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WebSummoner

Quick start

There are two ways to start WebSummoner: the plain Docker path (no extra tools) and the Configuration Manager path (one binary that downloads and configures everything for you). Both end at the same place: a Selenium endpoint on port 4444.

Option A — the Docker path

Section titled “Option A — the Docker path”

You need a recent Docker Engine installation and nothing else.

1. Create a minimal browsers.json

Section titled “1. Create a minimal browsers.json”

This tells WebSummoner which browser images to launch. Save as browsers.json:

{
  "chrome": {
    "default": "152",
    "versions": {
      "152": {
        "image": "websummoner/chrome:152",
        "port": "4444",
        "tmpfs": { "/tmp": "size=512m" }
      }
    }
  }
}

The 152 tag floats within the Chrome 152 release line — it always points at the latest published patch. To pin an exact, never-changing build, use the full version tag instead (see Image tags and versioning).

2. Start the container

Section titled “2. Start the container”
Terminal window
docker run -d --name websummoner -p 4444:4444 \
    -v $PWD/browsers.json:/etc/websummoner/browsers.json:ro \
    -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
    websummoner/websummoner:latest

The Docker socket mount is what allows WebSummoner to start browser containers on the same host. New to bind mounts (-v host:container)? See the official bind mounts guide.

3. Check it is alive

Section titled “3. Check it is alive”

Open http://localhost:4444/status — you should get a JSON document with browser usage statistics ("ready": true means there is a free session slot).

Option B — the Configuration Manager path

Section titled “Option B — the Configuration Manager path”

Configuration Manager (cm) is a small helper binary that downloads the WebSummoner release, writes a browsers.json with current browser versions and starts everything for you.

  1. Download cm for your platform from the releases page.
  2. On Linux/macOS give it execution permissions:
    Terminal window
    chmod +x cm
  3. Start WebSummoner with VNC-capable browser images:
    Terminal window
    ./cm websummoner start --vnc

Running as root breaks things

Do not run the command above with sudo — it leads to a broken installation. Run as a regular user instead. On Linux you may need to add your user to the docker group first:

Terminal window
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

The legacy cm selenoid start spelling still works — see Migrating from Selenoid.

Run your tests

Section titled “Run your tests”

Point your tests at WebSummoner exactly like you would at a regular Selenium hub:

http://localhost:4444/wd/hub

Any Selenium client and any framework (TestNG, JUnit, pytest, pytest-bot, Nightwatch, WebdriverIO, Playwright’s Selenium-compatible endpoint, …) works unchanged.

Optional: the WebSummoner UI

Section titled “Optional: the WebSummoner UI”

To watch live sessions, screens and logs in a browser, start WebSummoner UI:

Terminal window
docker run -d --name websummoner-ui -p 8080:8080 \
    websummoner/websummoner-ui --websummoner-uri http://localhost:4444

Then open http://localhost:8080/.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”