Kernel MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides AI assistants with secure access to Kernel platform tools and browser automation capabilities.

🌐 Use instantly at https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp — no installation required!

What is this?

The Kernel MCP Server bridges AI assistants (like Claude, Cursor, or other MCP-compatible tools) with the Kernel platform, enabling them to:

🚀 Deploy and manage Kernel apps in the cloud
🌐 Launch and control headless Chromium sessions for web automation
📊 Monitor deployments and track invocations
🔍 Search Kernel documentation and inject context
💻 Execute arbitrary Playwright code against live browsers
🎥 Automatically record video replays of browser automation

Open-source & fully-managed — the complete codebase is available here, and we run the production instance so you don't need to deploy anything.

The server uses OAuth 2.0 authentication via Clerk to ensure secure access to your Kernel resources.

For a deeper dive into why and how we built this server, see our blog post: Introducing Kernel MCP Server.

Setup Instructions

General (Transports)

Streamable HTTP (recommended): https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp
stdio via mcp-remote (for clients without remote MCP support): npx -y mcp-remote https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp

Use the streamable HTTP endpoint where supported for increased reliability. If your client does not support remote MCP, use mcp-remote over stdio.

Kernel's server is a centrally hosted, authenticated remote MCP using OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration.

Quick Setup with Kernel CLI

The fastest way to configure the MCP server is using the Kernel CLI:

# Install the CLI
brew install onkernel/tap/kernel
# or: npm install -g @onkernel/cli

# Install MCP for your tool
kernel mcp install --target <target>

Supported Targets

Target	Command
Cursor	`kernel mcp install --target cursor`
Claude Desktop	`kernel mcp install --target claude`
Claude Code	`kernel mcp install --target claude-code`
VS Code	`kernel mcp install --target vscode`
Windsurf	`kernel mcp install --target windsurf`
Zed	`kernel mcp install --target zed`
Goose	`kernel mcp install --target goose`

The CLI automatically locates your tool's config file and adds the Kernel MCP server configuration.

Connect in your client

Claude

Our remote MCP server is not compatible with the method Free users of Claude use to add MCP servers.

Pro, Max, Team & Enterprise (Claude.ai and Claude Desktop)

Go to Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
Enter: Integration name: Kernel, Integration URL: https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp, then click Add.
In Settings → Connectors, click Connect next to Kernel to launch OAuth and approve.
In chat, click Search and tools and enable the Kernel tools if needed.

On Claude for Work (Team/Enterprise), only Primary Owners or Owners can enable custom connectors for the org. After it's configured, each user still needs to go to Settings → Connectors and click Connect to authorize it for their account.

Claude Code CLI

claude mcp add --transport http kernel https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp
# Then in the REPL run once to authenticate:
/mcp

Cursor

Automatic setup

Manual setup

Press ⌘/Ctrl Shift J.
Go to MCP & Integrations → New MCP server.
Add this configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kernel": {
      "url": "https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Save. The server will appear in Tools.

OpenCode

Add the following to your ~/.config/opencode/opencode.jsonc:

{
  "mcp": {
    "kernel": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Then authenticate using the OpenCode CLI:

# Authenticate with Kernel
opencode mcp auth kernel

# If you need to re-authenticate, first logout then auth again
opencode mcp logout kernel
opencode mcp auth kernel

Goose

Click here to install Kernel on Goose in one click.

Goose Desktop

Click Extensions in the sidebar of the Goose Desktop.
Click Add custom extension.
On the Add custom extension modal, enter:
- Extension Name: Kernel
- Type: STDIO
- Description: Access Kernel's cloud-based browsers via MCP
- Command: npx -y mcp-remote https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp
- Timeout: 300
Click Save Changes button.

Goose CLI

Run the following command:
```
goose configure
```
Select Add Extension from the menu.
Choose Command-line Extension.
Follow the prompts:
- Extension name: Kernel
- Command: npx -y mcp-remote https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp
- Timeout: 300
- Description: Access Kernel's cloud-based browsers via MCP

Visual Studio Code

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kernel": {
      "url": "https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp",
      "type": "http"
    }
  }
}

Press ⌘/Ctrl P → search MCP: Add Server.
Select HTTP (HTTP or Server-Sent Events).
Enter: https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp
Name the server Kernel → Enter.

Windsurf

Press ⌘/Ctrl , to open settings.
Navigate Cascade → MCP servers → View raw config.
Paste:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kernel": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

On Manage MCPs, click Refresh to load Kernel MCP.

Zed

Press ⌘/Ctrl , to open settings.
Paste:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "kernel": {
      "source": "custom",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Smithery

You can connect directly to https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp, or use Smithery as a proxy using its provided URL.

Use Smithery URL in any MCP client:
1. Open Smithery: Kernel.
2. Copy the URL from "Get connection URL".
3. Paste it into your MCP client's "Add server" flow.
Use Kernel in Smithery's Playground MCP client:
1. Open Smithery Playground.
2. Click "Add servers", search for "Kernel", and add it.
3. Sign in and authorize Kernel when prompted.

Others

Many other MCP-capable tools accept:

Command: npx
Arguments: -y mcp-remote https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp

{
  "kernel": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.onkernel.com/mcp"]
  }
}

Configure these values wherever the tool expects MCP server settings.

