[](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/README.md)
[](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/releases) [](https://travis-ci.org/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase) [](https://gitter.im/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase) [](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/LICENSE) [](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/stargazers)
Reliable Browser Automation & Testing with [Selenium-WebDriver](https://www.seleniumhq.org/) and [Pytest](https://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/).
(Above: [my_first_test.py](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/examples/my_first_test.py) from [examples/](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/tree/master/examples) running in demo mode, which adds JavaScript for highlighting page actions.)
```
pytest my_first_test.py --demo_mode
```
## Quick Start:
(Requires [Git](https://git-scm.com/) and [Python](https://www.python.org/downloads/) [](https://www.python.org/downloads/). Optionally, you may want to use a [Python virtual environment](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/virtualenv_instructions.md) to isolate Python dependencies between projects.)
#### Clone SeleniumBase from GitHub:
```
git clone https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase.git
```
#### Upgrade [pip](https://pypi.org/project/pip/) and [setuptools](https://pypi.org/project/setuptools/) to the latest versions:
```
python -m pip install -U pip setuptools
```
* (Depending on your user permissions, you may need to add ``--user`` to the command if you're not inside a [Python virtual environment](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/virtualenv_instructions.md), or use "[sudo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudo)" on a UNIX-based OS if you're getting errors during installation.)
#### Install SeleniumBase:
```
cd SeleniumBase
pip install -U -r requirements.txt
python setup.py install
```
* (Use ``python setup.py develop`` if configuring seleniumbase inside a virtual environment.)
* (You can also get seleniumbase from the Python Package Index, [](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/seleniumbase))
#### Install a web driver to the [seleniumbase/drivers](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/tree/master/seleniumbase/drivers) folder:
```
seleniumbase install chromedriver
```
* (You need a different web driver for each web browser you want to run automation on: ``chromedriver`` for Chrome, ``edgedriver`` for Edge, ``geckodriver`` for Firefox, ``operadriver`` for Opera, and ``iedriver`` for Internet Explorer.)
#### Run a test on Chrome:
```
cd examples
pytest my_first_test.py --browser=chrome
```
* (Chrome is the default browser if not specified with ``--browser``)
Check out [SeleniumBase Website Tours](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/tree/master/examples/tour_examples) (in the ``examples/tour_examples`` folder). It's great for prototyping a website onboarding experience. See the [Tours ReadMe](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/examples/tour_examples/ReadMe.md) for more details.
```
cd tour_examples
pytest google_tour.py
```
(Above: Actual demo of [google_tour.py](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/examples/tour_examples/google_tour.py) running on [google.com](https://google.com))
For more detailed steps on getting started, see the [**Detailed Instructions**](#seleniumbase_installation) section.
## Learn More:
#### **No more repetitive WebDriver code:**
SeleniumBase automatically handles common WebDriver actions such as spinning up web browsers, waiting for page objects to load, saving screenshots during test failures, using a proxy server, and more. ([Read about customizing test runs](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/customizing_test_runs.md).)
#### **Simple Python syntax makes coding easy:**
(By default, [CSS Selectors](https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_selectors.asp) are used for finding page elements.)
#### **Run tests with Pytest or Nose in any browser:**
(Using **Pytest** is strongly recommended)
```
pytest my_first_test.py --browser=chrome
nosetests test_suite.py --browser=firefox
```
Python methods that start with ``test_`` will automatically be run when using ``pytest`` or ``nosetests`` on a Python file, (or on folders containing Python files).
#### **No more messy code:**
This long line of standard WebDriver code,
```python
self.driver.find_element_by_css_selector("textarea").send_keys("text")
```
...becomes the following in SeleniumBase:
```python
self.update_text("textarea", "text")
```
(You can still use ``self.driver`` in your code.)
#### **No more flaky tests:**
SeleniumBase methods automatically wait for page elements to finish loading before interacting with them (*up to a timeout limit*). This means you no longer need random ``time.sleep()`` statements in your code.
#### **Assist manual QA with automation:**
SeleniumBase includes an automated/manual hybrid solution called **[MasterQA](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/masterqa/ReadMe.md)**, which speeds up manual testing by having automation perform all the web browser actions while the manual tester only validates what is seen.
#### **Integrate with your favorite tools:**
SeleniumBase is compatible with [Selenium Grid](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/tree/master/seleniumbase/utilities/selenium_grid), [MySQL](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/core/testcase_manager.py), [Docker](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/integrations/docker/ReadMe.md), [NodeJS](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/tree/master/integrations/node_js), [Google Cloud](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/tree/master/integrations/google_cloud/ReadMe.md), and [AWS](#amazon_section).
#### **Automate tedious business tasks:**
Beyond test automation, SeleniumBase is perfect for automating tedious business tasks that you would perform in a web browser.
