Headless browser execution in Selenium Python

Introduction

Headless browser execution lets you run tests without opening a visible browser window. This makes tests faster and can run on servers without screens.

When you want to run automated tests on a server without a graphical interface.

When you need faster test runs by skipping browser display.

When running tests in continuous integration pipelines.

When you want to save computer resources during testing.

When debugging is not needed with a visible browser.

Syntax

Selenium Python

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

options = Options()
options.headless = True

driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get('https://example.com')

# Your test steps here

driver.quit()

Set options.headless = True to enable headless mode.

Remember to quit the driver to close the browser session.

Examples

This example opens a headless Chrome browser, navigates to example.com, prints the page title, then closes the browser.

Selenium Python

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

options = Options()
options.headless = True

driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get('https://example.com')
print(driver.title)
driver.quit()

This example uses Firefox in headless mode to open a page and print the current URL.

Selenium Python

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.options import Options

options = Options()
options.headless = True

driver = webdriver.Firefox(options=options)
driver.get('https://example.com')
print(driver.current_url)
driver.quit()

Sample Program

This test script runs Chrome in headless mode, opens example.com, prints the page title, and closes the browser.

Selenium Python

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

options = Options()
options.headless = True

driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get('https://example.com')

page_title = driver.title
print(f'Page title is: {page_title}')

driver.quit()

Important Notes

Headless mode may behave slightly differently than normal mode; test carefully.

Use headless mode for faster and resource-friendly test runs.

To debug, run tests without headless mode to see the browser.

Summary

Headless browser execution runs tests without showing the browser window.

It is useful for running tests on servers and speeding up test runs.

Set the browser options to headless before creating the driver.