# Selenium
URL: /integrations/selenium

---
title: Selenium
sidebarTitle: Selenium
description: Drive a Steel cloud browser from Selenium over the W3C WebDriver protocol in Python.
llm: true
---

Selenium speaks the W3C WebDriver protocol over HTTP, not CDP. Steel runs a WebDriver endpoint at `http://connect.steelbrowser.com/selenium`. Point `webdriver.Remote` at it, attach the Steel API key and session ID as headers on every request, and the rest is plain Selenium 4.

Sessions for Selenium need `is_selenium=True` on creation — that flag provisions a WebDriver-compatible node. Without it you get a CDP browser that Selenium cannot drive.

### Requirements

*   **Steel API Key**: Active Steel subscription
*   **Runtime**: Python 3.10+
*   **Package**: `selenium` 4+

### Connect Steel to Selenium

Subclass `RemoteConnection` to inject `steel-api-key` and `session-id` headers on every WebDriver request, then point `webdriver.Remote` at Steel's WebDriver endpoint:

```python Python -wc
import os
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.remote.remote_connection import RemoteConnection
from steel import Steel

class SteelRemoteConnection(RemoteConnection):
    def __init__(self, remote_server_addr: str, session_id: str):
        super().__init__(remote_server_addr)
        self._session_id = session_id

    def get_remote_connection_headers(self, parsed_url, keep_alive=False):
        headers = super().get_remote_connection_headers(parsed_url, keep_alive)
        headers["steel-api-key"] = os.environ["STEEL_API_KEY"]
        headers["session-id"] = self._session_id
        return headers

client = Steel(steel_api_key=STEEL_API_KEY)
session = client.sessions.create(is_selenium=True)

driver = webdriver.Remote(
    command_executor=SteelRemoteConnection(
        remote_server_addr="http://connect.steelbrowser.com/selenium",
        session_id=session.id,
    ),
    options=webdriver.ChromeOptions(),
)
```

Each command is an HTTP round-trip, so prefer `WebDriverWait` with `expected_conditions` over blind `time.sleep` to avoid compounding latency.

Full runnable starter: [Steel + Selenium recipe →](/cookbook/selenium)

### FAQ

### Do I need to change my existing Selenium code to use Steel?

Mostly no — your test logic stays plain Selenium 4. The change is in the connection: point `webdriver.Remote` at Steel's WebDriver endpoint and inject the `steel-api-key` and `session-id` headers on every request via a small `RemoteConnection` subclass.

### How do I connect Selenium to a Steel browser session?

Steel runs a WebDriver endpoint at `http://connect.steelbrowser.com/selenium`. Create a session with `client.sessions.create(is_selenium=True)`, then pass a `RemoteConnection` subclass that adds `steel-api-key` and `session-id` headers as the `command_executor` for `webdriver.Remote`.

### Does Selenium work with Steel's proxies, stealth mode, and CAPTCHA solving?

Yes — those are set when you create the session (e.g. `use_proxy`, `solve_captcha`, `stealth_config` on `sessions.create`), so Selenium doesn't need to know about them. Your WebDriver commands run against the session however it was provisioned.

### Why does my session need `is_selenium=True`?

Because Selenium speaks the W3C WebDriver protocol over HTTP, not CDP. `is_selenium=True` provisions a WebDriver-compatible node — without it you get a CDP browser that Selenium cannot drive.


### Resources

*   [Selenium Python documentation](https://selenium-python.readthedocs.io) – Official Python bindings reference
*   [WebDriver protocol](https://w3c.github.io/webdriver/) – W3C specification
*   [Steel Sessions API reference](/api-reference#tag/sessions) – Technical details for managing Steel browser sessions
*   [Steel Discord](https://discord.gg/steel-dev) – Get help and share what you build