From the command line, simply add the -headless argument: /path/to/firefox -headless
Launching Firefox in headless mode is simple enough. In June, Google shipped Chrome 59 featuring a headless mode, and Firefox has followed close behind with headless mode available on all platforms starting with version 56. While it remains a fantastic tool, it’s valuable to be able to run automated browser tests in official browsers, and so it’s valuable to have a headless mode available. They use the browser as a testing runtime, but there’s no need to display the browser window while the tests run.įor years, the best way to load webpages without displaying UI was PhantomJS, which is based on WebKit. More recently, tools like Lighthouse have packaged complex automated tests into a simple attractive package. This has required tools like virtual display software in order to run properly, adding complexity. In some environments, there may be no graphical display available, or it may be desirable to not have the browser appear at all when being controlled. This poses a few problems for automation. To this end, browsers have long supported some level of automated control, usually via third-party driver software.īrowsers are at their core a user interface to the web, and a graphical user interface in particular. Automation setups range from scripts run on local machines to vast deployments of specialized servers running in the cloud.
You can jump ahead to learn how to use it.īrowser automation is not a new idea, but is an increasingly important part of how modern websites are built, tested, and deployed. If you know the ropes, good news! Firefox now has support for headless mode, making it easier to use as a backend to automated tools.
0 kommentar(er)
