A proxy that holds Chrome's debug pipe so MCP tools stop stealing focus on macOS
ravann4 · reddit · 2026-10-02
The problem
On macOS, any tool connecting to Chrome over its debug WebSocket port activates the Chrome window — chrome-devtools-mcp and Playwright MCP in extension mode both trigger it, and no bringToFront: false setting helps.
The fix
The author found Chrome started with --remote-debugging-pipe doesn't activate — but the pipe can only be used by the process that spawned Chrome. So this proxy becomes the launcher: it starts Chrome with the pipe and exposes the exact same HTTP/WebSocket interface as --remote-debugging-port (//version, //list, a browser-level WebSocket). chrome-devtools-mcp connects via --browserUrl without knowing it isn't a real debug port, and multiple clients can share the single pipe (the proxy remaps request ids and routes responses back).
Other details
- Rewrites Target.createTarget to background: true and drops Page.bringToFront, so tabs open behind your apps
- Refuses WebSocket upgrades with an Origin header or non-localhost Host (DNS rebinding protection)
- A setup CLI installs one proxy per Chrome profile (chrome-work / chrome-personal) and registers per-profile MCP servers; ships as a Claude Code plugin with a skill
- Limits: macOS only, runs on a profile copy (new sign-ins don't carry over), extensions disabled, Playwright MCP can't connect
Forked from mimkorn/chrome-pipe-proxy; 500 lines of Node, MIT licensed.
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