Browser MCP browser_snapshot returns only metadata

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor CLI

Describe the Bug

Browser MCP: browser_snapshot returns only metadata; model never receives accessibility tree / element refs

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Enable the built-in Browser MCP (cursor-ide-browser) in Cursor settings.
  2. Open Composer / Agent and ask the AI to use the browser, e.g.: “Go to google.com and search for ‘Browser MCP’.”
  3. The agent can navigate (browser_navigate works) but then calls browser_snapshot to get element refs.
  4. The tool result that reaches the model contains only metadata (viewId, title, url, locked); the accessibility tree with refs is missing.
  5. The agent cannot use browser_fill, browser_click, or browser_type because it has no refs, and reports “Element not found” or asks the user to take a snapshot.

Expected Behavior

The browser_snapshot tool result should include the full accessibility tree (page structure) with element refs, so the agent can pass those refs to browser_fill, browser_click, and browser_type to interact with the page. Other browser MCPs (e.g. Playwright MCP) do return refs in the snapshot.

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

Version: 2.5.26
VSCode Version: 1.105.1
Commit: 7d96c2a03bb088ad367615e9da1a3fe20fbbc6a0
Date: 2026-02-26T04:57:56.825Z
Build Type: Stable
Release Track: Early Access
Electron: 39.4.0
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265
Node.js: 22.22.0
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 24.6.0

For AI issues: which model did you use?

auto

For AI issues: add Request ID with privacy disabled

96b04bb7-d2bc-4f7c-b559-b1a8553a3e49

Additional Information

The snapshot content (with refs) may be visible in the Cursor UI for the user; the issue is that this content is not included in the tool result passed to the model. So the agent never sees the refs needed for browser_fill, browser_click, browser_type.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

3

Having same issue with the latest verison

1 Like
4

+1 than :slight_smile:

5

Hey, thanks for the detailed report.

This is a known issue. The model only gets metadata from the tool result instead of the full accessibility tree with element refs. The team is aware, but there’s no ETA for a fix yet.

As a workaround, you can use @playwright/mcp as an alternative Browser MCP server. It returns refs correctly in the snapshot, and browser_click and browser_fill work fine with it.

Let me know if the workaround helps.