Selenium is a popular open-source framework primarily used for automating web applications for testing purposes, but it can also be used for various other browser automation tasks. It provides a way to control web browsers programmatically, allowing you to simulate user interactions, navigate websites, fill out forms, click buttons, and more.

Here’s a basic overview of how Selenium works for browser automation:

1. Installation: You need to install the Selenium WebDriver for the specific programming language you’re using (such as Python, Java, C#, etc.). You can usually do this using a package manager, like pip for Python.

2. Driver Setup: Selenium interacts with different web browsers through their respective WebDriver implementations. You’ll need to download the appropriate WebDriver executable for the browser you want to automate (e.g., ChromeDriver for Google Chrome, GeckoDriver for Mozilla Firefox). Make sure the WebDriver executable is in your system’s PATH.

3. Import Libraries: Import the necessary Selenium libraries in your chosen programming language to start writing automation scripts.

4. Instantiate WebDriver: Create an instance of the WebDriver using the appropriate driver class. For example, in Python, you might use webdriver.Chrome() to create a Chrome browser instance.

5. Navigate and Interact: You can use various methods provided by Selenium WebDriver to navigate to URLs, interact with web elements (click buttons, fill forms, etc.), and perform other actions like scrolling and capturing screenshots.

6. Assertions and Testing: Selenium is widely used for automated testing. You can use assertions and testing frameworks to verify that certain elements or behaviors are present as expected on web pages.

7. Cleanup: After your automation tasks are completed, make sure to close the WebDriver instance to release resources and close the browser window.

Here’s a simple example using Python and ChromeDriver:

Remember that Selenium is not limited to basic interactions; you can also handle more complex scenarios involving wait conditions, handling alerts, working with iframes, and more.