splinter: Automate Web Browser Interactions in Python

Overview

Splinter is a Python library for automating web browsers, particularly for testing web applications. It gives test code a consistent interface for visiting pages, locating elements, entering text, and clicking controls, reducing the need to handle browser interactions directly.

It is suited to teams writing acceptance or integration tests that need to check behavior through a browser. Its driver options include Selenium and integrations for Django, Flask, and ZopeTestBrowser. When the higher-level API is insufficient, code can access Selenium directly.

Key Features

• Provides a Python API for browser actions such as visiting pages, filling fields, and clicking elements.
• Supports multiple automation drivers, including Selenium, Django, Flask, and ZopeTestBrowser.
• Offers access to lower-level Selenium functionality when needed.
• Includes helpers for checking whether text appears on a page.
• Has a separate pytest plugin, pytest-splinter, for use with the pytest runner.
• Supports page objects through the separate Stere package.

Use Cases

• Python developers can write browser-based acceptance tests for web applications.
• QA engineers can automate user journeys, such as submitting forms and checking resulting page content.
• Django or Flask developers can use the supported drivers to test application pages.
• Test authors who want a higher-level browser API but need Selenium-specific operations can use both interfaces.

Getting Started

Install Splinter with pip install splinter, then follow the installation guide and tutorial. See the README for an example and links to the documentation.

Alternatives

• Selenium: Selenium provides direct, language-neutral WebDriver browser automation, while Splinter offers a higher-level Python API that can use Selenium.
• shortest: Shortest uses TypeScript, natural-language test instructions, Claude, and Playwright for end-to-end tests; Splinter provides a Python browser-automation API.

Considerations

• Browser automation requires an appropriate driver and browser setup for the chosen backend. Consult the documentation for driver-specific installation details.
• The project provides an API over browser automation tools; it does not remove the need to understand the selected driver for advanced use.
• pytest integration and page-object support are provided by separate projects, pytest-splinter and Stere.