Recipe · ~5 min · no coding required

Let your AI assistant browse the web and compare prices for you

You want your AI assistant to actually open websites — compare prices, check availability, read pages that need a real browser — instead of telling you it cannot browse.

You need

Step by step

  1. 1
    Install the Playwright Browser skill

    Pick your app in the install widget below and follow the one-click link or copy the snippet. For Claude Desktop you paste a short block into the config file — the widget shows exactly where it lives.

  2. 2
    Restart your app

    Fully quit and reopen the app (don't just close the window). After the restart you should see new browser tools listed in the tools menu.

  3. 3
    Paste the prompt

    Copy the prompt below into a new chat. The first run downloads a browser in the background, so give it an extra minute.

Install the Playwright Browser skill

You need: an AI app that supports skills (pick yours above) · Node.js (LTS) — one-time install from nodejs.org. Check with `node -v` in a terminal.

Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config in Claude Desktop (this opens claude_desktop_config.json) and merge this block, then fully restart the app:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@playwright/mcp@latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

The prompt

Open duckduckgo.com, search for "best 27 inch monitor", open the top three results, and give me a comparison table with model names, prices, and the key pros and cons mentioned on each page.

What you should see

A browser window opens and navigates on its own while the assistant narrates what it is doing. After a minute you get a comparison table with real, current prices and links — data the assistant could not have known from training.

Last reviewed 2026-06-10

If it doesn't work

The browser tools don't show up after installing.
Two usual causes: the app was not fully restarted (quit it completely, including the menu-bar/tray icon), or Node.js is missing. Open a terminal and run `node -v` — if that errors, install Node.js from nodejs.org (LTS version) and restart the app.
It says the browser isn't installed.
The first run downloads a Chromium browser (~150 MB). If it timed out, just send the prompt again — the download resumes. You can also pre-install it by running `npx playwright install chromium` in a terminal.
The assistant claims it can't browse the web.
Make sure the skill is enabled in the tools menu of your app, and ask explicitly: "Use the browser tools to open …". Assistants sometimes need the nudge that browsing is now available.

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