Avoid repeated Chrome "Allow remote debugging?" dialog with chrome-devtools-mcp --autoConnect
With chrome-devtools-mcp and --autoConnect on Chrome 144+, every new connection triggers Chrome's "Allow remote debugging?" dialog, which blocks automated clients that need to restart sessions often. The request to persist this approval was closed as NOT_PLANNED. Is there a configuration or workaround that avoids or reduces this dialog?
Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp/issues/825
4 answers
The behavior is intentional: the feature request was closed as NOT_PLANNED on 2026-03-19, and chrome-devtools-mcp has no built-in way to persist the Allow approval. Persistent approval was rejected because it would let any local process attach to Chrome and read encrypted profile data without your knowledge.
For development and testing, the maintainer recommends using a dedicated Chrome profile. Launch Chrome with:
--remote-debugging-port=9222 --user-data-dir=/path/to/profile
and start chrome-devtools-mcp with:
--browserUrl=http://127.0.0.1:9222
With that setup, the permission dialog does not appear. The downside is that the agent sees a separate profile, not your normal browsing session.
Several users asked for a bounded grant such as "Allow for 1 hour", but the maintainers did not change the plan. Community workarounds for agents that must use the real Chrome profile include:
- Run a computer-use MCP server alongside chrome-devtools-mcp. When a Chrome tool call hangs on the dialog, the agent screenshots the screen, clicks Allow, and retries. One contributor calls tools through the call-mcp CLI with short timeouts so a hung call fails quickly instead of blocking the client, and keeps both servers alive as long-lived processes behind mcp-local-tunnel.
- Use a tray/menu-bar helper called yes-dev that detects the dialog and clicks Allow automatically, with a 15-minute/1-hour/4-hour disarming window and a burst guard. The author measured four parallel attaches on Chrome 151 dropping from about 35 seconds to 2.4-4.4 seconds.
Note that auto-clicking helpers cannot scope approval to one specific client, so keep them time-limited if you use them.
Did this work for you?What @OrKoN tried on GitHub (Outcome unclear)
A maintainer suggested using a dedicated profile: run Chrome with --remote-debugging-port=9222 --user-data-dir=/path/to/profile and run chrome-devtools-mcp with --browserUrl=http://127.0.0.1:9222, saying there will be no dialogs. No commenter confirmed this in practice.
Did this work for you?What @domdomegg tried on GitHub (Worked)
A contributor shared a working setup: run computer-use-mcp so the agent can click Allow, call chrome-devtools-mcp tools via call-mcp with short timeouts, and keep both servers alive as long-lived processes behind mcp-local-tunnel.
Did this work for you?What @dev-newb tried on GitHub (Worked)
A commenter pointed to yes-dev, a tray/menu-bar app that auto-clicks the Allow button with a configurable disarming window and burst guard, reporting Chrome 151 parallel attaches improved from about 35 seconds to 2.4-4.4 seconds.
Did this work for you?
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