#### **Lots of happy users & customers:**
To learn about businesses using SeleniumBase, [Click Here](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/happy_customers.md).
#### **Feature-Rich:**
To see a full list of SeleniumBase features, [Click Here](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/features_list.md).
## Detailed Instructions:
Before installation, **[install Python and Git](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/install_python_pip_git.md)**.
### **Step 1:** Clone SeleniumBase
```
git clone https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase.git
```
(A [Git](https://git-scm.com/) GUI tool like [SourceTree](https://www.sourcetreeapp.com/) may help.)
### **Step 2:** Create a Virtual Environment
(OPTIONAL) To learn how to create a Python virtual environment, [see this ReadMe](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/virtualenv_instructions.md).
### **Step 3:** Install SeleniumBase
If you're installing SeleniumBase from a cloned copy on your machine, use:
```
cd SeleniumBase
pip install -r requirements.txt --upgrade
python setup.py install
```
If you're installing SeleniumBase from the [Python Package Index](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/seleniumbase) [](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/seleniumbase), use:
```
pip install -U seleniumbase --no-cache-dir
```
If you're installing SeleniumBase directly from GitHub, use:
```
pip install -e git+https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase.git@master#egg=seleniumbase
```
(If you encounter permission errors during installation while not using a virtual environment, you may need to add ``--user`` to your pip command. If you already have an older version of SeleniumBase installed, you may want to add ``--upgrade`` or ``-U`` to your pip command.)
### **Step 4:** Install a Web Driver
SeleniumBase requires a web driver to run automation on web browers. For that, you'll need to either download a web driver to your path, or **[install a web driver](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/webdriver_installation.md)** with the SeleniumBase ``install`` command.
```
seleniumbase install chromedriver
seleniumbase install geckodriver
seleniumbase install edgedriver
```
(``geckodriver`` is the offical name of the Firefox driver)
### **Step 5:** Run the Example Script
**Here's what the example script, [my_first_test.py](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/examples/my_first_test.py), looks like:**
```python
from seleniumbase import BaseCase
class MyTestClass(BaseCase):
def test_basic(self):
self.open("https://xkcd.com/353/")
self.assert_element('img[alt="Python"]')
self.click('a[rel="license"]')
self.assert_text("free to copy", "div center")
self.open("https://xkcd.com/1481/")
title = self.get_attribute("#comic img", "title")
self.assert_true("86,400 seconds per day" in title)
self.click("link=Blag")
self.assert_text("The blag of the webcomic", "h2")
self.update_text("input#s", "Robots!\n")
self.assert_text("Hooray robots!", "#content")
self.open("https://xkcd.com/1319/")
self.assert_exact_text("Automation", "#ctitle")
```
(By default, [CSS Selectors](https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_selectors.asp) are used for finding page elements.)
**Here's how to run the example script on various web browsers:**
(NOTE: You can interchange **pytest** with **nosetests** at anytime.)
```
cd examples/
pytest my_first_test.py --browser=chrome
nosetests my_first_test.py --browser=firefox
```
(If no browser is specified, Chrome is used by default.)
If the example test is moving too fast for your eyes to see what's going on, you can run it in **Demo Mode** by adding ``--demo_mode`` on the command line, which pauses the browser briefly between actions, highlights page elements being acted on, and lets you know what test assertions are happening in real time:
```
pytest my_first_test.py --demo_mode
```
You can use the following in your scripts to help you debug issues:
```python
import time; time.sleep(5) # sleep for 5 seconds (add this after the line you want to pause on)
import ipdb; ipdb.set_trace() # waits for your command. n = next line of current method, c = continue, s = step / next executed line (will jump)
import pytest; pytest.set_trace() # similar to ipdb, but specific to pytest
```
**To pause an active test that throws an exception or error, add ``--pdb -s``:**
```
pytest my_first_test.py --browser=chrome --pdb -s
```
The code above will leave your browser window open in case there's a failure. (ipdb commands: 'c', 's', 'n' => continue, step, next).
Here are some other useful **nosetest**-specific arguments:
```
--logging-level=INFO # Hide DEBUG messages, which can be overwhelming.
-x # Stop running the tests after the first failure is reached.
-v # Prints the full test name rather than a dot for each test.
--with-id # If -v is also used, will number the tests for easy counting.
```
During test failures, logs and screenshots from the most recent test run will get saved to the ``latest_logs/`` folder. Those logs will get moved to ``archived_logs/`` if you have ARCHIVE_EXISTING_LOGS set to True in [settings.py](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/config/settings.py), otherwise log files with be cleaned up at the start of the next test run. The ``test_suite.py`` collection contains tests that fail on purpose so that you can see how logging works.
