BrowserStack Advanced

BrowserStack Advanced is a QuilrAI-built MCP for BrowserStack account discovery, browser and device inventories, Automate and App Automate sessions, diagnostic data, app uploads, and Test Management workflows. It uses a BrowserStack username and access key instead of an OAuth Client ID and Client Secret.

Use this guide when you add BrowserStack Advanced from the MCP library or register its hosted transport URL manually.

What This MCP Can Do

Capability	Examples	Access
Account and environments	Discover enabled products, browsers, operating systems, and real devices	Read only
Automate and App Automate	List builds, read sessions, retrieve logs and screenshot metadata, create diagnostic briefs	Read only
Build and session lifecycle	Update or delete builds and sessions	Write or destructive
App uploads	Upload an HTTPS-hosted app for App Automate	Write
Test Management	Projects, folders, templates, cases, histories, runs, results, plans, and sub-test plans	Read and write
Bulk operations	Edit, move, archive, create, update, read, or record results for multiple items	Read, write, or destructive

The MCP provides 48 tools. It favors native BrowserStack bulk endpoints when available and otherwise runs bounded batches with ordered, per-item outcomes.

note

The hosted MCP does not run BrowserStack Local tunnels or access files and processes on a user's computer. Local Testing requires an agent-side BrowserStack Local process and is intentionally outside this remote MCP.

Before You Start

You need:

• A BrowserStack account with access to the products you plan to use.
• The BrowserStack Username and Access Key from account settings.
• Permission to store those credentials in QuilrAI.

For a company-wide integration, use a BrowserStack service account where your plan supports it. This avoids tying the shared MCP connection to an employee's personal access key.

Get The BrowserStack Credentials

1. Sign in to BrowserStack.
2. Open Account > Settings.
3. Find the account credentials or Local Testing credentials section.
4. Copy both Username and Access Key.

The username may not be the account email address. Use the exact BrowserStack username shown next to the access key.

Credential Format

Enter the username and access key as one value separated by a colon:

YOUR_BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME:YOUR_BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY

For example:

company_service_user_abc123:replace-with-access-key

Do not add spaces, quotes, Basic, or Bearer to the value.

tip

You do not need to Base64-encode this value. BrowserStack Advanced accepts the raw username:access-key value, separates the two fields, and constructs BrowserStack HTTP Basic authentication inside the MCP.

The MCP also accepts Base64-encoded username:access-key for clients that cannot safely submit a colon in a credential field. Base64 is encoding, not encryption, and must still be handled as a secret.

Optional Base64 compatibility format

On macOS or Linux:

printf '%s' 'YOUR_BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME:YOUR_BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY' | base64 | tr -d '\n'

On PowerShell:

[Convert]::ToBase64String(
  [Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes(
    "YOUR_BROWSERSTACK_USERNAME:YOUR_BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY"
  )
)

Paste only the encoded output into the Upstream API Key field. Do not set a value prefix.

Register BrowserStack Advanced

If BrowserStack Advanced is already present in the MCP library, install it from there. To register it manually:

1. In QuilrAI, open MCP Gateway and click Add MCP.
2. Enter these values:

Field	Value
Name	BrowserStack Advanced
Slug	browserstack-advanced
Transport URL	https://browserstack.mcp.quilr.ai/mcp
Description	Advanced BrowserStack automation, diagnostics, device inventory, and Test Management
Auth mode	Upstream API Key

If Auto-detect identifies an upstream API key, continue with the detected option.

3. On the upstream credential screen, configure:

Field	Value
Upstream API Key	Paste raw username:access-key
Credential ownership	Admin shared for a service account, or User required when each user supplies personal BrowserStack credentials
Credential placement	Bearer token
Value prefix	Leave empty
Extra upstream headers	None
Extra upstream query parameters	None

4. Click Create.
5. Confirm that QuilrAI can list the BrowserStack tools.
6. Enable read-only tools first. Enable write and destructive tools only for approved users and agents.

The Bearer token selection describes how the gateway securely transports the composite secret to the hosted MCP. The MCP then converts it to the HTTP Basic authentication format required by BrowserStack. Do not enter Basic or Bearer in Value prefix.

Choose Credential Ownership

Mode	Use when
Admin shared	The organization has a BrowserStack service account or another approved shared credential.
User required	Each user's BrowserStack permissions and activity must remain separate.

For Admin shared, prefer a BrowserStack service account scoped to the required team or organization. Limit access in both BrowserStack and QuilrAI.

Verify The Connection

Start with a read-only capability request:

Using BrowserStack Advanced, show the BrowserStack products and capabilities
available to this account. This is strictly read-only.

Then verify environment discovery:

Using BrowserStack Advanced, list five available desktop browser environments
and five real mobile devices. Do not start a session or change anything.

To verify batch reads:

Using BrowserStack Advanced, retrieve details for these BrowserStack session IDs
in one batch. Preserve the input order and report per-session errors. This is
read-only: <session-id-1>, <session-id-2>.

Use It Effectively

• Prefer batch and bulk tools for multiple builds, sessions, cases, runs, or results.
• Use account capability discovery before requesting a product-specific operation.
• Use the session diagnostic brief for a bounded summary of metadata, logs, and failure context.
• Keep destructive tools disabled unless the workflow explicitly needs deletion or archival.
• Require user confirmation before deleting builds, sessions, test runs, or test cases.
• Use HTTPS URLs for app uploads. The hosted MCP cannot upload a file from a user's local disk.
• Expect product and plan permissions to affect which tools succeed even when the credential is valid.

Troubleshooting

Error	Likely cause	Fix
401 Unauthorized or QuilrAI cannot list tools	Wrong username, wrong access key, malformed composite value, or a rotated key	Copy both values from BrowserStack again and enter exactly username:access-key. Leave Value prefix empty.
Raw composite is rejected before reaching the MCP	A client or intermediary does not accept a colon in the credential field	Use the optional Base64 compatibility format above.
403 Forbidden while credentials are valid	The account authenticated but lacks the required product, role, team, or API entitlement	Check BrowserStack product access and role assignments. Contact BrowserStack support for restricted APIs.
Some tool groups are missing	The connected account does not have the corresponding BrowserStack product	Enable the product for the user or service account, then refresh MCP tools.
Local Testing request cannot run	BrowserStack Local requires a process and network tunnel near the target application	Run BrowserStack Local through an approved agent-side deployment; it is not provided by this hosted MCP.
A batch partially fails	Individual IDs are invalid, inaccessible, or in a different product	Inspect the per-item outcomes and retry only corrected inputs.
Requests are throttled	BrowserStack rate limits were reached	Reduce batch size or request frequency and retry after the reported delay.

Rotate The Access Key

Rotating a BrowserStack access key invalidates the old credential.

1. Rotate or reset the access key in BrowserStack.
2. Update the composite upstream credential in QuilrAI using the same username and new key.
3. Re-run the read-only capability test.
4. Remove any old encoded copies from local notes, shell history, or secret stores.

If a credential appears in a screenshot, chat, ticket, or repository, rotate it immediately.

References

• BrowserStack: API authentication
• BrowserStack: Reset an access key
• BrowserStack: Service accounts