For most current Selenium projects, install the Selenium language binding and create a Chrome WebDriver without downloading ChromeDriver yourself: Selenium Manager can resolve and manage the driver automatically. Use an explicit driver path when you need a fixed version, a custom browser installation, or a workaround for network or platform constraints.
What ChromeDriver does—and when you need to install it
ChromeDriver is a separate executable that Selenium WebDriver uses to control Chrome, acting as the bridge between Selenium code and the browser. See Chrome for Developers’ ChromeDriver setup guide.
Selenium Manager, shipped with Selenium releases since Selenium 4.6 according to the Selenium Project, can locate the installed browser, find a compatible driver using vendor metadata, download and unpack it, and cache it. Selenium bindings invoke it as a fallback when you have not already provided a driver. As a result, a separate driver-manager dependency and a manual download are usually unnecessary for a standard setup.
Start Chrome with Selenium Manager
Install the Selenium binding for your language, ensure Chrome is installed, then create a Chrome WebDriver without a driver path. The first run may need network access to retrieve driver metadata and download the executable.
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Python
Install the binding with python -m pip install selenium, then run this script:
from selenium import webdriver
# Selenium Manager resolves ChromeDriver when no driver is supplied.
driver = webdriver.Chrome()
try:
driver.get("https://example.com")
print(driver.title)
finally:
driver.quit()The Python API documents webdriver.Chrome() in the Selenium Client Driver documentation.
JavaScript
Install the package with npm install selenium-webdriver. The JavaScript API’s quick-start pattern is:
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const { Builder, Browser } = require('selenium-webdriver');
(async function main() {
const driver = await new Builder().forBrowser(Browser.CHROME).build();
try {
await driver.get('https://example.com');
console.log(await driver.getTitle());
} finally {
await driver.quit();
}
})();See the Selenium WebDriver JavaScript API. Other language bindings have their own installation and syntax.
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Choose automatic or manual driver management
| Approach | Best fit | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Selenium Manager | Typical local development and environments with access to browser-vendor metadata and downloads. | Less upkeep: Selenium discovers, downloads, and caches a driver. Network policy, browser packaging, or architecture can prevent automatic resolution. |
| Explicit driver path/version | Fixed browser-driver combinations, custom browser locations, package-managed installations, or restricted environments. | More control, but your team must provide the executable and keep its path and version compatible with the browser. |
These behaviors are described in the Selenium Manager documentation and ChromeDriver getting-started guide.
Set up ChromeDriver manually when you need explicit control
- Identify the browser you will run. Confirm the installed Chrome or Chromium version and its location. Package-managed builds, including some Anaconda or snap installations, may not be found where Selenium expects.
- Select a compatible driver. For Chrome releases beginning with M115, Chrome and ChromeDriver releases are published together by release channel—Stable, Beta, Dev, or Canary—through Chrome for Testing availability data. Choose based on the browser version and channel you actually use, rather than assuming an arbitrary latest driver fits every installation. See Chrome for Developers: What is ChromeDriver?.
- Download the executable for your operating system and architecture from the official ChromeDriver/Chrome for Testing distribution, then make it executable where required by your OS.
- Make the driver discoverable. Add its directory to
PATH, or configure the driver path in your language binding. Chrome’s setup guide documents both thePATHapproach and binding-specific configuration. - Run a minimal browser check. Start a WebDriver session, navigate to a known page, and close the session. If it fails, check the browser and driver versions, paths, and operating-system dependencies before changing application test code.
Python with an explicit driver path
With a Selenium version that supports the Service API, pass the executable location explicitly:
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from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
service = Service(executable_path="/absolute/path/to/chromedriver")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service)
try:
driver.get("https://example.com")
print(driver.title)
finally:
driver.quit()Replace the example path with the actual executable path for your system. Chrome documents webdriver.chrome.driver for Java and path-based setup for Python in its getting-started guide.
Where setup commonly breaks
“Unable to locate driver” or driver not found
- Check that the Selenium binding is current enough to include Selenium Manager and that you have not supplied a stale driver path or service configuration.
- If you intend to manage the driver manually, confirm the executable exists, is executable, and is on
PATHor points to the path given in your code. - For more diagnostic steps, consult Selenium’s Unable to Locate Driver Error guidance.
Proxy or firewall blocks downloads
Selenium Manager requests remote metadata and downloads driver artifacts. Review whether the machine can reach the required vendor endpoints and configure the proxy when necessary; Selenium documents the SE_PROXY setting. If policy does not permit those requests, provide a compatible driver through an explicit path.
Custom browser package or install location
Anaconda, snap, and other packaged browsers may need an explicit browser location and/or driver path. Verify which browser binary the test is launching; an available ChromeDriver does not help if Selenium is trying to start a different or nonexistent browser installation.
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Unsupported architecture
Selenium’s standard Selenium Manager binaries do not cover every architecture. Linux ARM64/aarch64 and other nonstandard setups may require a custom Selenium Manager binary or explicit driver path. Selenium documents SE_MANAGER_PATH as one way to point to a custom manager binary.
Browser process starts but exits or will not launch
Automatic driver resolution does not install every system dependency needed to run Chrome. On Linux, missing shared libraries can stop the browser from launching. Check the browser’s launch error and install the dependencies appropriate to your distribution and browser release rather than relying on a universal package list.
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If you need a screenshot rather than browser-driven interaction, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API: one GET request takes a URL and returns an image or PDF. It avoids setting up Selenium and ChromeDriver for that task.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Selenium Manager require a separate package?
No. Selenium Manager is shipped with Selenium releases; you generally do not need to install a separate driver-manager dependency.
Can Selenium control Chromium instead of Google Chrome?
ChromeDriver is used with Chrome and Chromium, but a packaged Chromium installation may require explicit browser or driver paths.
Does ScreenshotNeo replace Selenium for browser automation tests?
No. ScreenshotNeo captures a page as an image or PDF; it does not replace Selenium when tests need to interact with browser controls or verify application behavior.
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