How to run Chrome/Firefox/MSEdge in headless mode and private mode using Selenium (Csharp/Java/Python)

In 2023, Selenium is still a popular automation testing tool. It does support many running mode to adapt to your requirements.

Headless Mode is a feature that allows the browser to run without a graphical user interface (GUI), making it faster and more efficient for running automated tests. It is recommend when running testcases in CI/CD where you can not see the browser.

Otherwise, Private Mode refers to running a browser session in incognito/private mode.

When using this mode, the browser does not store any browsing history, cookies, or form data. This is extremely useful as your testcases

I will go straight forward to how setup headless and private mode. If you do not know how to init a Selenium project in Java, C# or Python. Please read this blog first.

Also note that the recent Selenium version using in this blog is 4.8.1 (latest until 3/9/2023). Maybe it will be outdated in the future.

You can set up headless and private mode as below:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service


def program():

    ser = Service(r'./chromedriver.exe')
    op = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
    op.add_argument('--headless')
    op.add_argument('--incognito')
    driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=ser, options=op)

    driver.get('https://tomatoqa.com')
    assert driver.title == 'Home - tomatoqa.com'

    driver.quit()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    program()

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.chrome.ChromeOptions;
import org.testng.Assert;

public class HeadlessChrome {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
        String projectPath = System.getProperty("user.dir");
        System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", projectPath + "/chromedriver.exe");

        ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new ChromeOptions();
        chromeOptions.addArguments("--headless");
        chromeOptions.addArguments("--incognito");

        WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
        driver.get("https://tomatoqa.com");

        Assert.assertEquals(driver.getTitle(), "Home - tomatoqa.com");

        driver.quit();
    }
}

using NUnit.Framework;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Chrome;

ChromeOptions chromeOptions = new();
chromeOptions.AddArgument("—headless");
chromeOptions.AddArgument("--incognito");

IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver(chromeOptions);
driver.Url = "https://tomatoqa.com";

Assert.AreEqual(driver.Title, "Home - tomatoqa.coms");

driver.Quit();

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.firefox.firefox_binary import FirefoxBinary


def program():

    service = Service(r'./geckodriver.exe')

    options = webdriver.FirefoxOptions()
    options.add_argument('--headless')
    options.add_argument('--private')
    options.binary_location = FirefoxBinary()
    driver = webdriver.Firefox(service=service, options=options)

    driver.get('https://tomatoqa.com')
    driver.maximize_window()
    assert driver.title == 'Home - tomatoqa.com'

    driver.quit()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    program()

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.firefox.*;
import org.testng.Assert;

public class HeadlessChrome {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
        String projectPath = System.getProperty("user.dir");
        System.setProperty("webdriver.gecko.driver", projectPath + "/geckodriver.exe");

        FirefoxBinary firefoxBinary = new FirefoxBinary();
        FirefoxOptions firefoxOptions = new FirefoxOptions();
        firefoxOptions.addArguments("--headless");
        firefoxOptions.addArguments("--private");
        firefoxOptions.setBinary(firefoxBinary);

        WebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(firefoxOptions);
        driver.get("https://tomatoqa.com");

        Assert.assertEquals(driver.getTitle(), "Home - tomatoqa.com");

        driver.quit();
    }
}

using NUnit.Framework;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Firefox;

FirefoxOptions firefoxOptions = new();
firefoxOptions.AddArgument("--headless");
firefoxOptions.AddArgument("--private");

IWebDriver driver = new FirefoxDriver(firefoxOptions);
driver.Url = "https://tomatoqa.com";

Assert.AreEqual(driver.Title, "Home - tomatoqa.com");

driver.Quit();

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.edge.service import Service


def program():

    service = Service(r'./msedgedriver.exe')

    options = webdriver.EdgeOptions()
    options.add_argument('--headless')
    options.add_argument('InPrivate')
    driver = webdriver.Edge(service=service, options=options)

    driver.get('https://tomatoqa.com')
    driver.maximize_window()
    assert driver.title == 'Home - tomatoqa.com'

    driver.quit()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    program()
    

import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.edge.EdgeDriver;
import org.openqa.selenium.edge.EdgeOptions;
import org.testng.Assert;

public class HeadlessChrome {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
        String projectPath = System.getProperty("user.dir");
        System.setProperty("webdriver.edge.driver", projectPath + "/msedgedriver.exe");

        EdgeOptions edgeOptions = new EdgeOptions();
        edgeOptions.addArguments("--headless");
        edgeOptions.addArguments("InPrivate");

        WebDriver driver = new EdgeDriver(edgeOptions);
        driver.get("https://tomatoqa.com");

        Assert.assertEquals(driver.getTitle(), "Home - tomatoqa.com");

        driver.quit();
    }
}

using NUnit.Framework;
using OpenQA.Selenium;
using OpenQA.Selenium.Edge;

EdgeOptions edgeOptions = new();
edgeOptions.AddArgument("--headless");
edgeOptions.AddArgument("InPrivate");

IWebDriver driver = new EdgeDriver(edgeOptions);
driver.Url = "https://tomatoqa.com";

Assert.AreEqual(driver.Title, "Home - tomatoqa.coms");

driver.Quit();

Whenever you have a plan to run your automated testcases in CI/CD, consider running it in headless and private mode as it will make your testcases run more stable and a little bit faster.

Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn

I used to be a back-end Java and PHP developer but now I found joy in automation testing engineer position and sharing knowledge about it

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