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fix(vscode): restore Playwright MCP browser tools - #14049
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PR #13501 removed the built-in Playwright MCP browser server while adding the Agent Manager browser, so ordinary Code sessions lost the kilo-playwright_* tools. Restore BrowserAutomationService and its Web Tools settings, and give the experimental Agent Manager browser its own Chrome preference so the two features stay independent. Re-apply the temp output directory from #10149 so screenshots and traces stay outside the workspace. Refs #13501, #10149.
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Fix these issues in Kilo Cloud Previous review (commit 647d679)Status: 1 Issue Found | Recommendation: Address before merge Incremental review of Overview
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Fix these issues in Kilo Cloud Previous review (commit 23d8118)Status: 1 Issue Found | Recommendation: Address before merge Incremental review of Overview
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Fix these issues in Kilo Cloud Previous review (commit 3a1380c)Status: No Issues Found | Recommendation: Merge Incremental review of The two warnings from the previous round are resolved on their changed lines: the Playwright readiness await in Earlier findings on files outside this increment ( Files Reviewed (20 files)
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Fix these issues in Kilo Cloud Previous review (commit a564d58)Status: 2 Issues Found | Recommendation: Merge after confirming the deferred items Incremental review of Overview
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Fix these issues in Kilo Cloud Previous review (commit 523f8f7)Status: 2 Issues Found | Recommendation: Merge after confirming the deferred items Incremental review of Overview
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Fix these issues in Kilo Cloud Previous review (commit c6936a7)Status: 5 Issues Found | Recommendation: Address before merge Overview
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Reviewed by deepseek-v4.1-flash · Input: 0 · Output: 0 · Cached: 0 Review guidance: REVIEW.md from base branch |
Reconcile workspace folder changes in the restored Playwright service without restarting retained registrations. Point Agent Manager browser failures at its separate Experimental setting and add lifecycle regression coverage. Clarify the limits of the artifact output directory.
…rated Browser before a session Wait for the Playwright MCP server before Agent Manager prompts as well as sidebar prompts, and stop respawning a failed server on every prompt. Let the Integrated Browser panel open on a fresh Local tab before a session exists, and rename the Agent Manager browser to Integrated Browser in settings, tool output, and docs.
Await Playwright readiness before withRetry so prompt errors keep their backoff, drop the draft browser entry on close instead of storing an authoritative null, translate the Integrated Browser panel strings in all Agent Manager locales, and tighten the lifecycle and Agent Manager tests.
…utomation-tool-exposure # Conflicts: # packages/kilo-docs/pages/automate/tools/index.md
Translate settings.browser.description for every non-English locale so it describes Playwright browser automation instead of the previous Agent Manager browser wording, and translate the Integrated Browser settings strings in the experimental section.
Bound how long a prompt waits for Playwright MCP so a cold start cannot stall the send path for the full MCP timeout, fall back to the previous useSystemChrome key so existing Integrated Browser preferences keep applying, drop an unused option from the Playwright command builder, and align the duplicated Use System Chrome labels across locales.
Resolve the Integrated Browser Chrome preference through one shared helper used by both the broker and the settings payload, so the value shown in Settings matches the value the broker applies after the key move.
Copy a Chrome preference stored before the setting had its own key during activation, and read only the Integrated Browser key afterwards, so the Web Tools Playwright setting no longer aliases the Integrated Browser.
Leave a workspace-scoped legacy preference alone so opening a repository that sets it does not elevate the value to the user's global settings.
What Problem This Solves
Ordinary Code sessions lost the built-in
kilo-playwright_*browser tools. The reported v7.5.16 session could use Web Search but could not open a browser or take a screenshot through the configured browser tools.Why This Change Was Made
PR #13501 (commit
9231c255480) introduced the experimental Agent Manager browser and removedBrowserAutomationService, its MCP registration, and the Playwright enable/headless controls. This PR restores that service, originally added ina6c399fad1b, while retaining the separate experimental browser.The two features have separate enablement and Chrome preferences. Playwright controls are under Web Tools; Agent Manager browser controls are under Experimental. No automatic preference migration is added.
Artifact history: commit
29afc26e39eproposed a temp output directory and repository ignore rules for #10149, but that branch did not land on main. This PR borrows its temp--output-dirapproach; it does not restore previously shipped ignore rules. Explicit screenshot paths can bypass the default output directory, so artifact exclusion is not guaranteed. Adding repository-wide ignore rules ornpx -yis outside this restoration because neither existed in the pre-removal implementation.The review follow-up corrects the Agent Manager launch-error guidance after the setting move and reconciles folder additions/removals introduced by the restored multi-root tracking. Retained-folder MCP registrations are not restarted by folder changes. Existing backend-reconnect and shutdown behavior is left unchanged.
User Impact
Enable Playwright under Settings -> Web Tools -> Browser Automation to restore browser tools in normal Code sessions. The experimental Agent Manager browser remains separate, with its Browser icon controlled by its feature flag.
Evidence
bun run typecheck,bun run compile, lint, knip, formatting, and thekilocode_changeguard pass.The Agent Manager preview flow itself was not exercised end to end. The earlier typecheck limitation was resolved after installing the worktree dependencies; full checks now pass.