challenge page is reported, never solved.
• Takes screenshots and full evidence: every screen size you need, every file a page loads, and the console and network log.
• Checks your site for breakage: quick self-checking tests across many pages and screen sizes, with 12 built-in problem detectors, plus scripted clicks and logins to reach the pages behind them.
• Tests across browsers: the same page in Chromium, Firefox and WebKit (Safari's engine), with the differences highlighted. You can also use your installed Chrome, Edge or Brave, always with ChromeWalk's own private profile.
• Audits design and SEO: colours, fonts, spacing and components across a site, an SEO check with ranked fixes, and visual comparisons against a saved version so you spot unexpected changes.
• Collects store data: products, prices, images, specs and filters from an online store, into JSON or CSV.
• Stays light for your AI: 35 tools with short descriptions, short results, and big outputs saved as files on your computer.

Who it's for

Developers, QA and SEO teams, designers and researchers who already work with an AI assistant and want it to see the real web.

Works with AI apps that run on your computer. One command, cw connect, sets ChromeWalk up in 16 of them: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Gemini CLI, VS Code with GitHub Copilot, Zed, Continue, GitHub Copilot CLI, Kiro, Amazon Q Developer, Kilo Code, Goose and Visual Studio (Windows only, so a Mac gets 15). Any other app that supports local MCP servers can be set up by hand.

Not yet: chat apps that run in the cloud can't reach a program on your computer. That means ChatGPT (web, desktop or phone), Claude on the web or phone, and the Gemini app. For OpenAI, use Codex: it works today.

Runs on: Windows 10 and 11 (x64), and macOS on Apple Silicon. There is no Intel Mac or Linux build yet. Browsers: Chromium, Firefox and WebKit, plus your installed Chrome, Edge or Brave.

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Quick start

1. Install ChromeWalk.

• Windows (PowerShell): powershell -c "irm https://chromewalk.com/install.ps1 | iex"
• Mac (Terminal): curl -fsSL https://chromewalk.com/install.sh | bash
• Claude Desktop on Windows: install the ChromeWalk extension instead.

1. Connect your AI app. Run cw connect in a new terminal. It finds the AI apps on your computer and adds ChromeWalk to each one. Then restart the app.
2. Sign up and activate. Ask your AI: *"Sign me up for ChromeWalk with my email address."* The key arrives by email. Then: *"Activate ChromeWalk with the key from my email"*, or run cw activate in a terminal.

Then try: *"Take phone and desktop screenshots of our home page."*

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Install ChromeWalk

Every client below talks to one ChromeWalk install on your computer. Both install scripts download the release file, check its SHA-256 against `SHA256SUMS.txt` and stop on a mismatch (nothing is installed), install for your user without admin rights, and tell you the next step.

Windows:

powershell -c "irm https://chromewalk.com/install.ps1 | iex"

Mac (Apple Silicon):

curl -fsSL https://chromewalk.com/install.sh | bash

Prefer an installer? Download ChromeWalk for Windows (ChromeWalk-Setup-Windows.exe) or ChromeWalk for Mac (ChromeWalk-macOS-AppleSilicon.pkg), or pick them from the download page.

Windows details: install folder, options, SmartScreen, uninstall

• The script installs the compiled chromewalk.exe (no Python, nothing to build) and a cw.cmd shortcut to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ChromeWalk, adds it to your user PATH, then runs chromewalk setup, which downloads the browsers ChromeWalk uses.
• Options (parameters, or environment variables set before the one-liner):
• -Version / CW_VERSION installs a specific release;
• -DryRun / CW_DRYRUN=1 downloads and verifies but installs nothing;
• -SkipSetup / CW_SKIP_SETUP=1, -InstallDir , -From .
• SmartScreen: the Windows installer is not code-signed yet, so the first time you run it from a browser download, Windows may say "Windows protected your PC". Click More info, then Run anyway, or check the checksum first (below). The install script avoids the warning.
• Uninstall: Settings > Apps > Installed apps > ChromeWalk > Uninstall. This also removes ChromeWalk from your AI apps.

