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  "path": "/achiya-automation/apple-shipped-an-official-safari-mcp-i-read-all-17-tools-heres-why-im-keeping-mine-32l3",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-02T07:15:08.000Z",
  "site": "https://dev.to",
  "tags": [
    "ai",
    "macos",
    "opensource",
    "webdev",
    "safari-mcp",
    "github.com/achiya-automation/safari-mcp",
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  "textContent": "Yesterday Apple did something I've been half-expecting since I open-sourced safari-mcp: they shipped their **own** Safari MCP server.\n\nIt landed in **Safari Technology Preview 247** (July 1, 2026), built by the WebKit team. Any MCP-compatible agent — Claude, Cursor, whatever — can now connect straight to a Safari window and inspect the DOM, read the console, capture network requests, and take screenshots.\n\nI maintain a tool that does exactly this. So I did the obvious thing: I read the entire release, every one of the ~17 tools, and asked the only question that matters — **do I need to change anything?**\n\nHere's the honest answer.\n\n##  What Apple actually shipped\n\nCredit where it's due. The design is clean and the privacy story is excellent:\n\n  * It runs on `safaridriver`, Safari's built-in WebDriver binary. Enable _\"remote automation and external agents\"_ in STP and connect with one command.\n  * It runs **entirely locally**. No network calls to Apple. Page content, screenshots, and console logs go straight to your agent — not to Apple's servers.\n  * The ~17 tools cover the real debugging loop: `navigate_to_url`, `get_page_content`, `evaluate_javascript`, `page_interactions` (click/type/scroll/hover), `screenshot`, `list_network_requests`, `browser_console_messages`, `browser_dialogs`, tab management, `set_viewport_size`, `set_emulated_media`.\n\n\n\nIf your job is \"let an agent debug how a page renders in WebKit,\" this is a first-party, well-built way to do it. It's also the strongest possible validation that the category I've been building in is real.\n\n##  The one line that decides everything\n\nFrom Apple's own docs:\n\n> \"The Safari MCP server does not have access to your personal information in Safari (e.g. AutoFill or other browser activity).\"\n\nThat sentence is the whole story. `safaridriver` drives an **isolated WebDriver automation session** — a clean-room window with a \"controlled by automation\" banner. It is _not_ the Safari you're already using, with your tabs and your logins.\n\nAnd that's not a bug. For a debugging tool, an isolated session is the _correct_ design. Reproducible, no personal-state leakage, standards-based.\n\nBut it's the opposite of what I built.\n\n##  safari-mcp was built for the other 95%\n\nI didn't build safari-mcp to debug rendering. I built it so an agent could **drive the browser I'm already signed into** — Gmail, GitHub, Ahrefs, my bank — using native AppleScript + a Safari extension, in the background, without stealing focus, on **stable Safari** , on every Mac.\n\nSo here's the comparison I put in the README, straight up:\n\n| safari-mcp | Apple `safaridriver --mcp`\n---|---|---\nYour real logins / cookies | ✅ Your actual Safari | ⚠️ Isolated automation session\nRuns on | ✅ Stable Safari, every Mac | ❌ Safari Technology Preview 247 only\nBackground (no focus steal) | ✅ Yes | ❌ Dedicated \"automation\" window\nTools | 96 | ~17\nStorage (cookies, localStorage, IndexedDB) | ✅ 10 tools | ❌\nNetwork mocking + throttling | ✅ Yes | ❌ Read-only inspection\nOfficial Apple support | ❌ Community (MIT) | ✅ Apple, WebDriver-standard\n\nTwo numbers I want to be honest about, because I checked them on my own machine before writing this:\n\n  1. **`safaridriver --mcp` only exists in STP 247.** The stable `safaridriver` that ships with Safari 26.5 has `--port`, `--bidi`, `--enable`, `--diagnose` — no `--mcp`. So today, using Apple's server means installing Technology Preview.\n  2. **The isolated session means no logins.** Which is exactly the wall I built safari-mcp to get around.\n\n\n\n##  So am I changing anything? Yes — three things. None of them is \"switch.\"\n\n**1. Positioning, not code.** Apple didn't make safari-mcp obsolete; they clarified what it's _for_. Their server is the clean-room debugger. Mine is the \"drive the browser you already trust\" tool. Different jobs. I updated the README to say so out loud.\n\n**2. An opt-in`safaridriver` backend — later, not now.** My architecture is already dual-engine (extension + AppleScript). Adding a third, opt-in WebDriver backend for people who specifically want a standards-based clean session is a natural extension, not a rewrite. It's gated on STP going stable, so it waits.\n\n**3. Steal the one thing they do better.** WebDriver input is a rock-solid, officially-supported way to synthesize events. My native-input path leans on CGEvent, which gets fragile across macOS releases. `safaridriver` is a good model for a more stable input fallback. That's a genuine improvement I owe my users.\n\n##  The takeaway\n\nWhen a platform vendor ships an official version of your open-source tool, the reflex is panic. But \"official\" and \"replacement\" are different words. Read the whole thing before you react. Nine times out of ten it's built for a slightly different job than yours — and the honest comparison is better marketing than any launch post.\n\nApple built the clean-room debugger. I built the tool that drives the browser you're already logged into. Both should exist.\n\n_safari-mcp is open source (MIT) — github.com/achiya-automation/safari-mcp. It's native macOS Safari automation for AI agents: 96 tools,`npx safari-mcp`, no Chrome. More on what I build at achiya-automation.com._\n\n**What would make you reach for an isolated debugging session over your real, logged-in browser — or the other way around? I'd genuinely like to know.**",
  "title": "Apple shipped an official Safari MCP. I read all 17 tools — here's why I'm keeping mine."
}