This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Valentina Skakun
This is the first post in series about web scraping with Selenium in Python. Here, you’ll learn how to install Selenium, set up a WebDriver, and launch your first browser.
Table of Contents
- Step 1: Install the Latest Selenium
- Step 2: Launch a Browser with Selenium Manager
- Step 3: Create Drivers Using the New Options API
- Step 4: Use Context Managers for Auto-quit
Step 1: Install the Latest Selenium
First, install Selenium from PyPI. It works with all modern browsers.
pip install selenium
Make sure it works:
python -m selenium --version
If you see the version number, you’re good to go.
Step 2: Launch a Browser with Selenium Manager
Now let’s start a browser with Selenium.
You don’t need to download ChromeDriver or GeckoDriver anymore, Selenium handles it automatically.
from selenium import webdriver
# Chrome
driver = webdriver.Chrome()
# Firefox
driver = webdriver.Firefox()
# Edge
driver = webdriver.Edge()
# Safari (Mac only)
driver = webdriver.Safari()
driver.quit() # Always close your browser when done
If you run this and see the browser open and close, it works.
To use your own driver binary:
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
service = Service("/path/to/chromedriver")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service)
Step 3: Create Drivers Using the Options
When you launch a browser, you can pass options, small settings that control the browser.
For example, run it in headless mode (without opening a real window) or change the user agent.
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options
options = Options()
options.add_argument("--headless") # Run without a visible window
options.add_argument("--window-size=1920,1080") # Set window size
options.add_argument("--user-agent=MyScraperBot/1.0") # Custom user agent
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get("https://example.com")
print(driver.title) # Just to check everything works
driver.quit()
Headless mode is better for scraping, as it’s faster and uses less memory.
Step 4: Use Context Managers for Auto-quit
When you open a browser in Selenium, it stays running until you call driver.quit(). If your script crashes or you forget to close it, the browser keeps running in the background.
To avoid that, use a context manager (with block). It closes the browser automatically when you’re done, even if an error happens.
from selenium import webdriver
# Browser will close automatically after the block ends
with webdriver.Chrome() as driver:
driver.get("https://example.com")
print(driver.title)
Final Notes
In the next article, we’ll cover page navigation, tabs, clicks, forms, scrolling, and running JavaScript.
Meanwhile, here are some useful resources:
- The Complete Guide to Web Scraping with Selenium in Python
- Join our Discord
- Selenium Scraping Examples in Python and NodeJS (GitHub) If you want any examples I might have missed, leave a comment and I’ll add them.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Valentina Skakun
Valentina Skakun | Sciencx (2025-10-16T07:37:17+00:00) # Set Up Selenium for Python. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/10/16/set-up-selenium-for-python/
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