WebMCP: AI Agents in the Browser

Some web browsers now come with an AI assistant, and some people add one as a browser extension. WebMCP lets such an assistant work with this site the way you do: it can use the AI tools your administrator picks, read the page you have open, open another page of the site and fill in a form for you to review. It works as you, with your permissions, and only while you are signed in. A store can also let its shoppers' assistants search products and fill their cart without signing in. The site's own AI chat can use every tool the page you have open offers, so you can ask it to fill in the form in front of you.

Menu	Settings > Artificial Intelligence, WebMCP card; Artificial Intelligence > Profiles, Capabilities tab
Permission	Use WebMCP tools in the browser; Manage the WebMCP settings (to change the settings); Access any AI tool, or Access AI tool - tool name, for each tool
Feature	WebMCP (the site's chat can use page tools when AI Chat is also on)

Can't find it?

What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.

Which browsers

WebMCP is new, and only some browsers have it built in. The site adds it to the other browsers, so the tools and the site's own chat work in every browser. It needs a secure (HTTPS) address.

Choose what browser assistants can use

1. Open Settings > Artificial Intelligence and find the WebMCP card.
2. Choose where tools are offered:
   • Offer tools on admin pages is on at first.
   • Offer tools on front-end pages is off at first. Turn it on to offer tools on the site's public pages too.
   • Offer storefront tools to visitors is off at first. See Let shoppers' assistants use your store.
3. Leave Add page tools on to also offer the page tools described below, or turn it off.
4. Pick the tools. Tick the tools and tool instances an assistant may use, or turn on Expose all tools to offer every one of them; the tool lists are hidden while it is on. At first, none is offered.
5. Click Save.

Field	What it does
Offer tools on admin pages	Admin pages offer tools to users who have the Use WebMCP tools in the browser permission.
Offer tools on front-end pages	The site's public pages also offer tools to signed-in users who have the permission.
Offer storefront tools to visitors	The site's public pages offer visitors who are not signed in the ticked tools that are safe for anyone. Off at first.
Add page tools	The pages that offer tools also offer the page tools. On at first.
Expose all tools	Every tool and tool instance in the lists is offered, and the selection is ignored.
Tool and tool instance lists	The tools an assistant may use. The lists show only the tools you are allowed to use yourself.

Even when a tool is offered, each person can only use the tools their role allows (Access any AI tool, or Access AI tool - tool name). An assistant can never do more than the person using it.

Let shoppers' assistants use your store

Most shoppers aren't signed in. With Offer storefront tools to visitors, a shopper's browser assistant can search your products, read a product, add items to the shopper's own cart, read that cart, and start a checkout. It never pays: the shopper pays in your checkout.

1. On the WebMCP card, tick Offer storefront tools to visitors.
2. Tick the tools to offer, such as Search store products and Add to store cart.
3. Click Save.

Visitors only get the ticked tools that are safe for anyone. Every other tool stays for signed-in people with the permission. Visitors don't get the page tools, and admin pages never offer storefront tools.

Ask your administrator to turn on the Rate Limits feature, so no visitor can call the tools too often.

Offer tools on one content item's page

Some tools only make sense on one page, for example a product page that offers a tool to check its stock. With the WebMCP tools part, each content item picks the tools its own page offers.

1. Open Content Definition > Content Types, edit the content type, click Add Parts, tick WebMCP tools and save. (Your administrator may have done this already.)
2. Create or edit a content item of that type. In the WebMCP tools section, tick the tools its page should offer. The list shows only the tools you are allowed to use; tools someone else ticked that you may not use stay ticked.
3. Publish the content item.

On the item's page, signed-in people who have the Use WebMCP tools in the browser permission and may view the item get those tools, in addition to the tools every page offers. Each person can still only use the tools their role allows.

Page tools

With Add page tools on, every page that offers tools also offers these:

Tool	What it does
Get page info	Tells the assistant the page's title, address, description and main headings.
List page links	Lists the links in the page's menus that stay on this site.
Open page	Opens another page of this site. It cannot leave the site.
List form fields	Lists the fields of the page's forms and what they hold. Passwords, hidden fields and file uploads are never listed.
Set form field	Puts a value into one field. It never saves or submits the form: you check the change and click Save yourself.

Let the site's chat use the page you have open

When AI Chat is on, you can let an AI profile's chat use the tools of the page you have open, for example to ask the admin chat widget to fill in the form you are editing. The chat sees every tool the page offers: the page tools above, a content item's own tools, and tools other scripts on the page add.

1. Open Artificial Intelligence > Profiles and edit a chat profile.
2. On the Capabilities tab, tick Allow page tools.
3. To also let the chat use tools the page marks as having consequences, such as placing an order, tick Allow consequential page tools.
4. Click Save.

Field	What it does
Allow page tools	The chat can use the tools of the page the message is sent from.
Allow consequential page tools	The chat can also use the tools the page marks as consequential. Needs Allow page tools.

The chat uses the tools of the page you send the message from. It only works for signed-in users with the Use WebMCP tools in the browser permission.

Tips

• Offer only the tools you would let the person run themselves, and prefer tools that only read.
• If an assistant says a tool is not available, check that the tool is ticked on the WebMCP card and that the person's role allows that tool.
• Only allow page tools on profiles used on pages whose scripts you trust: the chat can use any tool the page offers.
• If the chat cannot reach the page, keep the page open until the answer arrives. A page tool that does not answer within a minute fails.