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MCPSafari: Native Safari MCP Server for AI Agents

Give Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI full native control of Safari on macOS. Navigate tabs, click/type/fill forms (even React), read HTML/accessibility trees, execute JS, capture screenshots, inspect console & network — all with 23 secure tools. Zero Chrome overhead, Apple Silicon optimized, token-authenticated, and built with official Swift + Manifest V3 Safari Extension.

Why MCPSafari?

• Smarter element targeting (UID + CSS + text + coords + interactive ranking)
• Works flawlessly with complex sites
• Local & private (runs on your Mac)
• Perfect drop-in for Mac-first agent workflows

macOS 14+ • Safari 17+ • Xcode 16+

Built with the official swift-sdk and a Manifest V3 Safari Web Extension.

Why Safari over Chrome?

• 40–60% less CPU/heat on Apple Silicon
• Keeps your existing Safari logins/cookies
• Native accessibility tree (better than Playwright for complex UIs)

How It Works

MCP Client (Claude, etc.)
        │ stdio
┌───────▼──────────────┐
│  Swift MCP Server    │
│  (MCPSafari binary)  │
└───────┬──────────────┘
        │ WebSocket (localhost:8089)
┌───────▼──────────────┐
│  Safari Extension    │
│  (background.js)     │
└───────┬──────────────┘
        │ content scripts
┌───────▼──────────────┐
│  Safari Browser      │
│  (macOS 14.0+)       │
└──────────────────────┘

The MCP server communicates with clients over stdio and bridges tool calls to the Safari extension over a local WebSocket. The extension executes actions via browser APIs and content scripts injected into pages.

Requirements

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• Safari 17+
• Swift 6.1+ (for building from source)
• Xcode 16+ (for building the Safari extension)

Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

Installs the MCP server binary and the Safari extension app to /Applications in one step. Automatically cleans up any previous installation.

brew install --cask epistates/tap/mcp-safari

Upgrading:

brew upgrade --cask epistates/tap/mcp-safari

After install, enable the extension in Safari > Settings > Extensions > MCPSafari Extension.

From Release

If you don't use Homebrew, download both the CLI binary and the extension app from GitHub Releases:

| Asset | Description | |-------|-------------| | MCPSafari-Server-arm64-apple-darwin | MCP server binary for Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4) | | MCPSafari-Server-x86_64-apple-darwin | MCP server binary for Intel Macs | | MCPSafari-Server-universal-apple-darwin | MCP server binary — universal, runs on any Mac | | MCPSafari-Extension-arm64.tar.gz | Safari extension app for Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4) | | MCPSafari-Extension-x86_64.tar.gz | Safari extension app for Intel Macs |

# Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) — use x86_64 for Intel Macs
curl -L -o /usr/local/bin/mcp-safari https://github.com/Epistates/MCPSafari/releases/latest/download/MCPSafari-Server-arm64-apple-darwin
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mcp-safari

# Safari extension (must be in /Applications for macOS 26+)
curl -L https://github.com/Epistates/MCPSafari/releases/latest/download/MCPSafari-Extension-arm64.tar.gz | tar xzf -
mv MCPSafari.app /Applications/
open /Applications/MCPSafari.app

Then enable the extension in Safari > Settings > Extensions > MCPSafari Extension.

From Source

git clone https://github.com/Epistates/MCPSafari.git
cd MCPSafari

# Build the MCP server
cd MCPServer
swift build -c release
# Binary is at .build/release/MCPSafari

# Build and open the Safari extension
cd ../MCPSafari
xcodebuild -project MCPSafari.xcodeproj -scheme MCPSafari build
open ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/MCPSafari-*/Build/Products/Debug/MCPSafari.app

Then enable the extension in Safari > Settings > Extensions > MCPSafari Extension.

Configuration

Claude Code

Add to your MCP settings (.claude/settings.json or project-level):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-safari": {
      "command": "mcp-safari"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-safari": {
      "command": "mcp-safari"
    }
  }
}

Cursor / Windsurf / Other MCP Clients

Any client that supports the MCP stdio transport can connect. Point it at mcp-safari (or the full path if not in $PATH).