```
cd examples/
pytest test_suite.py --browser=chrome
pytest test_suite.py --browser=firefox
```
If you want to run tests headlessly, use ``--headless``, which you'll need to do if your system lacks a GUI interface. Even if your system does have a GUI interface, it may still support headless browser automation.
To run Pytest multithreaded on multiple CPUs at the same time, add ``-n=NUM`` or ``-n NUM`` on the command line, where NUM is the number of CPUs you want to use.
If you want to pass additional data from the command line to your tests, you can use ``--data=STRING``. Now inside your tests, you can use ``self.data`` to access that.
### **Using SeleniumBase from a [PyPI](https://pypi.org/) installation:**
You can install SeleniumBase without cloning the repo by doing this:
```
python -m pip install -U pip
pip install -U seleniumbase --no-cache-dir
```
You can then install webdrivers by doing this:
```
seleniumbase install chromedriver
seleniumbase install geckodriver
seleniumbase install edgedriver
seleniumbase install iedriver
seleniumbase install operadriver
```
(You'll need chromedriver if you want to run automation on Chrome, geckodriver if you want to run automation on Firefox, edgedriver for Microsoft Edge, etc.)
When creating your own test directories, keep these two things in mind:
For running tests outside of the SeleniumBase repo with **Pytest**, you'll want a copy of **[pytest.ini](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/pytest.ini)** on the root folder. For running tests outside of the SeleniumBase repo with **Nosetests**, you'll want a copy of **[setup.cfg](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/setup.cfg)** on the root folder. (Subfolders should include a blank ``__init__.py`` file.)
As a shortcut, you'll be able to run ``seleniumbase mkdir [DIRECTORY_NAME]`` to create a new folder that already contains necessary files and some example tests that you can run. Example:
```
seleniumbase mkdir browser_tests
cd browser_tests
pytest my_first_test.py --browser=chrome
```
### **Creating Visual Test Suite Reports:**
(NOTE: Several command line args are different for Pytest vs Nosetests)
#### **Pytest Reports:**
Using ``--html=report.html`` gives you a fancy report of the name specified after your test suite completes.
```
pytest test_suite.py --html=report.html
```
![](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/100006/images/PytestReport.png "Example Pytest Report")
You can also use ``--junitxml=report.xml`` to get an xml report instead. Jenkins can use this file to display better reporting for your tests.
```
pytest test_suite.py --junitxml=report.xml
```
#### **Nosetest Reports:**
The ``--report`` option gives you a fancy report after your test suite completes.
```
nosetests test_suite.py --report
```
(NOTE: You can add ``--show_report`` to immediately display Nosetest reports after the test suite completes. Only use ``--show_report`` when running tests locally because it pauses the test run.)
### **Using a Proxy Server:**
If you wish to use a proxy server for your browser tests (Chrome and Firefox only), you can add ``--proxy=IP_ADDRESS:PORT`` as an argument on the command line.
```
pytest proxy_test.py --proxy=IP_ADDRESS:PORT
```
If the proxy server that you wish to use requires authentication, you can do the following (Chrome only):
```
pytest proxy_test.py --proxy=USERNAME:PASSWORD@IP_ADDRESS:PORT
```
To make things easier, you can add your frequently-used proxies to PROXY_LIST in [proxy_list.py](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/config/proxy_list.py), and then use ``--proxy=KEY_FROM_PROXY_LIST`` to use the IP_ADDRESS:PORT of that key.
```
pytest proxy_test.py --proxy=proxy1
```
### **Changing the User-Agent:**
If you wish to change the User-Agent for your browser tests (Chrome and Firefox only), you can add ``--agent="USER AGENT STRING"`` as an argument on the command line.
```bash
pytest user_agent_test.py --agent="Mozilla/5.0 (Nintendo 3DS; U; ; en) Version/1.7412.EU"
```
### **Production Environments & Integrations:**
Here are some things you can do to setup a production environment for your testing:
* You can setup a [Jenkins](https://jenkins.io/) build server for running tests at regular intervals. Jenkins has many plugins available, such as [the Xvfb headless browser plugin](https://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Xvfb+Plugin) for running tests on a machine with no GUI. If you have Xvfb running in the background, you can add ``--headless`` to your run command in order to utilize it. For more info about the Xvfb plugin, [read this](https://qxf2.com/blog/xvfb-plugin-for-jenkins-selenium/). For a real-world Jenkins example of headless browser automation in action, check out [the SeleniumBase Google Cloud ReadMe](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/integrations/google_cloud/ReadMe.md).
* You can use [the Selenium Grid](https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/wiki/Grid2) to scale your testing by distributing tests on several machines with parallel execution. To do this, check out the SeleniumBase [selenium_grid folder](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/tree/master/seleniumbase/utilities/selenium_grid), which should have everything you need. The [Selenium Grid ReadMe](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/utilities/selenium_grid/ReadMe.md) will help you get started.
