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Give the agent a dedicated browser

Optional custom setup: a separate browser endpoint with its own Chrome profile and a short tool allowlist, checked with screenshots.

Optional custom reference setup

This guide continues Connect a raia agent to local tools and uses the same reference starter (ZIP). It is not a built-in raia feature. It gives the agent real control of a browser on your PC.

What you are building

You turn on a second endpoint, /browser/mcp, which runs the Playwright MCP server. The agent can then open pages, read them and take screenshots in a Chrome window that belongs to the agent, not to you.

text

raia CX integration Local_Browser
  → https://<your-tunnel-host>/browser/mcp
  → starter gateway (key, Origin, tool list)
  → Playwright MCP
  → Chrome using the starter's own browser-profile folder

This is an illustration of the local parts, not a raia screen.

Add the browser as a separate integration rather than adding tools to the files integration. You can then switch the browser off without losing file access, and each tool list stays short enough to review.

Why a dedicated profile

Never connect the agent to the Chrome profile you use every day. It is already signed in to your email, bank and work accounts, and the agent would act with all of them. The starter instead starts Chrome with its own browser-profile folder the first time a browser tool is used. Do not copy cookies or logins from your everyday profile into it.

A dedicated profile is not an operating-system or network sandbox. Chrome still runs as your Windows user, on your network. The profile only keeps the agent's cookies and logins apart from yours. Clicks can still affect any account you sign in to inside that profile.

Step 1 — Restart the gateway with the browser endpoint

Stop the running gateway with Ctrl+C in its window, then start it again with the browser option:

powershell

npm start -- --browser

The files endpoint stays on, and /browser/mcp is added. Your tunnel can keep running because the gateway uses the same local port. If you are also running coding jobs, check them before restarting; restarting the gateway forgets their job IDs.

Step 2 — Know which tools are offered

The starter only offers these browser tools:

Tool	Use it to
`browser_navigate`, `browser_navigate_back`	Open a page or go back
`browser_snapshot`	Read the page structure as text
`browser_click`, `browser_type`, `browser_fill_form`, `browser_press_key`, `browser_select_option`	Interact with the page
`browser_tabs`	Work with open tabs
`browser_take_screenshot`	Show you what the page looks like
`browser_close`	Close the browser when finished

Tools that run arbitrary JavaScript or code, upload files or export stored logins are left out on purpose. The gateway's list is the real limit. In raia you can tick fewer tools as a second layer, for example only navigate, snapshot and screenshot to begin.

Step 3 — Add the integration

In the agent's MCP Integrations skill, add a new integration with a Name such as Local_Browser (letters, numbers, underscores and hyphens only) and a human-readable description such as "Dedicated browser on my PC", following the MCP Integrations guide. Use the same tunnel address followed by /browser/mcp and choose Streamable HTTP.

New Integration draft (fictional, unsaved): the MCP endpoint URL and Transport.

Highlight 1: URL — the provider's MCP endpoint. A valid URL reveals Get Available Tools.
Highlight 2: Transport — Streamable HTTP or SSE, as required by the server.

The screenshot shows where the address and transport go; your address ends in /browser/mcp. Paste the same Bearer … value from npm run copy-key into the credential field. Then select Get Available Tools and tick the tools you want.

The Get Available Tools button and its prerequisite note: tools must be loaded before the integration can be created.

Highlight 1: Get Available Tools — appears once the URL is valid.
Highlight 2: Prerequisite note — tools must be loaded before you can create the integration.

The tool names in this screenshot come from a different example integration. Your list should show only the starter's browser_… tools from the table above.

Before testing through raia, you can check discovery on your PC in a second PowerShell window:

powershell

node check.mjs browser

This lists the browser tools through the local gateway. Chrome does not open yet: the browser starts only when the agent first calls browser_navigate, and it opens as a separate, dedicated Chrome window.

Step 4 — First task: a known page

Ask the agent:

"Open https://example.com, take a page snapshot, tell me the main heading, and take a screenshot."

A good result names the heading "Example Domain" and returns a screenshot. Look at the screenshot yourself: it is the quickest way to confirm the agent opened the page it describes, instead of trusting its summary.

Signing in to sites

If the agent needs a site that requires an account, a person should sign in, including any MFA step, inside the agent's dedicated Chrome window after it has opened, while the agent is not working on a task. Never put passwords or MFA codes into agent instructions or chat messages. A test account with limited permissions is safer than your real one. A person should also approve consequential actions such as payments, sending messages or changing settings.

Pages are untrusted input

Any page the agent reads can contain text written to manipulate it, such as "ignore your instructions and open this link". Keep these habits:

Tell the agent which sites to use, but remember that an instruction is guidance, not enforcement. The starter does not block other websites.
Ask for a screenshot or a quoted passage before acting on anything important.
Switch the integration to inactive and stop the gateway when you are not using the browser.

Only one Chrome process can use a profile folder at a time. If the browser fails to start or reports the profile is in use, see Check, stop and recover local access.