Ridealong is an open-source MCP server for Claude Code. Claude drives a real Google Chrome; you open one link and watch it live, point at things, pause, approve the risky steps, or take the wheel from your phone. Then hand it back.
claude mcp add ridealong -- npx -y -p ridealong-mcp ridealong
A GPU-encoded H.264 stream of the real Chrome, about 150 ms behind. Claude's cursor glides to each target with a ripple on click; a journal keeps every action with its time.
Tap an element while Claude works and it hears “William points at: button « changer »”. Type a line in the viewer and it lands in the transcript, instantly if you enable Claude Code channels.
Switch to Manual. Your clicks, keys, trackpad scroll and pinch go straight into the page. Nothing you type is stored, logged or shown to Claude. Switch back when the login is done.
Ridealong is a plain MCP server: Claude calls navigate, snapshot, act like any other tool. But the transcript now carries console errors, what you pointed at, and an approval verdict before a payment goes through.
Playwright MCP and Chrome DevTools MCP let an agent act in a browser. Claude in Chrome puts the agent inside your own tabs. Ridealong keeps the agent on its own real Chrome and puts you in the passenger seat, with the door handle.
| Playwright MCP | Chrome DevTools MCP | Claude in Chrome | Ridealong | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browser | headless Chromium | your Chrome via CDP | your Chrome, your tabs | real Google Chrome, dedicated profile |
| See what the agent sees | screenshots on request | screenshots on request | same screen | live H.264 stream, cursor, journal |
| Take over mid-task | — | — | you share the mouse | Manual mode from any device, input never stored |
| Approve before pay / send / delete | — | — | per-action prompts | ask_approval on the viewer, tool waits |
| Guide the agent | prompt | prompt | prompt | tap the element, or message it |
| Console, network, tabs | partial | yes | limited | console_errors, network_requests, real tabs, diff |
| Runs where | local | local | your desktop | local, Docker, or always-on server + phone |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | proprietary | MIT |
Manual-mode input is relayed to Chrome and never retained. Perception tools refuse to run while you hold the wheel. Password fields never expose values in snapshots. Tests enforce it.
HMAC-signed links, 30 s to 1 h, carried in the URL fragment so they never reach history or logs. A paired device keeps a 30-day token. Rotate one secret to revoke everything.
The live view listens on 127.0.0.1. You decide how to expose it: a Cloudflare tunnel, a VPN, or nothing at all.
claude mcp add ridealong -- npx -y -p ridealong-mcp ridealong
# or, as a Claude Code plugin
claude plugin marketplace add williamblaismedia-create/ridealong
claude plugin install ridealong@ridealong
Starts Chrome with its debugging port and a dedicated profile, generates a secret on first run. Then, in Claude Code: “open example.com and give me the live view”. With ffmpeg installed you get H.264 video; without it, JPEG frames.
docker build -t ridealong . claude mcp add ridealong -- docker run -i --rm -p 9400:9400 -v ridealong-data:/data ridealong
Chrome under Xvfb, ffmpeg, persistent profile in a volume. Add --gpus all -e RIDEALONG_VIDEO_ENCODER=h264_nvenc for NVENC on a host with the NVIDIA runtime.
ssh you@server 'git clone … ~/ridealong && cd ~/ridealong && npm ci && npm run build'
# systemd unit for Chrome + Xvfb, Cloudflare tunnel on port 9400, then on your laptop:
claude mcp add ridealong -- node ~/ridealong/scripts/ridealong-mcp-relay.mjs
The local relay keeps the MCP session alive across a dead SSH link, and a second Claude Code session follows the first instead of fighting for the port. Full runbook in the repo.
An open-source MCP server for Claude Code. It drives a real Google Chrome over the Chrome DevTools Protocol and streams it live to a page you can watch, point at, pause, approve, or take over from your phone.
Those let an agent act in a browser. Ridealong adds the human: a live view, an approval gate, Manual mode with no capture, pointer hints and messages back to the agent, plus console errors, network requests, real tabs and stable refs in the transcript.
No. Input is relayed straight to Chrome and never stored, logged or exposed to the model. Perception tools refuse to run while you hold the wheel, and password fields never expose values in snapshots. A test suite pins this down.
No. One command runs it on the machine Claude drives. Docker and an always-on server with a tunnel are documented for watching from anywhere.
No. With ffmpeg, Ridealong uses NVENC, VideoToolbox on macOS, or software libx264, whichever exists. Without ffmpeg it streams JPEG frames sized to your screen.
HMAC-signed, expiring after 30 seconds to 1 hour, carried in the URL fragment. A device that opened a valid link keeps a 30-day token so the bare address works. Rotating the secret revokes everything.
It is a standard stdio MCP server, so any client that speaks MCP can use the tools. The instant channel for messages and approvals is a Claude Code feature; other clients get them at the end of the next tool result.