The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard by Anthropic that enables AI assistants and agents to connect with external tools, APIs, and data sources through a unified interface. The ecosystem has grown explosively since its November 2024 launch — thousands of MCP servers now exist across browser automation, databases, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, productivity, security, and dozens of other domains, turning any service with an API into an AI-accessible tool. The key mental model is that each MCP server acts as a bridge between an LLM and a specific external system, exposing structured tools (functions the model can call), resources (data the model can read), and prompts (templates for common tasks) — so the most important decision is not which AI you use, but which MCP servers you connect it to.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This topic spans 15 focused tables and 306 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.
Table 1: Browser Automation & Desktop Control
| Server | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
npx -ai/mcp-playwright | • Official Microsoft browser automation • 28,900+ ★ • uses accessibility tree snapshots for structured interaction without screenshots | |
npx /mcp-server-browserbase | • Cloud-hosted headless browser with anti-detection • Stagehand integration for AI-native scraping • managed sessions | |
npx -y /server-puppeteer | • Official reference MCP server • lightweight Puppeteer-based browser control • page navigation, screenshots, form filling, JS execution | |
pip install browser-use | • 6,100+ ★ • full browser agent framework • vision + HTML extraction • multi-tab support | |
npx chrome-devtools-mcp | • Direct Chrome DevTools Protocol access • DOM inspection, network monitoring, console access, performance profiling | |
npx /mcp | • AI-optimized cloud browser • built-in CAPTCHA solving and stealth mode • session management | |
npx agentql-mcp | • Natural language selectors for web elements • AI-powered semantic querying of page content instead of CSS/XPath | |
npx -ai/mcp-steel | • Open-source browser automation with session persistence • cookie and auth state management across runs |