3/15/2026 at 9:17:58 PM
I use Playwright to intercept all requests and responses and have Claude Code navigate to a website like YouTube and click and interact with all the elements and inputs while recording all the requests and responses associated with each interaction. Then it creates a detailed strongly typed API to interact with any website using the underlying API.Yes, I know it likely breaks everybody's terms of service but at the same time I'm not loading gigabytes of ads, images, markup, to accomplish things.
If anyone is interested I can take some time and publish it this week.
by dataviz1000
3/16/2026 at 6:46:20 PM
I do this via BrowserOS -- https://github.com/browseros-ai/BrowserOSIt has an in-built MCP server and I use it with claude code, codex and like it quite a lot.
by felarof
3/15/2026 at 10:50:41 PM
I also do this. My primary use case is for reproducing page layout and styling at any given tree in the dom. So, capturing various states of a component etc.I also use it to automatically retrieve page responsiveness behavior in complex web apps. It uses playwright to adjust the width and monitor entire trees for exact changes which it writes structured data that includes the complete cascade of styles relevant with screenshots to support the snapshots.
There are tools you can buy that let you do this kind of inspection manually, but they are designed for humans. So, lots of clickety-clackety and human speed results.
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My first reaction to seeing this FP was why are people still releasing MCPs? So far I've managed to completely avoid that hype loop and went straight to building custom CLIs even before skills were a thing.
I think people are still not realizing the power and efficiency of direct access to things you want and skills to guide the AI in using the access effectively.
Maybe I'm missing something in this particular use case?
by bredren
3/16/2026 at 3:51:00 PM
> My first reaction to seeing this FP was why are people still releasing MCPs?MCPs are more difficult to use. You need to use an agent to use the tools, can't do it manually easily. I wonder if some people see that friction as a feature.
by ranyume
3/16/2026 at 2:54:55 AM
its mostly because MCPs handle auth in a standardised way and give you a framework you can layer things like auth, etc on top of.Without it youre stuck with the basic http firewall, etc which is extremely dangerous and this is maybe the 1 opportunity we have to do this.
by AlphaSite
3/16/2026 at 12:28:05 PM
And people forget, Claude Code isn’t the only Claude surface, and CLIs don’t help in other surfaces other than Cowork.by re5i5tor