Dedicated Chrome Browser

A dedicated headed Chrome for Testing (CfT) instance with CDP for Playwright MCP. Persistent profile (cookies/logins survive restarts), launchd-managed, multi-session safe. Distinct "TEST" badge icon in the Dock.

Why

• Chrome's single-instance lock prevents CDP when the default profile is in use — dedicated user-data-dir required
• Chrome for Testing has its own CFBundleIdentifier — shows as a separate app in Dock/Cmd+Tab with a distinctive icon
• Headed so the user can log into sites manually; Playwright shares the session
• launchd auto-starts on login, restarts on crash

Tool Selection

This skill drives Chrome only through Playwright MCP attached to 127.0.0.1:9222.

Do NOT use these lookalike MCPs even if they are loaded in the session:

• mcp__chrome-devtools__* — different MCP. Using it mixes tool surfaces and breaks the single-source-of-truth model this skill relies on. Typical failure: agent silently switches MCPs after a transient Playwright error and continues against an unrelated browser context.
• mcp__claude-in-chrome__* — deprecated predecessor; this skill replaces it. If it shows up loaded somewhere, the config is stale — ignore it and use Playwright against 127.0.0.1:9222.