MCP Setup

Install Rove as a native tool in Claude, Cursor, or VS Code. Your AI agent can navigate pages, click buttons, fill forms, and extract data — no integration code required.

Install in Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rove": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@roveapi/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ROVE_API_KEY": "rvp_live_YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. Rove tools will appear in the tool sidebar.

Don't have an API key yet? No problem — just omit the ROVE_API_KEY line. You can authenticate from inside your AI agent using the authenticate tool. See Zero-Key Onboarding below.

Install in Cursor

Add to your .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rove": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@roveapi/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ROVE_API_KEY": "rvp_live_YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Install in VS Code (Copilot)

Add to your VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcpServers": {
    "rove": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@roveapi/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "ROVE_API_KEY": "rvp_live_YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Once installed, your agent has access to these tools:

Tool	Description
`authenticate`	Sign up or sign in via magic link — no API key needed
`navigate`	Navigate to a URL, returns page title + a11y tree
`interact`	Click, type, select, or scroll on elements
`extract_schema`	Extract structured data matching a JSON schema
`screenshot`	Capture a screenshot (returns signed URL)
`get_a11y_tree`	Get the accessibility tree of the current page
`close_session`	Close a session and retrieve video artifacts
`account_info`	Check your plan, credits, and usage
`buy_credits`	View available credit packs and top-ups

Example Conversation

You: "Check what the checkout button says on https://example-store.com/product/123"

Agent: Calls navigate with the URL, then get_a11y_tree

"The checkout button says 'Add to Cart — $49.99'. The page also has a 'Buy Now' button and a quantity selector."

How It Works

The MCP server is a thin wrapper around the Rove REST API:

Agent decides to use a Rove tool
MCP server translates the tool call into a REST API request
API executes the action in a hosted Playwright browser
Result returns through MCP to the agent

Sessions are managed automatically — the MCP server creates a session on the first tool call and reuses it across the conversation.

Token Efficiency

The key advantage: get_a11y_tree returns a semantic representation of the page (~26K tokens) instead of a screenshot (~114K tokens). This means your agent can interact with web pages using 77% fewer tokens.

Zero-Key Onboarding

You can start using Rove without creating an API key first. Just install the MCP server without setting ROVE_API_KEY:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rove": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@roveapi/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Then ask your agent to authenticate:

You: "Authenticate with Rove using my email [email protected]"

Agent: Calls authenticate with your email

The tool sends a magic link to your email. Click the link, and the agent automatically detects the activation — no copy-pasting tokens. You get 100 free credits on sign-up.

How credentials persist

After authentication, your API key is saved to ~/.config/rove/credentials.json. On future sessions, the MCP server loads this key automatically — you won't need to authenticate again.

If you later set ROVE_API_KEY as an environment variable, it takes precedence over the saved credentials.

Priority order: ROVE_API_KEY env var → ~/.config/rove/credentials.json → demo mode

Re-authentication

If you call authenticate when you already have a valid API key, the tool returns "Already authenticated" without sending a new magic link.

Troubleshooting

"Tool not found" — Restart your editor after adding the config. MCP servers load at startup.

"Invalid API key" — Check that ROVE_API_KEY is set correctly in the env block. Keys start with rvp_live_ or rvp_test_.

"Session expired" — Sessions expire after 30 minutes of inactivity. The MCP server creates a new one automatically.