Selenium is a popular tool for automating web browsers, and Docker is a platform that allows you to create, deploy, and run applications in containers. By using Selenium with Docker, you can easily set up and manage browser automation tasks in isolated environments, making it convenient for testing and web scraping.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use Selenium with Docker:

1. Install Docker: Make sure you have Docker installed on your machine. You can download and install Docker from the official website (https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop).

2. Pull the Selenium Docker image: Docker provides pre-built Selenium images that you can use. Open a terminal or command prompt and pull the Selenium image by running the following command:

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   docker pull selenium/standalone-chrome


   This command pulls the Docker image containing the standalone version of Google Chrome with Selenium.

3. Start a Selenium container: Once you have the Selenium image downloaded, you can start a new Selenium container using the following command:

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   docker run -d -p 4444:4444 --shm-size=2g selenium/standalone-chrome


   Explanation of the flags used:

   • -d: Runs the container in the background (detached mode).
   • -p 4444:4444: Maps port 4444 from the container to port 4444 on your local machine. This is the port used by Selenium for communication.
   • --shm-size=2g: Allocates 2GB of shared memory for the container. This is often required to prevent Chrome from crashing due to limited shared memory.

4. Connect to the Selenium server: With the container running, you can now connect to the Selenium server from your automation scripts or testing frameworks. Use the Selenium client libraries (such as Selenium WebDriver) in your preferred programming language to interact with the browser running inside the Docker container.

5. Run your Selenium tests or automation tasks: Write your Selenium automation scripts or tests using the appropriate programming language (e.g., Python, Java, JavaScript). Ensure that you use the correct Selenium client library for your chosen language. Your scripts should include instructions to connect to the Selenium server running in the Docker container.

6. Stop the Selenium container: When you’re done with your tests or tasks, you can stop the Selenium container by finding its container ID using docker ps and then running:

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   docker stop <container_id>


That’s it! You now have Selenium set up to run in a Docker container, allowing you to automate web browsers with ease and portability.

Please note that the container and its contents, including cookies and caches, are temporary and will be lost when you stop or remove the container. If you require persistent data, consider using Docker volumes to store them outside the container.