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Selenium Setup Guide

Get Selenium WebDriver running locally so you can automate the pages on this site. Pick your language, then pick your OS.

  • ✅ A code editor (VS Code, IntelliJ, or your preferred IDE)
  • ✅ Google Chrome or Firefox installed
  • ✅ Language runtime for the tab you choose below
Note on drivers Selenium 4.6+ includes Selenium Manager, which downloads the correct browser driver (chromedriver/geckodriver) automatically for every language binding — you don't need to manage driver binaries or PATH entries by hand.

Installation

Needs JDK 17+ and Maven.

  1. Install the JDK

    Go to oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads and download the JDK 17 or higher (LTS) — Windows x64 Installer (the .msi). Run it — it adds Java to PATH automatically. If a tool later asks for JAVA_HOME, set it manually via System Properties → Environment Variables to your JDK folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-17).

    Open Command Prompt and confirm it installed:

    java -version

    You should see something like java version "17.0.x".

  2. Install an IDE — Eclipse or IntelliJ

    Either works fine for the rest of this guide. Pick one:

    Eclipse: download the installer from eclipse.org/downloads, run it, and choose "Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developers".

    IntelliJ IDEA: download the free Community edition from jetbrains.com/idea/download and run the installer.

  3. Install Maven

    Download from maven.apache.org, unzip it, and add its bin folder to PATH in system environment variables. 

    mvn -version

  4. Install ChromeDriver

    Check your installed Chrome version: open Chrome and go to chrome://settings/help.

    Then download the matching driver from googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing — pick the chromedriver row under win64, and unzip it somewhere permanent, e.g. C:\chromedriver\chromedriver.exe.

    You can usually skip this Selenium 4.6+ ships with Selenium Manager, which auto-downloads the matching driver the first time you run new ChromeDriver() — no manual install needed. Do this manually only if you need to pin an exact driver version.

  5. Create a project and add Selenium

    In your IDE: File → New → Project → Maven, or from a terminal:

    mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId=com.practice -DartifactId=selenium-practice -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DinteractiveMode=false
cd selenium-practice

    Add to pom.xml inside <dependencies>:

    <dependency>
  <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
  <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
  <version>4.24.0</version>
</dependency>

  6. Verify with a basic test

    Open the project in your IDE and replace App.java with:

    import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class App {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
    // Only needed if you installed ChromeDriver manually in the step above:
    // System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "C:\\chromedriver\\chromedriver.exe");

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    driver.get("https://example.com");
    Thread.sleep(3000);
    driver.quit();
  }
}

    Run it from your IDE (right-click the file → Run), or from a terminal:

    mvn compile exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="com.practice.App"

    A Chrome window should open, load example.com, then close after 3 seconds — that's a working setup.

  1. Install the JDK

    Go to oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads and download the JDK 17 (LTS) macOS Installer — pick ARM64 for Apple Silicon or x64 for Intel. Run the .dmg, then confirm: 

    java -version

    Prefer Homebrew? brew install openjdk@17 works too.

  2. Install an IDE — Eclipse or IntelliJ

    Either works fine for the rest of this guide. Pick one:

    Eclipse: download the installer (.dmg) from eclipse.org/downloads, open it, and choose "Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java and Web Developers".

    IntelliJ IDEA: download the free Community edition from jetbrains.com/idea/download (pick the Apple Silicon build if you're on an M-series Mac).

  3. Install Maven

    brew install maven
    mvn -version

  4. Install ChromeDriver

    Check your installed Chrome version: Chrome menu → Chrome → About Google Chrome.

    Then download the matching driver from googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing — pick mac-arm64 (Apple Silicon) or mac-x64 (Intel), and unzip it somewhere permanent, e.g. ~/chromedriver/chromedriver.

    macOS blocks the binary the first time — clear the quarantine flag once:

    xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/chromedriver/chromedriver
    You can usually skip this Selenium 4.6+ ships with Selenium Manager, which auto-downloads the matching driver the first time you run new ChromeDriver() — no manual install needed. Do this manually only if you need to pin an exact driver version.

  5. Create a project and add Selenium

    In your IDE: File → New → Project → Maven, or from a terminal:

    mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId=com.practice -DartifactId=selenium-practice -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DinteractiveMode=false
cd selenium-practice

    Add to pom.xml inside <dependencies>:

    <dependency>
  <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
  <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
  <version>4.24.0</version>
</dependency>

  6. Verify with a basic test

    Open the project in your IDE and replace App.java with:

    import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;

public class App {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
    // Only needed if you installed ChromeDriver manually in the step above:
    // System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "/Users/you/chromedriver/chromedriver");

    WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();
    driver.get("https://example.com");
    Thread.sleep(3000);
    driver.quit();
  }
}

    Run it from your IDE (right-click the file → Run), or from a terminal:

    mvn compile exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="com.practice.App"

    A Chrome window should open, load example.com, then close after 3 seconds — that's a working setup.

Needs Python 3.9+ and pip.

  1. Install Python

    Go to python.org/downloads and download the latest Python 3 Windows installer. Run it, and on the first screen make sure "Add python.exe to PATH" is checked before clicking Install.