Multiple Claude Instances

Multiple MCP clients work automatically. The server auto-finds a free port if the default (8089) is in use, and the extension auto-discovers all servers in the 8089-8098 range. No configuration needed — just start multiple clients and they each get their own connection.

For ports outside the default range, add them manually in the extension popup or specify explicitly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-safari": {
      "command": "mcp-safari",
      "args": ["--port", "9090"]
    }
  }
}

CLI Options

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --port <n> / -p <n> | WebSocket port (default: 8089) | | --verbose | Debug-level logging to stderr |

Tools (23)

Tab Management

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | tabs_context | List all open tabs with IDs, URLs, and titles | | tabs_create | Open a new tab, optionally with a URL | | close_tab | Close a tab by ID | | select_tab | Pin a tab as the default context for future calls |

Navigation

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | navigate | Go to a URL, or use back / forward / reload actions |

Page Reading

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | read_page | Get page content as text, html, or snapshot | | snapshot | Accessibility tree with element UIDs for interaction | | find | Find elements by CSS selector, text, or ARIA role |

Interaction

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | click | Click by UID, CSS selector, text, or coordinates | | type_text | Type into an element with optional clearFirst and submitKey | | form_input | Batch fill form fields (CSS selector → value map) | | select_option | Select a dropdown option by value or label | | scroll | Scroll page or element in any direction | | press_key | Press key combinations (e.g., Enter, Meta+a, Control+c) | | hover | Hover to trigger tooltips, menus, or hover states | | drag | Drag and drop between elements |

Dialogs

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | handle_dialog | Accept or dismiss alerts, confirms, and prompts |

Screenshots

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | screenshot | Capture the visible tab area as a PNG image |

JavaScript

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | javascript_tool | Execute arbitrary JS in the page context |

Debugging

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | read_console | Read console messages with level and regex filtering | | read_network | Read captured XHR/fetch requests with type filtering |

Window

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | resize_window | Resize the browser window to specific dimensions |

Utility

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | wait | Wait for a duration, CSS selector, or text to appear |

Usage

Basic Workflow

1. Start with context — call tabs_context to see what's open, or navigate to a URL.
2. Take a snapshot — call snapshot to get the accessibility tree with element UIDs.
3. Interact — use UIDs from the snapshot with click, type_text, hover, etc.
4. Verify — pass includeSnapshot: true on interaction tools to see the updated state, or take a screenshot.

Element Targeting

Tools that interact with elements accept multiple targeting strategies:

| Strategy | Example | When to Use | |----------|---------|-------------| | UID | uid: "e42" | Most precise — from a snapshot | | CSS selector | selector: "#login-btn" | When you know the DOM structure | | Text | text: "Sign In" | Interactive elements are ranked higher | | Coordinates | x: 100, y: 200 | Last resort — click at exact position |

Form Filling

Use form_input to fill multiple fields at once:

{
  "fields": {
    "#name": "Jane Doe",
    "#email": "jane@example.com",
    "textarea[name=message]": "Hello!"
  }
}

This uses React-compatible value setting (nativeInputValueSetter) so it works with controlled inputs in React, Next.js, and similar frameworks.

Smart Text Matching

When targeting by text, interactive elements (buttons, links, inputs) are ranked higher than generic containers. Clicking text: "Submit" will prefer a <button>Submit</button> over a <div>Submit</div>.

Post-Action Snapshots

Most interaction tools support includeSnapshot: true, which returns the updated accessibility tree after the action — useful for verifying the result without a separate snapshot call.

Architecture

MCP Server (MCPServer/)

A Swift executable using the official modelcontextprotocol/swift-sdk. Communicates with MCP clients via stdio and with the Safari extension via a WebSocket bridge using Network.framework.

• main.swift — Entry point, parses CLI flags, starts the server
• SafariMCPServer.swift — Tool definitions and handlers (actor)
• WebSocketBridge.swift —