* If you're using the [SeleniumBase MySQL feature](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/help_docs/mysql_installation.md) to save results from tests running on a server machine, you can install [MySQL Workbench](https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/tools/workbench/) to help you read & write from your DB more easily. You'll also need to install the MySQL Python client. Depending on your system, you may need to install additional requirements for this (such as on Windows). See [Stackoverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43102442/whats-the-difference-between-mysqldb-mysqlclient-and-mysql-connector-python) for more info.
```
pip install mysqlclient==1.3.14
```
* If you use [Slack](https://slack.com), you can easily have your Jenkins jobs display results there by using the [Jenkins Slack Plugin](https://github.com/jenkinsci/slack-plugin). Another way to send messages from your tests to Slack is by using [Slack's Incoming Webhooks API](https://api.slack.com/incoming-webhooks).
* If you're using AWS, you can setup an [Amazon S3](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/) account for saving your log files and screenshots for future viewing. SeleniumBase already has [all the code you need to connect to S3](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/plugins/s3_logging_plugin.py). You'll need to modify [settings.py](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/config/settings.py) with connection details to your instance and the location in S3 where you want log files to be saved. You'll also need to add "``--with-s3_logging``" on the command line when you run your tests.
Here's an example of running tests with additional features enabled:
```
pytest [YOUR_TEST_FILE].py --browser=chrome --with-db_reporting --with-s3_logging -s
```
(NOTE: If you haven't configured your MySQL or S3 connections in [settings.py](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/config/settings.py), don't use ``--with-db_reporting`` or ``--with-s3_logging``.)
When the testing_base plugin is used, if there's a test failure, the basic_test_info plugin records test logs, the page_source plugin records the page source of the last web page seen by the test, and the screen_shots plugin records the image of the last page seen by the test where the failure occurred. Make sure you always include testing_base whenever you include a plugin that logs test data. The db_reporting plugin records the status of all tests run into your MySQL DB. The s3_logging plugin uploads basic test info, screenshots, and page source into your S3 storage folder.
To simplify that long run command, you can create a ``*.cfg`` file, such as the one provided in the example, and enter your plugins there so that you can run everything by typing:
```
nosetests [YOUR_TEST_FILE].py --config=[MY_CONFIG_FILE].cfg
```
You can simplify that even more by using a setup.cfg file, such as the one provided for you in the examples folder. If you kick off a test run from within the folder that setup.cfg is location in, that file will automatically be used as your configuration, meaning that you wouldn't have to type out all the plugins that you want to use (or include a config file) everytime you run tests.
If you tell pytest/nosetests to run an entire file, it will run every method in that python file that starts with "test". You can be more specific on what to run by doing something like the following: (Note that the syntax is different for pytest vs nosetests.)
```
pytest [YOUR_TEST_FILE].py::[SOME_CLASS_NAME]::test_[SOME_TEST_NAME]
nosetests [YOUR_TEST_FILE].py:[SOME_CLASS_NAME].test_[SOME_TEST_NAME]
```
Let's try an example of a test that fails:
```python
""" test_fail.py """
from seleniumbase import BaseCase
class MyTestClass(BaseCase):
def test_find_army_of_robots_on_xkcd_desert_island(self):
self.open("https://xkcd.com/731/")
self.assert_element("div#ARMY_OF_ROBOTS", timeout=1) # This should fail
```
You can run it from the ``examples`` folder like this:
```
pytest test_fail.py
```
You'll notice that a logs folder, "latest_logs", was created to hold information about the failing test, and screenshots. Take a look at what you get. Remember, this data can be saved in your MySQL DB and in S3 if you include the necessary plugins in your run command (and if you set up the neccessary connections properly). For future test runs, past test results will get stored in the archived_logs folder if you have ARCHIVE_EXISTING_LOGS set to True in [settings.py](https://github.com/seleniumbase/SeleniumBase/blob/master/seleniumbase/config/settings.py).
### **Detailed Method Specifications and Examples:**
#### Navigating to a web page (and related commands)
```python
self.open("https://xkcd.com/378/") # This method opens the specified page.
self.go_back() # This method navigates the browser to the previous page.
self.go_forward() # This method navigates the browser forward in history.
self.refresh_page() # This method reloads the current page.
self.get_current_url() # This method returns the current page URL.
self.get_page_source() # This method returns the current page source.
```
**ProTip™:** You may need to use the get_page_source() method along with Python's find() command to parse through the source to find something that Selenium wouldn't be able to. (You may want to brush up on your Python programming skills for that.)
Ex:
```python
source = self.get_page_source()
head_open_tag = source.find('