The Safari MCP server for web developers • Hacker News Board

Re: The Safari MCP server for web developers

#81

Post by jeffyaw » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:29 AM UTC

beaugunderson wrote: post #77

robbs wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CLI is, IME, faster and less buggy than the MCP.

the CLI is also Microsoft's preferred way to use it with agents: > playwright-cli is best for coding agents (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, etc.) that favor token-efficient, skill-based workflows. CLI commands avoid loading large tool schemas and verbose accessibility trees into the model context. they do still recommend the MCP for long-running autonomous workflows (e.g. a UAT agent).

i will be digging into the CLI option, kudos.

Re: The Safari MCP server for web developers

#82

Post by keepamovin » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 10:41 AM UTC

lynndotpy wrote: post #68

olmo23 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure you want to hear this but there is 0% chance I will ever bring up a product with a vulgar name at work.

Introducing a new Linux distribution which comes with the yiff sound server, the GIMP image editor, and provides for web browsing entirely using FuckUI.

Hahahaha lol. That’s a good point.

Re: The Safari MCP server for web developers

#83

Post by noiv » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 12:59 PM UTC

efitz wrote: post #72

noiv wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PLayWright is not built into browsers...?

What is the difference in functionality?

With PlayWright you find bugs and with MCP you remove them.

Re: The Safari MCP server for web developers

#84

Post by cadamsdotcom » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 2:14 AM UTC

Why waste tokens letting your agent use an MCP?

Have it write playwright code to debug. (for those who don’t know, Playwright is a system and API that lets you write code to drive a headless (invisible) browser - “click the button with this DOM id, scroll to here, choose this dropdown option, click Submit, etc.)

Once it tracks down the bugs - boom! You have an end to end test to add to your suite.

Re: The Safari MCP server for web developers

#85

Post by tangweigang » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 3:41 AM UTC

mooreds wrote: post #75

atonse wrote: post #57

I am especially hopeful for this for my daily stuff, not just testing. Meaning, having a hopefully seamless way to perform some automations in the browser on my behalf but since it’s the browser I’m logged in to, it just makes the handoff between myself and the agent feel more seamless. And that’s because I’ve used safari as my main browser, not chrome, because it isn’t as much of a battery hog.

> it just makes the handoff between myself and the agent feel more seamless. This terrifies me because there's no way for the services on the other side of the browser to know who is doing what. How do you constrain the agent? How do you keep track of what you have done vs the agent? What am I missing? Am I just behind the times? Edit, added reference to what terrifies me.

[flagged]

Re: The Safari MCP server for web developers

#86

Post by simondotau » Sun, Jul 05, 2026, 12:54 PM UTC

demetris wrote: post #80

simondotau wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are seriously asking with a straight face? Just do what a generation of people have done with Windows and run an unlicensed version of macOS. There's a whole generation of people who can recite Windows product keys off by heart. (FCKGW, anyone?) Entire empires of indie web development will have been done on improperly licensed versions of Windows. As for people working in a serious professional corporation that canno…

F*** me! The owner of whirlpool.net.au commenting on my comment. I am replying because of the huge respect I have for the work. Yes, I am seriously asking with a straight face. Yes, I know how to pirate. I’m from this planet. :-D Pirating, and jumping through hoops to do things certain vendors didn’t want done, was fun while I was learning. And educational. Super educational, in many respects. But it is not fun anymo…

Hi. :-D

My point is only that testing on any non-free platform involves jumping through non-free or non-legal hoops. Testing on a variety of platforms/clients shouldn't be considered a chore. It's a necessary part of having a truly open, truly free web. Don't complain that you have to buy an Apple device. Say thank you. Seriously.

Diversity — not choice — is what keeps the web truly open and truly free. Enforced diversity sometimes sucks for the individual but necessary for the healt of the ecosystem. The "choice" of Chromium everywhere isn't a choice, it's forcing everyone into a monoculture. When everyone is expected to use one browser engine, the open web is dead.

Because it cannot run Chromium, Safari on iPhone is the last refuge of the truly open and truly free web. Steve Jobs might be known for many things, but I think he's under-appreciated as a two-time saviour of the web; first by destroying Adobe Flash[0], and second by ensuring that one web browser couldn't dominate on all platforms.

[0] To this day I am utterly stunned that anyone in a community like Hacker News would think it acceptable that a significant chunk of the web was under the thumb of a proprietary, closed source binary blob. The death of Flash was necessary, righteous, and overdue.