Name: Lightpanda Go MCP server
Author: lightpanda-io

LABSCO SUMMARY

The experiment the browser absorbed.

It still does what it claims — CDP access to Lightpanda over stdio or SSE — but the same team now ships an MCP server inside the browser, and that is the path they send new users down.

What it is

A Go MCP server that talks to Lightpanda Browser over the CDP protocol and exposes browser tools over stdio or SSE. The author describes it as a first experiment and points elsewhere: the browser now embeds an MCP server natively.

What you get

Browser interaction over CDP, reachable as stdio with gomcp stdio or as SSE with gomcp sse, listening on 127.0.0.1:8081
A browser it manages for you — gomcp download fetches the binary into your user config directory on first run, gomcp cleanup removes it again
--cdp to attach to a browser already running elsewhere, for example gomcp -cdp ws://127.0.0.1:9222 stdio
A documented Claude Desktop configuration that is just the binary path and a stdio argument

Requirements

Lightpanda Browser installed, and Go to build the binary with go build. Before you wire it in, read the author's note at the top of the README: the browser now ships its own MCP server, and that is where the work has moved.

Setup effort

Follow the published steps — git clone https://github.com/lightpanda-io/gomcp

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Reaching a headless browser from an MCP client

The bridge speaks CDP on one side and MCP on the other, so a client that knows neither gets browser access.

02

Attaching to a browser you already run

Point it at an existing CDP websocket instead of letting it start its own instance.

03

Getting a browser onto a machine with one command

The download subcommand fetches and stores the browser binary, and cleanup removes it when you are done.

04

Deciding between this and the native server

The README's own warning is the answer for new setups; this repository is useful mainly if you are already running it.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Requires

Lightpanda Browser
Go, to build the binary

Where it runs

The documented client runs the server on your machine.

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

Server setup

Install Lightpanda Browser first (prerequisite):

URL

https://lightpanda.io/docs/getting-started/installation

Install Go (https://go.dev/doc/install)

TERMINAL

git clone https://github.com/lightpanda-io/gomcp
cd gomcp
go build
./gomcp download

The download is needed on the first run only: it fetches the browser binary into your user config directory

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop

CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lightpanda": {
      "command": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_GOMCP>",
      "args": [
        "stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

<YOUR_PATH_TO_GOMCP> is the absolute path of the gomcp binary that go build produced in your clone. Restart Claude Desktop.