    Open Command Prompt and confirm it installed:

    python --version

  2. Install an IDE — PyCharm or VS Code

    Either works fine for the rest of this guide. Pick one:

    PyCharm: download the free Community edition from jetbrains.com/pycharm/download and run the installer.

    VS Code: download from code.visualstudio.com, install it, then install the Python extension from the Extensions panel.

  3. Install ChromeDriver

    Check your installed Chrome version: open Chrome and go to chrome://settings/help.

    Then download the matching driver from googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing — pick the chromedriver row under win64, and unzip it somewhere permanent, e.g. C:\chromedriver\chromedriver.exe.

    You can usually skip this Selenium 4.6+ ships with Selenium Manager, which auto-downloads the matching driver the first time you run webdriver.Chrome() — no manual install needed. Do this manually only if you need to pin an exact driver version.

  4. Create a project and install Selenium

    In your IDE, open a new folder as your project, or from a terminal:

    mkdir selenium-practice
cd selenium-practice
python -m venv venv
venv\Scripts\activate
    pip install selenium

  5. Verify with a basic test

    Save as verify.py:

    from selenium import webdriver
import time

# Only needed if you installed ChromeDriver manually in the step above:
# from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
# driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=Service("C:\\chromedriver\\chromedriver.exe"))

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("https://example.com")
time.sleep(3)
driver.quit()

    Run it from your IDE, or from a terminal:

    python verify.py

    A Chrome window should open, load example.com, then close after 3 seconds — that's a working setup.

  1. Install Python

    Using Homebrew (or download the macOS installer from python.org/downloads instead): 

    brew install python
    python3 --version

  2. Install an IDE — PyCharm or VS Code

    Either works fine for the rest of this guide. Pick one:

    PyCharm: download the free Community edition from jetbrains.com/pycharm/download (pick the Apple Silicon build if you're on an M-series Mac).

    VS Code: download from code.visualstudio.com, install it, then install the Python extension from the Extensions panel.

  3. Install ChromeDriver

    Check your installed Chrome version: Chrome menu → Chrome → About Google Chrome.

    Then download the matching driver from googlechromelabs.github.io/chrome-for-testing — pick mac-arm64 (Apple Silicon) or mac-x64 (Intel), and unzip it somewhere permanent, e.g. ~/chromedriver/chromedriver.

    macOS blocks the binary the first time — clear the quarantine flag once:

    xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/chromedriver/chromedriver
    You can usually skip this Selenium 4.6+ ships with Selenium Manager, which auto-downloads the matching driver the first time you run webdriver.Chrome() — no manual install needed. Do this manually only if you need to pin an exact driver version.

  4. Create a project and install Selenium

    mkdir selenium-practice
cd selenium-practice
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
    pip install selenium

  5. Verify with a basic test

    Save as verify.py:

    from selenium import webdriver
import time

# Only needed if you installed ChromeDriver manually in the step above:
# from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
# driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=Service("/Users/you/chromedriver/chromedriver"))

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get("https://example.com")
time.sleep(3)
driver.quit()

    Run it from your IDE, or from a terminal:

    python3 verify.py

    A Chrome window should open, load example.com, then close after 3 seconds — that's a working setup.

Needs .NET SDK 6+.

  1. Install the .NET SDK

    Download from dotnet.microsoft.com and run the installer.

    dotnet --version

  2. Create a console project

    dotnet new console -n SeleniumPractice
cd SeleniumPractice

  3. Add Selenium

    dotnet add package Selenium.WebDriver

  4. Verify the install

    Replace Program.cs with:

    using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

var driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
Thread.Sleep(3000);
driver.Quit();
    dotnet run

  1. Install the .NET SDK

    brew install --cask dotnet-sdk
    dotnet --version

  2. Create a console project

    dotnet new console -n SeleniumPractice
cd SeleniumPractice

  3. Add Selenium

    dotnet add package Selenium.WebDriver

  4. Verify the install

    Replace Program.cs with:

    using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

var driver = new ChromeDriver();
driver.Navigate().GoToUrl("https://example.com");
Thread.Sleep(3000);
driver.Quit();
    dotnet run
Needs Node.js 18+ (includes npm).

  1. Install Node.js

    Go to nodejs.org and download the Node.js 24 (LTS) installer — it's the version highlighted by default on the download page.

    node --version

  2. Create a project

    mkdir selenium-practice
cd selenium-practice
npm init -y
npm install selenium-webdriver

  3. Verify the install

    Save as verify.js:

    const { Builder } = require('selenium-webdriver');

(async function verify() {
  const driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
  await driver.get('https://example.com');
  await driver.sleep(3000);
  await driver.quit();
})();
    node verify.js

  1. Install Node.js

    Using Homebrew (or download the Node.js 24 (LTS) installer from nodejs.org instead):

    brew install node@24

  2. Create a project

    mkdir selenium-practice
cd selenium-practice
npm init -y
npm install selenium-webdriver

  3. Verify the install

    Save as verify.js:

    const { Builder } = require('selenium-webdriver');

(async function verify() {
  const driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('chrome').build();
  await driver.get('https://example.com');
  await driver.sleep(3000);
  await driver.quit();
})();
    node verify.js
Next Head to Basic Elements and start practicing — point your driver at any page, toggle Help (top right) to reveal each element's locator icon, and copy the code straight into your test.