How to Set Up Vibium MCP in Claude Desktop

Vibium ships a built-in MCP server, and Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from a JSON config file — so you can give the desktop app a real browser with one config entry. Vibium is an AI-native browser automation engine built on WebDriver BiDi, distributed as a single Go binary that auto-downloads Chrome for Testing, created by Jason Huggins, co-creator of Selenium and Appium. Unlike Claude Code, which uses a CLI command, Claude Desktop is configured by editing claude_desktop_config.json and adding a vibium server that runs npx -y vibium mcp. After you save the file and restart the app, Claude Desktop can navigate pages, click, type, and take screenshots as part of normal tool use — no custom integration code. This guide covers the config entry, where the file lives, how to verify the connection, and common fixes.

What is MCP, and why does Claude Desktop need it?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI applications call external tools through one consistent interface. Claude Desktop supports MCP servers, and because Vibium exposes an MCP server out of the box, Claude Desktop can drive a browser the same way it uses any other connected tool.

This is the identical built-in server you would register with Claude Code or Cursor. Only the client-side registration differs: Claude Desktop uses a JSON file rather than a terminal command.

Where is the Claude Desktop config file?

Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from claude_desktop_config.json. The location depends on your OS:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

The easiest way to open it is from inside the app — go to Settings, then the Developer section, and use the option to edit the config. If the file does not exist yet, create it. Confirm the exact path in Anthropic's official Claude Desktop documentation for your version before relying on it.

How do you add the Vibium server?

Add a vibium entry under mcpServers using the standard MCP server shape — a command plus its arguments:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vibium": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "vibium", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

If you already have other servers in the file, add vibium as another key inside the existing mcpServers object rather than creating a second one. The npx -y vibium mcp invocation is the same standard Vibium MCP command used across every client.

If you built Vibium locally instead of using npx, point the command at the binary directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vibium": {
      "command": "/path/to/vibium",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

How do you confirm it is connected?

After saving the file, fully restart Claude Desktop — quit and reopen it, not just close the window — so it re-runs MCP discovery, which happens on startup. Claude Desktop should then show the Vibium tools as available (typically indicated in the chat input's tools or connectors area).

Then just ask in chat:

"Open example.com, take a screenshot, and tell me the main heading."

Claude will call Vibium's MCP tools — browser_launch, browser_navigate, browser_screenshot, and browser_quit — to open Chrome, load the page, capture the screenshot, and read the content back. Chrome for Testing downloads automatically the first time, so the initial run may take a moment longer.

What options can you pass?

The vibium mcp command accepts flags in the args array, and they behave the same no matter which client launches the server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vibium": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "vibium", "mcp", "--headless"]
    }
  }
}

• --headless runs Chrome without a visible window — useful for quiet background tasks.
• --screenshot-dir ./screenshots changes where captures are saved (default: ~/Pictures/Vibium/).
• --screenshot-dir "" disables file saving and returns base64 inline only.

What if it does not work?

Most failures trace back to the config file or the server command itself:

• Validate the JSON. A trailing comma or missing brace will stop Claude Desktop from loading any server. Paste the file into a JSON validator if servers do not appear.
• Test the server directly. Run npx -y vibium mcp in a terminal; it should start and wait for input. Press Ctrl+C to exit. If this fails, the issue is Vibium or Node, not Claude Desktop.
• Force a Chrome install if the browser will not launch: npx -y vibium install.
• Restart fully after every config change — tool discovery only runs at startup.

Why this matters

A desktop assistant with browser access can see the live web, not just describe it — open a page, read its rendered content, and verify a flow end to end, all inside one chat. That capability is exactly what Vibium's BiDi-first design was built to provide. Vibium is Jason Huggins' free, open-source project (vibium.com, github.com/VibiumDev/vibium); learnvibium.com is an independent learning hub and did not create Vibium.

Next steps

• Vibium MCP: a complete overview
• Set up Vibium MCP in Claude Code
• What is Vibium?