geckodriver

What is geckodriver?

The geckodriver npm package provides a Node.js wrapper for the GeckoDriver, which is a proxy for using W3C WebDriver-compatible clients to interact with Gecko-based browsers like Mozilla Firefox. It allows for automated browser testing and interaction.

What are geckodriver's main functionalities?

Start GeckoDriver

This feature allows you to start the GeckoDriver server programmatically using Node.js. The code sample demonstrates how to start the GeckoDriver using the child_process module.

const geckodriver = require('geckodriver');
const { exec } = require('child_process');

exec(`${geckodriver.path}`, (err, stdout, stderr) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(`Error starting GeckoDriver: ${err}`);
    return;
  }
  console.log(`GeckoDriver started: ${stdout}`);
});

Stop GeckoDriver

This feature allows you to stop the GeckoDriver server programmatically. The code sample demonstrates how to stop the GeckoDriver using the child_process module to execute a system command.

const { exec } = require('child_process');

exec('pkill geckodriver', (err, stdout, stderr) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(`Error stopping GeckoDriver: ${err}`);
    return;
  }
  console.log(`GeckoDriver stopped: ${stdout}`);
});

Run WebDriver Tests

This feature allows you to run WebDriver tests using GeckoDriver. The code sample demonstrates how to use the selenium-webdriver package to automate a Firefox browser session, perform a search on Google, and verify the page title.

const { Builder, By, until } = require('selenium-webdriver');
const firefox = require('selenium-webdriver/firefox');

(async function example() {
  let options = new firefox.Options();
  let driver = await new Builder().forBrowser('firefox').setFirefoxOptions(options).build();
  try {
    await driver.get('http://www.google.com');
    let searchBox = await driver.findElement(By.name('q'));
    await searchBox.sendKeys('webdriver', Key.RETURN);
    await driver.wait(until.titleIs('webdriver - Google Search'), 1000);
  } finally {
    await driver.quit();
  }
})();

Other packages similar to geckodriver

chromedriver

The chromedriver npm package provides a Node.js wrapper for the ChromeDriver, which is a standalone server that implements the WebDriver protocol for Chrome. It allows for automated browser testing and interaction with Google Chrome. Compared to geckodriver, chromedriver is specifically designed for Chrome-based browsers.

selenium-webdriver

The selenium-webdriver npm package is a JavaScript implementation of the WebDriver API, which allows for automated browser testing across multiple browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Edge. It provides a higher-level API compared to geckodriver and can be used in conjunction with various browser drivers, including GeckoDriver.

webdriverio

The webdriverio npm package is a WebDriver bindings library for Node.js. It provides a high-level API for interacting with browsers using the WebDriver protocol. WebdriverIO supports multiple browser drivers, including GeckoDriver, and offers additional features like integration with testing frameworks and services. Compared to geckodriver, webdriverio offers a more comprehensive and user-friendly API for browser automation.

README

Geckodriver

An NPM wrapper for Mozilla's Geckodriver. It manages to download various (or the latest) Geckodriver versions and provides a programmatic interface to start and stop it within Node.js. Note: this is a wrapper module. If you discover any bugs with Geckodriver, please report them in the official repository.

Installing

You can install this package via:

npm install geckodriver

Or install it globally:

npm install -g geckodriver

Note: This installs a geckodriver shell script that runs the executable, but on Windows, selenium-webdriver looks for geckodriver.exe. To use a global installation of this package with selenium-webdriver on Windows, copy or link geckodriver.exe to a location on your PATH (such as the NPM bin directory) after installing this package:

mklink %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\npm\geckodriver.exe %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\geckodriver\geckodriver.exe

Once installed you can start Geckodriver via:

npx geckodriver --port=4444

By default, this package downloads Geckodriver when used for the first time through the CLI or the programmatical interface. If you like to download it as part of the NPM install process, set the GECKODRIVER_AUTO_INSTALL environment flag, e.g.:

GECKODRIVER_AUTO_INSTALL=1 npm i

To get a list of available CLI options run npx geckodriver --help. By default this package downloads the latest version of the driver. If you prefer to have it install a custom Geckodriver version you can define the environment variable GECKODRIVER_VERSION when running in CLI, e.g.:

$ npm i geckodriver
$ GECKODRIVER_VERSION="0.31.0" npx geckodriver --version
geckodriver 0.31.0 (b617178ef491 2022-04-06 11:57 +0000)

The source code of this program is available from
testing/geckodriver in https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central.

