feat: Add destructiveHint and openWorldHint tool annotations
Summary
This PR adds the missing MCP tool annotations (destructiveHint and openWorldHint) to all 26 tools in chrome-devtools-mcp.
Changes
-
Updated
ToolDefinition.ts: Added optionaldestructiveHintandopenWorldHintfields to the annotations interface -
Added annotations to all 26 tools:
-
openWorldHint: truefor all tools (browser automation inherently interacts with external websites) -
destructiveHint: trueforclosePage,navigatePage, andevaluateScript(operations that can cause irreversible changes) -
destructiveHint: falsefor other write operations (reversible modifications like click, fill, hover)
-
Why These Annotations Matter
Per the MCP specification:
-
openWorldHint: Indicates tools that interact with an "open world" of external entities. All browser automation tools interact with external websites, so this is true for all tools. -
destructiveHint: Indicates tools that may perform irreversible updates. This helps AI assistants determine when to request user confirmation.
Tools Summary
| Category | Tools | destructiveHint |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation | closePage, navigatePage | true (irreversible) |
| Script | evaluateScript | true (can modify page state) |
| Input | click, hover, fill, drag, fillForm, uploadFile, pressKey, handleDialog | false |
| Debugging | screenshot, takeSnapshot, listConsoleMessages, getConsoleMessage | false |
| Network | listNetworkRequests, getNetworkRequest | N/A (readOnly) |
| Performance | startTrace, stopTrace, analyzeInsight | N/A (readOnly) |
| Other | newPage, selectPage, listPages, resizePage, emulate, waitFor | false or N/A |
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Thank you, own thank you this is if it was an under human hand I will not succeed any step of my life ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha thank you
I am not sure I agree with the destructiveHint classification. click, hover, fill, drag, fillForm, uploadFile, pressKey can also trigger navigations and modify the page state. Also, closePage and navigatePage are reversible as they pages can be re-opened and navigated. I think in all cases the destructiveness depends on the payload and cannot be inferred on the tool level. WDYT @sebastianbenz @natorion ? I think openWorldHint can be added.
+1 to Alex's comments about descructive hint. These steps are also not something where I would want to have a user confirmation.
Thanks @OrKoN and @sebastianbenz for the thoughtful review!
You're right - the destructiveness of browser automation tools is entirely payload-dependent. A click on a "Delete Account" button is destructive, but a click on a "Read More" link is not. This can't be reliably inferred at the tool level.
I've updated the PR to:
-
Remove all
destructiveHintannotations - since destructiveness is context-dependent -
Keep
openWorldHint: trueon all tools - they all interact with external web content -
Keep
readOnlyHint: trueonly for pure query tools (list_pages,select_page,list_console_messages, etc.)
This approach accurately reflects that these tools interact with unbounded external web resources without incorrectly triggering confirmation prompts.
Looking at the spec, it seems like openWorldHint is already true by default. Hence, I don't see much value in explicitly adding it here.
Looking at the spec, it seems like openWorldHint is already
trueby default. Hence, I don't see much value in explicitly adding it here.
I agree.
Thanks for the feedback @sebastianbenz @natorion - you're absolutely right that openWorldHint: true is redundant since that's the spec default.
However, I believe the PR still provides concrete value through readOnlyHint: true on genuinely read-only tools. Unlike openWorldHint, readOnlyHint defaults to false, so explicitly setting it enables MCP clients to auto-approve safe operations without user confirmation.
Proposed changes:
- ❌ Remove all
openWorldHint: trueannotations (redundant) - ✅ Keep
readOnlyHint: trueon query-only tools (getPageInfo,getScreenshot,findElement,getConsoleMessages, etc.) - ✅ Keep
titleannotations for human-readable display
This focused approach addresses your concern about redundancy while still providing value for client implementations.
Would this revised scope be acceptable?
The read-only hints are already in the code base. Closing this PR for now. Thanks for flagging this nevertheless.