Tools

Browser Automation

create_browser - Launch a new browser session with options (headless, stealth, timeout, profile)
get_browser - Get browser session information
list_browsers - List active browser sessions
delete_browser - Terminate a browser session
execute_playwright_code - Execute Playwright/TypeScript code in a fresh browser session with automatic video replay and cleanup
take_screenshot - Capture a screenshot of the current browser page, optionally specifying a region

Profile Management

setup_profile - Create or update browser profiles with guided setup process
list_profiles - List all available browser profiles
delete_profile - Delete browser profile permanently

App Management

list_apps - List apps in your Kernel organization with optional filtering
invoke_action - Execute actions in Kernel apps
get_deployment - Get deployment status and logs
list_deployments - List all deployments with optional filtering
get_invocation - Get action invocation details

Documentation & Search

search_docs - Search Kernel platform documentation and guides

Resources

browsers:// - Access browser sessions (list all or get specific session)
profiles:// - Access browser profiles (list all or get specific profile)
apps:// - Access deployed apps (list all or get specific app)

Prompts

kernel-concepts - Get explanations of Kernel's core concepts (browsers, apps, overview)
debug-browser-session - Get a comprehensive debugging guide for troubleshooting browser sessions (VM issues, network problems, Chrome errors)

Troubleshooting

Cursor clean reset: ⌘/Ctrl Shift P → run Cursor: Clear All MCP Tokens (resets all MCP servers and auth; re-enable Kernel and re-authenticate).
Clear saved auth and retry: rm -rf ~/.mcp-auth
Ensure a recent Node.js version when using npx mcp-remote
If behind strict networks, try stdio via mcp-remote, or explicitly set the transport your client supports

Examples

Invoke apps from anywhere

Human: Run my web-scraper app to get data from reddit.com
Assistant: I'll execute your web-scraper action with reddit.com as the target.
[Uses invoke_action tool to run your deployed app in the cloud]

Execute Playwright code dynamically

Human: Go to example.com and get me the page title
Assistant: I'll execute Playwright code to navigate to the site and retrieve the title.
[Uses execute_playwright_code tool with code: "await page.goto('https://example.com'); return await page.title();"]
Returns: { success: true, result: "Example Domain", replay_url: "https://..." }

Set up browser profiles for authentication

Human: Set up a profile for my work accounts
Assistant: I'll create a profile and guide you through the setup process.
[Uses setup_profile tool]

Human: I'm done setting up my accounts
Assistant: Perfect! I'll close the browser session and save your profile.
[Uses delete_browser tool to save profile]

Debug a browser session

Note: Attach the debug-browser-session prompt to your conversation first, then ask for help debugging.

Human: [Attaches debug-browser-session prompt with session_id and issue_description]
       Help me debug this browser session.
Assistant: [Follows the debugging guide from the prompt: uses Kernel CLI to check session status, 
            read VM logs, test network connectivity, and diagnose issues]

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our contributing guidelines:

Fork the repository and create your feature branch
Make your changes and add tests if applicable
Run the linter and formatter:
```
bun run lint
bun run format
```
Test your changes thoroughly
Submit a pull request with a clear description

Development Guidelines

Follow the existing code style and formatting
Add TypeScript types for new functions and components
Update documentation for any API changes
Ensure all tests pass before submitting

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🔗 Related Projects

Model Context Protocol - The protocol specification
Kernel Platform - The platform this server integrates with
Clerk - Authentication provider
@onkernel/sdk - Kernel JavaScript SDK

💬 Support

Issues & Bugs: GitHub Issues
MCP Feedback: github.com/kernelxyz/mcp-feedback
Documentation: Kernel Docs • MCP Setup Guide
Community: Kernel Discord

Built with ❤️ by the Kernel Team

Running this server locally

cp .env .env.local # Values for the .env.local file are in 1Password > DevEnvVars > MCP section
bun install
bun run dev

This will start the server on port 3002.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 245 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
public		public
src		src
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
bun.lock		bun.lock
next-env.d.ts		next-env.d.ts
next.config.ts		next.config.ts
package.json		package.json
postcss.config.mjs		postcss.config.mjs
server.json		server.json
tembo.md		tembo.md
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
tsconfig.tsbuildinfo		tsconfig.tsbuildinfo

License

onkernel/kernel-mcp-server

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Kernel MCP Server

What is this?

Setup Instructions

General (Transports)

Quick Setup with Kernel CLI

Supported Targets

Connect in your client

Claude

Pro, Max, Team & Enterprise (Claude.ai and Claude Desktop)

Claude Code CLI

Cursor

Automatic setup

Manual setup

OpenCode

Goose

Goose Desktop

Goose CLI

Visual Studio Code

Windsurf

Zed

Smithery

Others

Tools

Browser Automation

Profile Management

App Management

Documentation & Search

Resources

Prompts

Troubleshooting

Examples

Invoke apps from anywhere

Execute Playwright code dynamically

Set up browser profiles for authentication

Debug a browser session

🤝 Contributing

Development Guidelines

📄 License

🔗 Related Projects

💬 Support

Running this server locally

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