This program is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public License 2.0.
You can obtain a copy of the license at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.

Setting a CDN URL for binary download

To set an alternate CDN location for geckodriver binaries, set the GECKODRIVER_CDNURL like this:

GECKODRIVER_CDNURL=https://INTERNAL_CDN/geckodriver/download

Binaries on your CDN should be located in a subdirectory of the above base URL. For example, /vxx.xx.xx/*.tar.gz should be located under /geckodriver/download above.

Alternatively, you can add the same property to your .npmrc file.

Default location is set to https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver/releases/download

Setting a PROXY URL

Use HTTPS_PROXY or HTTP_PROXY to set your proxy url.

Programmatic Interface

You can import this package with Node.js and start the driver as part of your script and use it e.g. with WebdriverIO.

Exported Methods

The package exports a start and download method.

start

Starts an Geckodriver instance and returns a ChildProcess. If Geckodriver is not downloaded it will download it for you.

Params: GeckodriverParameters - options to pass into Geckodriver (see below)

Example:

import { start } from 'geckodriver';
import { remote } from 'webdriverio';
import waitPort from 'wait-port';

/**
 * first start Geckodriver
 */
const cp = await start({ port: 4444 });

/**
 * wait for Geckodriver to be up
 */
await waitPort({ port: 4444 });

/**
 * then start WebdriverIO session
 */
const browser = await remote({ capabilities: { browserName: 'firefox' } });
await browser.url('https://webdriver.io');
console.log(await browser.getTitle()); // prints "WebdriverIO · Next-gen browser and mobile automation test framework for Node.js | WebdriverIO"

/**
 * kill Geckodriver process
 */
cp.kill();

Note: as you can see in the example above this package does not wait for the driver to be up, you have to manage this yourself through packages like wait-on.

download

Method to download an Geckodriver with a particular version. If version parameter is omitted it tries to download the latest available version of the driver.

Params: string - version of Geckodriver to download (optional)

CJS Support

In case your module uses CJS you can use this package as follows:

const { start } = require('geckodriver')
// see example above

Options

The start method offers the following options to be passed on to the actual Geckodriver CLI.

allowHosts

List of hostnames to allow. By default the value of --host is allowed, and in addition if that's a well known local address, other variations on well known local addresses are allowed. If --allow-hosts is provided only exactly those hosts are allowed.

Type: string[]
Default: []

allowOrigins

List of request origins to allow. These must be formatted as scheme://host:port. By default any request with an origin header is rejected. If --allow-origins is provided then only exactly those origins are allowed.

Type: string[]
Default: []

binary

Path to the Firefox binary.

Type: string

connectExisting

Connect to an existing Firefox instance.

Type: boolean
Default: false

host

Host IP to use for WebDriver server.

Type: string
Default: 0.0.0.0

jsdebugger

Attach browser toolbox debugger for Firefox.

Type: boolean
Default: false

log

Set Gecko log level [possible values: fatal, error, warn, info, config, debug, trace].

Type: string

logNoTruncated

Write server log to file instead of stderr, increases log level to INFO.

Type: boolean

marionetteHost

Host to use to connect to Gecko.

Type: boolean
Default: 127.0.0.1

marionettePort

Port to use to connect to Gecko.

Type: number
Default: 0

port

Port to listen on.

Type: number

profileRoot

Directory in which to create profiles. Defaults to the system temporary directory.

Type: string

geckoDriverVersion

Version of Geckodriver to start. See https://github.com/mozilla/geckodriver/releases for all available versions, platforms and architecture.

Type: string

customGeckoDriverPath

Don't download Geckodriver, instead use a custom path to it, e.g. a cached binary.

Type: string
Default: process.env.GECKODRIVER_FILEPATH

cacheDir

The path to the root of the cache directory.

Type: string
Default: process.env.GECKODRIVER_CACHE_DIR || os.tmpdir()

Other Browser Driver

If you also look for other browser driver NPM wrapper, you can find them here:

• Chrome: giggio/node-chromedriver
• Microsoft Edge: webdriverio-community/node-edgedriver
• Safari: webdriverio-community/node-safaridriver

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For more information on WebdriverIO see the homepage.