DevTools MCP
The public preview of Google’s DevTools MCP server dropped about a week ago. This could have the potential to reshape and drastically improve a model’s capability to code up web apps.
Ok, side rant, is it just me or does is seem like it’s only web apps that are being vibe coded? Even during OpenAI’s launch stream for gippity 5 they showed how great their model is by how great it can whip up a Next.js app with tailwind. Like, what about using an LLM to build a swift app? If I had to guess, it’s because the web is “open”.
Anyways, back to the devtools MCP server. Check out the blog post from Mathias and Michael. You can also check out the GitHub repo and read their docs.
So, how does it work?
First, add the config to codex:
[mcp_servers.devtools]
command = "npx"
"args" = ["-y", "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"]or to cursor:
{
"mcpServers": {
"chrome-devtools": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"]
}
}
}Here are a few of the prompts that I tried:
“Use the devtools to analyze the performance of hashbrown.dev”
“can you analyze the main thread and tell me the bottom up performance breakdown?”
“look in the
wwwproject to determine where the long running animation frame is blocking the main thread”
So far, I’m impressed. I suggest you check it out and take it for a spin.
Sonnet 4.5
The team at Anthropic dropped Claude Sonnet 4.5 this week. What does that mean for us web devs besides more launch videos showing vibe coded next web apps?
First, the team claims that this is the “best coding model in the world”. Woah, that’s bold.
Second, Claude Code gets checkpoints - that’s nice
Third, they shipped a native VS Code extension - ok, now you have my attention
Fourth, code execution is now in their desktop apps - I’m pretty sure gippity has had their Python code execution runtime for a while now
Fifth, for max subscribers only, you can get a preview of their chrome extension - im guessing gemini will one day blow this away and then anthropic and google can battle in the courtrooms for years to come
A huge drop from the Anthropic team! Keep crushing it - and here’s to a series F one day! No joke, Vercel just announced a series F. I think we should start naming Vercel’s funding rounds like we name hurricanes.
What does this mean for developers?
Better coding assistance.
What does this mean for users?
We are marching towards generative UI where instead of vibe coding an app and then deploying, your users will “vibe code” the app for themselves, in real time, and get the user interface that they want and need. If you ask me, this is where the next revolution of apps is.
Sides
Today is JetBrain’s JavaScript day remote conference. Cursor is crushing it in the JS space when it comes to “paid” editors if you ask me, but I’ll always have a special place in my heart for WebStorm. The searching capabilities alone were always so helpful.
Droid by FactoryAI caught my attention this week. I’ve been using Warp for a few years now. They also just announced some more cash money from the AIVCs
ChatGPT Pulse was announced last week. This guy seems to think it’s really good. I am indeed interested, but do I want to hand over all of that personal data? Does that make me sound old. Oof.
Workshops
Want to learn more about building generative user interfaces? Join us for our online workshops kicking off in October. We cover AI fundamentals, using structured completions to simplify forms, building chatbots that stream user interfaces, and advanced generative UIs that leverage Hashbrown’s JavaScript Runtime.
We’ll be teaching a React version on October 13 and an Angular version on October 14. You can use the discount code THEGRAVY2025 to get 20% off your ticket. We’d love to have you there!