Claude in Chrome extension not connecting — tabs_context_mcp reports "not connected" despite correct install, sign-in, and restart
Summary
The Claude in Chrome extension is installed, enabled, and signed into the correct account, but the connected Claude session still reports the extension as not connected.
Environment
- Extension: Claude in Chrome, version 1.0.85
- Chrome profile: personal (not managed/enterprise)
- Signed into extension as: chris.kotsopoulos@gmail.com
- Same account is used for the active Claude session (Cowork)
What I did
- Installed the Claude in Chrome extension from claude.ai/chrome.
- Confirmed it's enabled (chrome://extensions shows "On", with "On all sites" access).
- Signed into the extension with chris.kotsopoulos@gmail.com — the same account as my Claude session.
- Fully quit Chrome (not just closed a tab/window) and reopened it after installing.
- Pinned the extension to the toolbar and confirmed via its popup that I'm signed in with the correct email.
What happened
The Claude session repeatedly attempted to check the browser connection and received this response every time, including after each of the steps above:
"Browser extension is not connected. Please ensure the Claude browser extension is installed and running (https://claude.ai/chrome), and that you are logged into claude.ai with the same account as Claude Code. If this is your first time connecting to Chrome, you may need to restart Chrome for the installation to take effect."
What I expected
The Claude session to detect the extension and be able to open tabs / interact with the browser (e.g. via tabs_context_mcp), since all the documented prerequisites (install, enable, correct sign-in, restart) were met.
Additional notes
This occurred while trying to use Claude in Chrome to help configure a third-party dashboard (Vapi) directly, as a faster alternative to describing each screen in text. Happy to provide further diagnostics if useful.
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