Use when auditing or optimizing Largest Contentful Paint with Chrome DevTools MCP: traces, element discovery, waterfalls, render blocking, and fix verification.
Use when auditing or optimizing Largest Contentful Paint with Chrome DevTools MCP: traces, element discovery, waterfalls, render blocking, and fix verification. NOT for non-LCP performance work, generic browser automation, or SEO copy advice.
Requires Chrome DevTools MCP 0.23.0 or compatible tools with performance trace and insight support.
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SKILL.md
---
name: chrome-devtools-debug-optimize-lcp
description: 'Use when auditing or optimizing Largest Contentful Paint with Chrome DevTools MCP: traces, element discovery, waterfalls, render blocking, and fix verification. NOT for non-LCP performance work, generic browser automation, or SEO copy advice.'
license: Apache-2.0
compatibility: 'Requires Chrome DevTools MCP 0.23.0 or compatible tools with performance trace and insight support.'
metadata:
author: Google LLC
version: 0.23.0
---
# Chrome DevTools LCP Debugging
Use Chrome DevTools MCP to find the actual LCP element, identify which LCP subpart is slow, and verify that fixes reduce the bottleneck.
## Dispatch
| $ARGUMENTS | Action |
| --- | --- |
| Empty | Ask for the target URL/page and whether reload is safe |
| Slow page load or Core Web Vitals | Record a trace, analyze LCP insights, then inspect element and network evidence |
| Hero image or main content slow | Identify LCP element, confirm resource discovery, priority, and load timing |
| TTFB concern | Analyze `DocumentLatency` and request timing before frontend changes |
4. Reduce TTFB: remove redirects, cache HTML, and optimize server response time.
## Privacy Note
Chrome DevTools MCP performance tooling can use CrUX-related behavior depending on server flags. Respect repo MCP hardening and do not enable extra telemetry or CrUX submission without explicit user intent.
## Reference File Index
| File | Content | Read When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `references/elements-and-size.md` | Which elements count for LCP and how size is determined | The LCP element is ambiguous |
| `references/lcp-breakdown.md` | Four LCP subparts and optimization implications | Interpreting trace insights |
| `references/lcp-snippets.md` | Scripts for LCP element discovery and DOM issue checks | Trace evidence needs DOM confirmation |
| `references/provenance.md` | Upstream source, commit, license, and adaptation notes | Before modifying this skill or auditing provenance |
## Critical Rules
1. Identify the slow LCP subpart before recommending a fix.
2. Do not optimize bytes before checking resource load delay and render delay.
3. Keep trace files out of version control.
4. Use the same network and CPU conditions when comparing before and after traces.
5. Do not enable extra field-data or telemetry behavior beyond repo MCP policy.
## Canonical Vocabulary
| Term | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| LCP | Largest Contentful Paint, the render time of the largest visible content element |
| LCP subpart | TTFB, resource load delay, resource load duration, or element render delay |
| Waterfall | Network request timing evidence for the LCP resource |
| Verification trace | A second trace captured under the same conditions after a fix |
## Validation Contract
Before declaring skill changes complete, run `uv run wagents validate`, `uv run python skills/skill-creator/scripts/audit.py skills/chrome-devtools-debug-optimize-lcp`, and `uv run wagents package chrome-devtools-debug-optimize-lcp --dry-run`.