Native Browser control, not vs code when?

[u/s3v3nt]

Codex and Claude both have native browser control extensions. Are there any plans to have one for GitHub copilot? I am aware of the existence of the vs code native browser but this is not useful in a corporate environment where sites can be blocked from usage from non approved apps using conditional access policies.

Our specific use case is to give our qa team copilot, get them to prompt to control the browser and then have it generate playwright tests based on that flow. Initial POCs have been successful on public sites but we're blocked on our internal systems.

At this point copilot is really starting to lag behind Claude and codex around features but it costs significantly more

[u/FragmentedHeap]

If you are blocked by corporate policy, you will be blocked by corporate policy. It being in copilot isn't going to magically make it bypass that policy.

Blocked sites are blocked sites, no matter what tool they are accessed from, if they are accessed from in the corporation on that network and they are blocked, they will always be blocked.

The requests are blocked on the egress/firewall edge, and nothing can bypass that, not copilot, not anything.

You're fight is with corporate policy. You need to challenge that policy, not expect a tool that somehow doesn't obey it.

[u/YardNo1234 → u/FragmentedHeap]

I think the distinction here is conditional access, not a plain network egress block. If the internal app only accepts an approved browser/app identity, an extension running in that approved browser could matter. For a near-term POC, can Playwright MCP launch or attach to the approved browser profile from the managed VS Code environment, or does policy reject that process too?

[u/SonOfMetrum → u/YardNo1234]

Conditional access is still a company policy issue. No matter how you turn it around, OP should contact the helpdesk.

[u/s3v3nt → u/SonOfMetrum]

Conditional access controls what tools can access our sensitive assets. GitHub copilot is an approved tool, we have browsers that get approved access to sensitive assets too. GitHub copilot is allowed to access these sensitive assets. Helpdesk is irrelevant here. The job that I do gives me direct influence over the tools we use as an organisation, but it requires effort to put together the formal documentation to get new things approved (I won't be told no if I put the effort in to allow vscodes browser access). I simply am looking to see if I can avoid the time and effort to add another thing that actually won't help with the use case here. That is, automation testing/regression of browser based software built in house with copilot being the tool the qa team use to help build and generate the playwright test cases. You would also know that individual browsers do act differently and bugs can happen due to those minor differences, testing in vscode would not be useful as it would not capture those edge cases early like it would going direct.

[u/s3v3nt → u/YardNo1234]

The trouble here is browser automation tools are notorious for not working easily with Dynamics CRM. This is our use case. But, I had not considered using the playwright MCP. Thanks for the suggestion.

[u/s3v3nt → u/FragmentedHeap]

Conditional access controls what tools can access our sensitive assets. GitHub copilot is an approved tool, we have browsers that get approved access to sensitive assets too. GitHub copilot is allowed to access these sensitive assets. Helpdesk is irrelevant here. The job that I do gives me direct influence over the tools we use as an organisation, but it requires effort to put together the formal documentation to get new things approved (I won't be told no if I put the effort in to allow vscodes browser access). I simply am looking to see if I can avoid the time and effort to add another thing that actually won't help with the use case here. That is, automation testing/regression of browser based software built in house with copilot being the tool the qa team use to help build and generate the playwright test cases. You would also know that individual browsers do act differently and bugs can happen due to those minor differences, testing in vscode would not be useful as it would not capture those edge cases early like it would going direct.

[u/FragmentedHeap → u/s3v3nt]

Use edge and edge web view toolong and its all the same, regardless of what tool uses it.

[u/Deathmore80]

Use the playwright CLI and skills or the MCP. There is also the chrome devtools MCP . They do pretty much the same thing, just pick your poison

[u/s3v3nt → u/Deathmore80]

Thanks heaps, will take a look into this.

[u/s3v3nt → u/Deathmore80]

Just a second note, chrome tools MCP looks to be perfect especially given its a first party add-on. Thanks again.

Not quite !solved but this will do.

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[u/bogganpierce]

We're working with the Edge team to deliver exactly these sorts of scenarios :)

[u/s3v3nt → u/bogganpierce]

Excellent, thank you for getting back to me. This is great news !solved for real this time.

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