devsnoop.com

What It Is

DevSnoop is a local browser-access tool designed for coding agents. It consists of a Chrome extension, a native host binary, and SKILL.md, exposing an HTTP JSON API on the local machine at localhost:9400 so agents that can send HTTP requests—such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, and Aider—can control Chrome pages.

Core Capabilities

Its focus is not on returning raw HTML or Chrome protocol details, but on providing more compact structured results for agents. page_summary can read page landmarks, headings, forms, buttons, and stable selectors; inspect_element and find are used for element inspection; click, fill, scroll, and hover support user-like interactions; get_logs and get_network can retrieve console errors, JS exceptions, and failed network requests. It also supports targeting tabs by tab ID, screenshots, DOM diffs, tech-stack detection, and accessibility issue checks.

Pricing and Deployment

Pricing is straightforward: a one-time purchase of $29 for lifetime use, with no subscription, request limits, seat limits, or token-based metering, and 1 year of updates included. Before purchasing, each command can be tried for 24 hours. Payments are handled via Stripe. Deployment is local-first: after installing the Chrome extension, you install the native host via a script or manually. The documentation states that it does not require Node, npm, or any additional runtime.

Pros and Cons

The main advantages are that the data flow stays fully local, and page data is not sent to external servers; no MCP configuration is required, so any HTTP-capable agent can integrate with it; and the returned content is task-oriented, which in theory should use fewer tokens than screenshot loops or low-level protocol output. The documentation is also fairly complete, with curl examples, platform support details, manual installation instructions, and troubleshooting guidance. The downsides are that it requires installing a local binary and configuring an agent skill file, which may be a barrier for beginners; Windows is currently only marked as planned; and the main text does not state whether it is open source.

Who It’s For and Access from China

DevSnoop is suited to frontend, full-stack, and AI coding workflow users who want agents to automatically inspect pages, complete forms or installation flows, capture screenshots, and report console/network issues. The source text does not provide details on access from China. The domain, Chrome Web Store, and Stripe checkout may be affected by local network and payment conditions. Alternatives include Chrome DevTools MCP, Chrome DevTools CLI, hosted browser solutions such as Browse.dev, or screenshot-based review workflows.