WSL2: auto-selects Windows chrome.exe under /mnt/c causing ECONNRESET and Target.setDiscoverTargets: Target closed

[asdlem]

Description of the bug

On WSL2 (Linux), when chrome-devtools-mcp is started without an explicit --executablePath, it may launch the Windows Chrome executable under /mnt/c/.../chrome.exe.
Shortly after launch, the CDP pipe connection resets (read ECONNRESET), and tool calls fail with:

Protocol error (Target.setDiscoverTargets): Target closed

If I force the Linux Chrome binary (e.g. --executablePath /usr/bin/google-chrome), the same tool calls work as expected.

Reproduction

1. Configure the MCP server (no --executablePath) and enable a log file:
   command = "npx"
   args = ["-y", "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest", "--headless", "--isolated", "--logFile", "https://github.com/home/xxx/tmp/chrome-devtools-mcp-wsl.log"]

2. Start an MCP client (Codex CLI) and call:

   • chrome-devtools.new_page({ "url": "https://github.com/", "timeout": 60000 })
   • chrome-devtools.list_pages({})

3. Observe failure:
   Protocol error (Target.setDiscoverTargets): Target closed

4. Check /home/xxx/tmp/chrome-devtools-mcp-wsl.log. It shows:

   • Launching /mnt/c/Users/xxx/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe ...
   • read ECONNRESET / ConnectionClosedError / TargetCloseError

Expectation

On Linux/WSL, if a Linux Chrome binary is available (e.g. /usr/bin/google-chrome), default executable selection should prefer it.
At minimum, if a Windows .exe under /mnt/c is selected, the server should emit a clear warning explaining this is likely to break CDP and recommend using --executablePath.

MCP configuration

[mcp_servers.chrome-devtools]
command = "npx"
args = [
"-y",
"chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
"--headless",
"--isolated",
"--logFile",
"https://github.com/home/xxx/tmp/chrome-devtools-mcp-wsl.log",
]
startup_timeout_sec = 30.0

Chrome DevTools MCP version

0.12.1

Chrome version

Linux Chrome: Google Chrome 143.0.7499.109 Windows Chrome: /mnt/c/Users/xxx/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe (seen in log)

Coding agent version

codex-cli 0.73.0

Model version

gpt-5.2 (reasoning: high)

Chat log

I can attach: - /home/xxx/tmp/chrome-devtools-mcp-wsl.log Key excerpts include: - the "Launching ..." line showing /mnt/c/.../chrome.exe - read ECONNRESET - TargetCloseError stack trace

Node version

v24.11.1

Operating system

Linux

Extra checklist

• I want to provide a PR to fix this bug

[asdlem]

Here is how I diagnosed and worked around the issue:

Root cause (confirmed via server log):

• On WSL2 (Linux), when chrome-devtools-mcp is started without an explicit --executablePath, it auto-selected and launched the Windows Chrome binary (path like /mnt/c/.../chrome.exe).
• The server then used CDP over --remote-debugging-pipe, but the connection was reset (read ECONNRESET), and tool calls failed with:
  Protocol error (Target.setDiscoverTargets): Target closed

Workaround:

1. Force the Linux Chrome executable:
   --executablePath "https://github.com/usr/bin/google-chrome"

2. In headless / constrained environments (WSL/containers), also add:
   --chromeArg "--no-sandbox"
   (optional: --isolated to use a temporary profile)

After applying the workaround:

• chrome-devtools.list_pages returned a valid list
• chrome-devtools.new_page / navigate_page worked
• chrome-devtools.take_snapshot returned a normal accessibility tree snapshot

Before (problematic on WSL2): no explicit --executablePath

[mcp_servers.chrome-devtools]
command = "npx"
args = [
"-y",
"chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
"--headless",
"--isolated"
]
startup_timeout_sec = 30.0

After (workaround): force Linux Chrome on WSL2 + no-sandbox

[mcp_servers.chrome-devtools]
command = "npx"
args = [
"-y",
"chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
"--headless",
"--executablePath",
"https://github.com/usr/bin/google-chrome",
"--chromeArg",
"--no-sandbox"
]
startup_timeout_sec = 30.0

Optional (debug only): enable server log file / DEBUG

[mcp_servers.chrome-devtools]
command = "npx"
args = [
"-y",
"chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
"--headless",
"--isolated",
"--logFile",
"https://github.com/tmp/chrome-devtools-mcp.log"
]
[mcp_servers.chrome-devtools.env]
DEBUG = "*"