Mac details: install folder, options, Gatekeeper, uninstall

• The script installs for your user, with no admin password, into ~/.local/lib/chromewalk, links chromewalk and cw into ~/.local/bin (and adds that folder to PATH in ~/.zprofile), then runs chromewalk setup.
• Options (after bash -s --):
• --version (or CW_VERSION) installs a specific release;
• --dry-run downloads and verifies but installs nothing;
• --system uses the package installer into /usr/local (asks for your admin password through sudo);
• --skip-setup, --no-path, --prefix DIR, --uninstall.
• Apple Silicon only (M1 or later). Intel Macs are not supported.
• The Mac package is unsigned (no Apple Developer ID). The install script doesn't trigger Gatekeeper. If you download the .pkg in a browser and open it, macOS blocks it the first time ("cannot be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software"). Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to the message about the ChromeWalk package, click Open Anyway, and confirm with your password or Touch ID. Or install it from Terminal: sudo installer -pkg ChromeWalk-macOS-AppleSilicon.pkg -target / (system-wide: /usr/local/lib/chromewalk, /usr/local/bin/chromewalk, /usr/local/bin/cw).
• Uninstall: bash install.sh --uninstall (add --system for the package install). It also removes ChromeWalk from your AI apps (chromewalk connect --remove). Your licence, settings and downloaded browsers stay in ~/Library/Application Support/ChromeWalk until you delete that folder.

Updates: the Windows app updates itself. Each update is signed and checked before it installs, and if the new version fails its self-test your previous version comes back automatically (cw update --defer waits a few days first). On a Mac, cw update --check tells you when a new release is out; re-run the installer to update. The Claude Desktop extension tells you when a new one is ready; install it over the old one. More about updates.

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Connect your AI app

The easy way: run cw connect (or cw connect , for example cw connect codex). It finds each AI app

on your computer and adds ChromeWalk to its settings. It's safe to repeat, it saves a backup of a settings file

before its first change, and it never writes your licence key into any app. Preview what it would do with

cw connect --dry-run --json; undo with cw connect --remove .

Setting it up by hand? Every app uses the same launch command: command `chromewalk`, args `["mcp"]`.

Don't use cw, and don't wrap it in a shell (cmd /c or otherwise). On Windows cw is a .cmd file, which AI

apps can't start directly. If an app can't find chromewalk on PATH, use the full path:

- Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ChromeWalk\chromewalk.exe

- Mac: ~/.local/bin/chromewalk (install script) or /usr/local/bin/chromewalk (package installer)

Claude Desktop

Windows: use the extension.

1. Download it: https://chromewalk.com/download/claude (ChromeWalk-Claude-Extension.mcpb).
2. In Claude Desktop open Claude > Settings > Extensions > Install Extension and pick the file (double-clicking it may also work on the regular desktop app, but not on a Microsoft Store install).
3. Paste your licence key into its optional License Key box, or leave it empty and ask Claude to sign you up.

Mac: the extension is Windows only for now. Install ChromeWalk, then run cw connect claude-desktop.

Pick one. If you use the extension, you don't need cw connect claude-desktop as well; doing both gives Claude two copies of ChromeWalk. If that happens, run cw connect --remove claude-desktop.

Full walkthrough: https://chromewalk.com/docs/install-claude-desktop.html

Claude Code

Install the plugin from this repository's marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add chromewalk/app

/plugin install chromewalk@chromewalk

Or run cw connect claude-code, which runs claude mcp add with the full path to ChromeWalk; it registers ChromeWalk for the folder you run it in. To make it available everywhere, add it by hand:

claude mcp add --scope user chromewalk -- chromewalk mcp

--scope user makes ChromeWalk available in every project, not only the folder you were in. A project-level .mcp.json you can copy into your own repo is included.

Full walkthrough: https://chromewalk.com/docs/install-claude-code.html

OpenAI Codex (app, command line and editor extension)

Run cw connect codex. All three Codex apps read the same settings file, so one setup covers them. To add it by hand, put this in ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.chromewalk]

command = 'chromewalk' args = ['mcp'] startup_timeout_sec = 30 tool_timeout_sec = 1200

Keep the two timeouts. Codex's own defaults (about 10 seconds to start and 60 seconds per tool call) are too short for real-browser work, which can take several minutes. Use the full path if chromewalk isn't on PATH, for example 'C:\Users\ \AppData\Local\Programs\ChromeWalk\chromewalk.exe' or '/usr/local/bin/chromewalk'.

Full walkthrough: https://chromewalk.com/docs/install-codex.html

Cursor

Click Add to Cursor, or run cw connect cursor:

To add it by hand, put this in ~/.cursor/mcp.json or your project's .cursor/mcp.json:

{

"mcpServers": { "chromewalk": { "command": "chromewalk", "args": ["mcp"] } } }

Cursor asks you once to trust the new tool server. Directory listing text: docs/cursor-directory-listing.md.

Full walkthrough: https://chromewalk.com/docs/install-cursor.html

VS Code with GitHub Copilot

Run cw connect vscode, or add this to your user or workspace mcp.json. VS Code uses servers, not mcpServers:

{

"servers": { "chromewalk": { "type": "stdio", "command": "chromewalk", "args": ["mcp"] } } }

Use Copilot in Agent mode. Full walkthrough: https://chromewalk.com/do