Mcp browser control totally broken (again)

Support Bug Reports
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1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Man, I literally can’t believe it because this tool has been so buggy. Every time I try and use it, it breaks, and I have to switch around versions, uninstall, and reinstall just to get it working. And then I wake up the next morning, and it’s broken again for no reason.

What’s going on? This is one of the most important features by far, and it’s the buggiest, most unreliable, rickety piece of crap I’ve ever seen in my life. What the hell are we doing? I mean, I’m not even going to say what version because every version is broken. I downgrade from 2.4 to 2.3, try that, that’s broken. Then I go to 2.2, that works for a while, then that breaks. Upgrade to 2.4, it breaks. What are we doing here, man?

Steps to Reproduce

be me
try and use the ide
it’s always broken

Expected Behavior

supposed to work

Operating System

MacOS

Version Information

every version

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

3

I found a solution. You have to have the browser set to Browser Tab only. Then send this prompt to your agent and it should allow them to figure out how to use it:

Here’s exactly what happened:

The Key Discovery

The browser MCP tools only load when you have the Browser tab selected in Cursor’s Tools panel (the panel you showed in your screenshot).

The Tool Names

The correct tool names are:

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_navigate

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_snapshot

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_click

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_type

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_hover

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_select_option

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_press_key

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_wait_for

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_navigate_back

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_resize

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_console_messages

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_network_requests

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_tabs

mcp_cursor-ide-browser_browser_take_screenshot

What You Need To Do In Other Sessions

Open the Tools panel in Cursor (where you see “Browser Automation”)

Make sure “Browser” is selected - NOT “Google Chrome”

The dropdown should show the built-in Cursor browser, not external Chrome

Then start a new chat or ask me to navigate

Why Chrome Doesn’t Work

When you select “Google Chrome” in that dropdown, the MCP tools disappear from my available tools list. The mcp_cursor-ide-browser_* tools are specifically for Cursor’s built-in browser, not external Chrome.

TL;DR

Browser tab selected = tools work

Chrome selected = tools don’t exist

4

Hey, thanks for sharing the solution. Your workaround will definitely help other users who run into this issue.

Good news: this bug (a regression in versions 2.3.18+) was fixed. If you’re on the latest version of Cursor (check via Menu > About Cursor), browser automation should work without needing to manually pass tool names in the prompt.

If you can still reproduce the issue on the latest version, let us know what version you’re on and, if you can, share the request ID (from the chat context menu) so the team can look into it.

Related reports: Browser MCP Tools Not Available

5

Lmfao are you trolling me? I updated to the latest version and it crashes on load lmfao

Any comment on if we can ever get a stable build ? Feature freeze but working features would be nice

6

I upgraded and now my workaround doesn’t work anymore thanks man lmfao

7

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