@wdio/local-runner
Advanced tools
A WebdriverIO runner to run tests locally within worker processes
The Local Runner initiates your framework (e.g. Mocha, Jasmine or Cucumber) within worker a process and runs all your test files within your Node.js environment. Every test file is being run in a separate worker process per capability allowing for maximum concurrency. Every worker process uses a single browser instance and therefore runs its own browser session allowing for maximum isolation.
Given every test is run in its own isolated process, it is not possible to share data across test files. There are two ways to work around this:
@wdio/shared-store-service to share data across all workersIf nothing else is defined in the wdio.conf.js the Local Runner is the default runner in WebdriverIO.
To use the Local Runner you can install it via:
npm install --save-dev @wdio/local-runner
The Local Runner is the default runner in WebdriverIO so there is no need to define it within your wdio.conf.js. If you want to explicitly set it, you can define it as follows:
// wdio.conf.js
export const {
// ...
runner: 'local',
// ...
}
For more information on WebdriverIO runner, check out the documentation.
v9.20.0 (2025-09-27)
webdriver
wdio-cucumber-framework
wdio-allure-reporter
webdriverio
wdio-utils
wdio-browserstack-service
wdio-cli, wdio-config
webdriverio
wdio-browserstack-service, wdio-local-runner
wdio-junit-reporter
Selenium WebDriver is a popular tool for automating web applications for testing purposes. It provides a more low-level API compared to WebdriverIO, which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage depending on the use case. Selenium WebDriver requires more boilerplate code to set up and run tests.
Cypress is a modern end-to-end testing framework that is known for its developer-friendly features and fast test execution. Unlike WebdriverIO, Cypress runs in the same run-loop as the application being tested, which can lead to more reliable tests. However, it currently only supports testing in Chrome-family browsers.
Nightwatch.js is an integrated, easy-to-use end-to-end testing solution for web applications and websites, written in Node.js. It uses the W3C WebDriver API to perform commands and assertions on DOM elements. Nightwatch provides a simpler syntax compared to WebdriverIO but may lack some advanced features.
FAQs
A WebdriverIO runner to run tests locally
The npm package @wdio/local-runner receives a total of 629,860 weekly downloads. As such, @wdio/local-runner popularity was classified as popular.
We found that @wdio/local-runner demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 3 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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