Add screencast recording tools (experimental)

Screencast tools (screencast_start, screencast_stop) are registered when the --experimental-screencast CLI flag is provided.

These allow the agent to start/stop a screencast recording in mp4 format.

ffmpeg must be installed in order to record a screencast.

Author: dobesv

src/McpContext.ts

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import type {
   ElementHandle,
   HTTPRequest,
   Page,
+  ScreenRecorder,
   SerializedAXNode,
   PredefinedNetworkConditions,
   Viewport,
@@ -121,6 +122,8 @@ export class McpContext implements Context {
   #extensionRegistry = new ExtensionRegistry();
 
   #isRunningTrace = false;
+  #screenRecorderData: {recorder: ScreenRecorder; filePath: string} | null =
+    null;
   #networkConditionsMap = new WeakMap<Page, string>();
   #cpuThrottlingRateMap = new WeakMap<Page, number>();
   #geolocationMap = new WeakMap<Page, GeolocationOptions>();
@@ -372,6 +375,16 @@ export class McpContext implements Context {
     return this.#isRunningTrace;
   }
 
+  getScreenRecorder(): {recorder: ScreenRecorder; filePath: string} | null {
+    return this.#screenRecorderData;
+  }
+
+  setScreenRecorder(
+    data: {recorder: ScreenRecorder; filePath: string} | null,
+  ): void {
+    this.#screenRecorderData = data;
+  }
+
   isCruxEnabled(): boolean {
     return this.#options.performanceCrux;
   }

src/cli.ts

@@ -173,6 +173,11 @@ export const cliOptions = {
     describe: 'Whether to enable interoperability tools',
     hidden: true,
   },
+  experimentalScreencast: {
+    type: 'boolean',
+    describe: 'Whether to enable screencast tools',
+    hidden: true,
+  },
   chromeArg: {
     type: 'array',
     describe:

src/main.ts

@@ -182,6 +182,12 @@ function registerTool(tool: ToolDefinition): void {
   ) {
     return;
   }
+  if (
+    tool.annotations.conditions?.includes('screencast') &&
+    !args.experimentalScreencast
+  ) {
+    return;
+  }
   server.registerTool(
     tool.name,
     {

src/tools/ToolDefinition.ts

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import type {
   Dialog,
   ElementHandle,
   Page,
+  ScreenRecorder,
   Viewport,
 } from '../third_party/index.js';
 import type {InsightName, TraceResult} from '../trace-processing/parse.js';
@@ -146,6 +147,10 @@ export type Context = Readonly<{
    * Returns a reqid for a cdpRequestId.
    */
   resolveCdpElementId(cdpBackendNodeId: number): string | undefined;
+  getScreenRecorder(): {recorder: ScreenRecorder; filePath: string} | null;
+  setScreenRecorder(
+    data: {recorder: ScreenRecorder; filePath: string} | null,
+  ): void;
   installExtension(path: string): Promise<string>;
   uninstallExtension(id: string): Promise<void>;
   listExtensions(): InstalledExtension[];

src/tools/screencast.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2025 Google LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+import fs from 'node:fs/promises';
+import os from 'node:os';
+import path from 'node:path';
+
+import {zod} from '../third_party/index.js';
+import type {ScreenRecorder} from '../third_party/index.js';
+
+import {ToolCategory} from './categories.js';
+import type {Context, Response} from './ToolDefinition.js';
+import {defineTool} from './ToolDefinition.js';
+
+async function generateTempFilePath(): Promise<string> {
+  const dir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'chrome-devtools-mcp-'));
+  return path.join(dir, `screencast.mp4`);
+}
+
+export const startScreencast = defineTool({
+  name: 'screencast_start',
+  description:
+    'Starts recording a screencast (video) of the selected page in mp4 format. Requires ffmpeg to be installed on the system.',
+  annotations: {
+    category: ToolCategory.DEBUGGING,
+    readOnlyHint: false,
+    conditions: ['screencast'],
+  },
+  schema: {
+    filePath: zod
+      .string()
+      .optional()
+      .describe(
+        'Output path. Uses mkdtemp to generate a unique path if not provided.',
+      ),
+  },
+  handler: async (request, response, context) => {
+    if (context.getScreenRecorder() !== null) {
+      response.appendResponseLine(
+        'Error: a screencast recording is already in progress. Use screencast_stop to stop it before starting a new one.',
+      );
+      return;
+    }
+
+    const filePath =
+      request.params.filePath ?? (await generateTempFilePath());
+    const resolvedPath = path.resolve(filePath);
+
+    const page = context.getSelectedPage();
+
+    let recorder: ScreenRecorder;
+    try {
+      recorder = await page.screencast({
+        path: resolvedPath as `${string}.mp4`,
+        format: 'mp4' as const,
+      });
+    } catch (err) {
+      const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+      if (message.includes('ENOENT') && message.includes('ffmpeg')) {
+        throw new Error(
+          'ffmpeg is required for screencast recording but was not found. ' +
+            'Install ffmpeg (https://ffmpeg.org/) and ensure it is available in your PATH.',
+        );
+      }
+      throw err;
+    }
+
+    context.setScreenRecorder({recorder, filePath: resolvedPath});
+
+    response.appendResponseLine(
+      `Screencast recording started. The recording will be saved to ${resolvedPath}. Use screencast_stop to stop recording.`,
+    );
+  },
+});
+
+export const stopScreencast = defineTool({
+  name: 'screencast_stop',
+  description: 'Stops the active screencast recording on the selected page.',
+  annotations: {
+    category: ToolCategory.DEBUGGING,
+    readOnlyHint: false,
+    conditions: ['screencast'],
+  },
+  schema: {},
+  handler: async (_request, response, context) => {
+    await stopScreencastAndAppendOutput(response, context);
+  },
+});
+
+async function stopScreencastAndAppendOutput(
+  response: Response,
+  context: Context,
+): Promise<void> {
+  const data = context.getScreenRecorder();
+  if (!data) {
+    return;
+  }
+  try {
+    await data.recorder.stop();
+    response.appendResponseLine(
+      `The screencast recording has been stopped and saved to ${data.filePath}.`,
+    );
+  } finally {
+    context.setScreenRecorder(null);
+  }
+}

src/tools/tools.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import * as inputTools from './input.js';
 import * as networkTools from './network.js';
 import * as pagesTools from './pages.js';
 import * as performanceTools from './performance.js';
+import * as screencastTools from './screencast.js';
 import * as screenshotTools from './screenshot.js';
 import * as scriptTools from './script.js';
 import * as snapshotTools from './snapshot.js';
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ const tools = [
   ...Object.values(networkTools),
   ...Object.values(pagesTools),
   ...Object.values(performanceTools),
+  ...Object.values(screencastTools),
   ...Object.values(screenshotTools),
   ...Object.values(scriptTools),
   ...Object.values(snapshotTools),