Yab, Yet Another Browser

yab-mcp

The MCP server of Yab, Yet Another Browser, for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any MCP client.

Yab, Yet Another Browser, is a free WebKit browser for the Mac. With this server, any agent gets one real browser on your Mac: the one you're signed in to. Your agent opens tabs of its own beside yours, reads pages as text, clicks, types and fills forms with your sign-ins, your cookies and your IP. There is no cloud browser, no debug port and no Chrome to set up, and it's free. A press on Send, Pay, Delete and the like waits for your yes on a card in Yab, unless you chose Bypass in Yab's settings: the browser holds that yes, not the model. Saved passwords are filled by Yab and never shown to the agent. Agent tabs live in a window off screen and come in front of you only when you ask. With Yab closed, the first call opens it hidden, with no window and no Dock tile, and it quits after half an hour with nothing to do. yab serve keeps it running that way.

Download Yab · For developers · Manual

Remote assistants (0.2.0 preview)

On the assistant's own computer, run npx yab-mcp login --client dots. When Yab's Connect flow supplies a nonce, add --nonce with that value. It prints the code and returns immediately; a background process saves the connection after the person allows it in Yab. Yab on the Mac shows the eight-character code under Settings > AI > Assistants. After the person allows it there, choose who does the work:

• Direct browser control: configure your assistant's MCP server with command npx and args ["-y", "yab-mcp", "--remote"]. The assistant calls open, snapshot, click, type, etc. itself, using its own model/account. --remote bridges JSON-RPC over stdio; it does not accept a natural-language prompt or start a Yab model run. Calling the task MCP tool still delegates.
• Delegation: npx yab-mcp task "Find a table for Friday" starts a separate agent using the model selected for Tasks in Yab on the Mac. ChatGPT (via Codex) consumes the user's ChatGPT limits; Claude uses their Claude plan instead. Choose this when you intend to use that plan, including from a shell-only bot. It prints its session ID and returns; run npx yab-mcp status SESSION for the next update, or npx yab-mcp status for the newest task after a Mac reconnects. Repeat until it says done.

Both modes keep the assistant's existing account access and approval settings. The connection token stays in ~/.config/yab-mcp/auth.json (mode 0600), or the path in YAB_MCP_AUTH_FILE. When the home folder is read-only, as on some bots' computers, it goes to the first writable of /workspace/shared/.yab-mcp/, /workspace/.yab-mcp/ and .yab-mcp/ in the current folder. If the computer ends the background process that waits for the person's Allow, the next task, status or --remote finishes connecting. YAB_MCP_URL selects a test server; production uses https://yab-sync.21st.workers.dev. Plain npx yab-mcp starts the local app's MCP server.

Requirements

• A Mac with macOS 15.4 or later.
• Yab, free: download. It updates itself.
• Agents allowed in Yab: Settings › AI › Agents › Let agents use Yab. Until then, every call says so.
• Node.js 18 or later, for npx. A client can also run Yab directly, without Node: see Without Node.

Chrome is your main browser? Yab can still be the one your agents use, usually closed. yab import chrome brings Chrome's sign-ins into Yab after you say yes in Yab, so your agent hits fewer sign-in pages.

Already use Yab? Settings › Developers adds it to Claude Code and Codex with one click, and Copy Config gives the JSON for any other client. You don't need this package for that.

Install

Claude Code

The plugin brings the tools and Yab's skill:

/plugin marketplace add yetanotherbrowser/yab-mcp

/plugin install yab@yab-mcp

From a shell: claude plugin marketplace add yetanotherbrowser/yab-mcp, then claude plugin install yab@yab-mcp.

Only the tools:

claude mcp add --scope user yab-browser -- npx -y yab-mcp

If Yab's Settings › Developers already added Yab to Claude Code, skip this: you'd have the same tools twice.

Codex

The plugin, tools and skill:

codex plugin marketplace add yetanotherbrowser/yab-mcp

codex plugin add yab@yab-mcp

Or only the tools, in ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.yab-browser]

command = "npx" args = ["-y", "yab-mcp"] tool_timeout_sec = 900 default_tools_approval_mode = "approve"

tool_timeout_sec lets a call wait up to 15 minutes while Yab asks you something; the plugin keeps Codex's default of 5. default_tools_approval_mode stops Codex asking before every Yab tool; Yab still asks you before Send, Pay and Delete. Leave it out if you want Codex to ask too.

Cursor

Or add it to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{

"mcpServers": { "yab-browser": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "yab-mcp"] } } }

VS Code

code --add-mcp '{"name":"yab-browser","command":"npx","args":["-y","yab-mcp"]}'

Or in .vscode/mcp.json:

{

"servers": { "yab-browser": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "yab-mcp"] } } }

Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

In ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json (older Windsurf builds: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json):

{

"mcpServers": { "yab-browser": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "yab-mcp"] } } }

Claude Desktop

Download yab-mcp- .mcpb from Releases and open it: Claude Desktop installs it as an extension. Or add this to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{

"mcpServers": { "yab-browser": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "yab-mcp"] } } }

Any other client

The same mcpServers entry: command npx, arguments -y yab-mcp, over stdio.

Without Node

Point the client at the app itself. This is what Yab's Copy Config gives:

{

"mcpServers": { "yab-browser": { "command": "/Applications/yab.app/Contents/MacOS/yab", "args": ["mcp"], "env": { "YAB_CLI": "1" } } } }

What yab-mcp does

1. It finds Yab: YAB_APP if set, then the app the yab command runs (~/.local/bin/yab), then yab.app in /Applications and ~/Applications, then Spotlight (mdfind, bundle id dev.serafim.fast).
2. It runs yab.app/Contents/MacOS/yab mcp with YAB_CLI=1. Your client talks to Yab directly: stdin and stdout go straight through, signals are passed on, and the exit code comes back.
3. Without Yab, or off a Mac, it serves a short built-in server instead. It lists Yab's tools from a snapshot and answers every call with how to get Yab.

It has no dependencies and makes no network requests of its own. npx yab-mcp --help says where it found Yab.

Tools

These come from a real tools/list of Yab, made by scripts/snapshot.mjs. The app you run is the final word: newer versions may list more.

Yab 0.0.18 lists 69 tools. Some appear only when you turn on what they need, as noted.

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