macOS Chrome Remote Debugging Configuration

Background

Attempting to enable Chrome remote debugging from the command line on macOS fails:

open -a "Google Chrome" --args --remote-debugging-port=9222 --no-first-run --no-default-browser-check

The process exits immediately after the command runs, lsof -i :9222 prints nothing, and nothing is listening on port 9222.

The Wrong Approach

❌ Relying on the --remote-debugging-port command-line flag

Chrome on macOS doesn’t honor these command-line flags for enabling remote debugging.

The Right Approach

✅ Turn it on manually from inside Chrome

1. Open Chrome and go to chrome://inspect/#remote-debugging
2. Check “Allow remote debugging for this browser instance”
3. Chrome will then listen on port 9222, and the DevTools MCP connection will work normally

References

• Chrome DevTools MCP official documentation

Key Takeaway

Chrome’s security model on macOS means remote debugging has to be explicitly authorized by the user from inside the app — command-line flags can’t get around this restriction.