Troubleshooting

Extension not connecting

Symptom: MCP tool calls return "extension not connected" or timeout.

1. Check that the DevBridge extension is installed and enabled in chrome://extensions
2. Restart the MCP server (stop and re-add it in your AI tool)
3. Reload the extension (click the reload icon in chrome://extensions)
4. If the native messaging host was not installed, run npx devbridge-mcp@latest --install to force reinstallation

Tools rejected without a prompt

Symptom: Tool calls return "user rejected" immediately, with no approval dialog appearing.

This happens in Claude Code when a tool has not been pre-approved and Claude Code is running in a non-interactive environment (CI, headless session, or a terminal where prompts are suppressed). Without an explicit allow rule, unapproved tools are silently rejected.

Fix: Add the DevBridge allow rule to .claude/settings.local.json in your project:

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": ["mcp__devbridge__*"]
  }
}

This pre-approves all 18 DevBridge tools. See the Claude Code setup section for details.

Permission denied

Symptom: Tool calls return a permission error for a domain.

DevBridge requires explicit permission for sensitive operations per domain. If you accidentally denied a permission:

1. Click the DevBridge icon in the toolbar
2. Go to Permissions and clear the deny rule for the domain
3. Retry the operation — you will be prompted again

Debugger already attached

Symptom: "Another extension is using the debugger on this tab".

Only one extension can attach the Chrome debugger to a tab at a time. Disconnect other extensions that use chrome.debugger (such as other automation tools) from the tab and retry.

Action indicator stuck

Symptom: The DevBridge glow indicator stays visible after an action completes.

Click the Stop button in the indicator, or reload the tab. The indicator auto-hides after 50ms when the action completes normally.

GIF not generating

Symptom: gif_creator returns an error or empty result.

• Ensure the tab is visible (GIF capture requires the tab to be active)
• Reduce the number of steps or the capture duration
• Check that Chrome has enough memory available

Still stuck?

Check the browser console (chrome://extensions → DevBridge → background page → Console) for error details.