Hey everyone, I’ve been digging into Selenium Server lately and I’m scratching my head about something. Is there a way to run tests without actually seeing the browser pop up on screen? I know you can do some trick with a virtual framebuffer if you’re using X, but that’s not quite the same as a truly headless setup, right?
I’ve looked through the available drivers, but I can’t seem to find one that supports this kind of testing. Am I missing something obvious here? Or is this just not something Selenium can do?
I’d really appreciate if someone could clear this up for me. Is there a way to run Selenium tests in a completely headless environment? Thanks in advance for any help!
yea, you can totally run selenium tests headless. i use phantomjs, a headless browser, with selenium. install and use the phantomjs driver instead of chrome or firefox. its fast, low hassle, and works perfect on servers.
Yes, you can definitely run Selenium tests without a visible browser window. The key is using headless mode, which is supported by most modern browsers. For Chrome, you can use ChromeOptions to set headless mode. It’s as simple as:
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument(‘–headless’)
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
This runs Chrome in the background without opening a visible window. Firefox and Edge have similar options. It’s great for CI/CD pipelines or running tests on servers without displays.
Just keep in mind that some visual tests might not work in headless mode, and you might encounter slight differences in behavior compared to regular browser sessions. But for most automated testing scenarios, headless mode works perfectly and can significantly speed up your test execution.
I’ve been using Selenium for a while now, and I can confirm you can definitely run tests without a visible browser window. In my experience, the most reliable way is to use Chrome or Firefox in headless mode. It’s built right into the browsers now, so you don’t need any extra software.
For Chrome, you just need to add a few options:
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument(‘–headless’)
options.add_argument(‘–disable-gpu’) # Needed on some systems
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
This runs Chrome in the background, which is great for CI/CD pipelines or running tests on servers. It’s much faster than using a virtual framebuffer, and you don’t have to deal with X server configurations.
Just be aware that some tests involving visual elements might behave differently in headless mode. But for most scenarios, it works perfectly. Hope this helps!