Selenium IDE is being blocked by Google

[graykathy]

🐛 Bug Report

A clear and concise description of what the bug is.
Per https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/develop/migrate/mv2-deprecation-timeline, Google is disabling all extensions using Manifest V2. Mine was just disabled yesterday. I am no longer able to use the Selenium IDE.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior: Open extensions in Google Chrome. Selenium IDE is no longer there

Expected behavior

A clear and concise description of what you expected to happen. I expected to be able to use Selenium IDE from the extensions area

Project file reproducing this issue (highly encouraged)

Please provide a project file .side that reproduces this issue.

Issues without a reproduction project are likely to stall.

Environment

OS: Windows 11
Selenium IDE Version: Not sure how to find this information
Selenium SIDE Runner Version:
Node version:
Browser: Google Chrome
Browser Version: 131.0.6778.206

[toddtarsi]

Webextension manifest v3 is a bad time for browser automation tools. If you'd like, you can join me on v4 by installing npm and doing this:

npm i -g selenium-ide

I also have binaries available here:

https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium-ide/releases/tag/v4.0.1-beta.14

They're not code signed so I can't list them in any storefronts. I know it sucks, my deepest apologies.

[toddtarsi]

My tool is janky, my attitude is cranky, my response times are lanky, and my moves are stanky. I haven't looked at my stuff in months. I have a local version that at least makes extending the UX possible via plugins but I need more stabilization and testing and code signing certificates to make it feel solid. That said, I've forced my company into it (thank you 🙇) so it is functional to the extent that you can work pretty solidly if you've written the codebase.

It does support multi drag and drop tho 😭.

[toddtarsi]

Also I think the readme talks a bit about migrating from v3. Some of the commands change to a modern equivalent. For example, storeXPathCount becomes storeElementCount and selector independent, and other such things. There is actually an npm package @seleniumhq/side-migrate which should do this on side projects in a single command.

[aliceoneill]

Will installing npm mean that I can use Selenium IDE again? Please could you explain which npm extension to install and how to enter that text?
I just got a new laptop and can't install Selenium IDE and I'm devastated :(

[toddtarsi]

There's a couple ways. If you have npm, it's pretty great imo.

If you don't have npm, you can also download binaries here:

https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium-ide/releases/tag/v4.0.1-beta.14

You'll have to mark it as safe because your computer will call it an untrusted download. The act of getting code signing certificates for this, well, it did not go so good.

[toddtarsi]

v4 is a bit diffferent from v3 btw. It's a lot less polished still, and I don't have much time these days to work on it. I hope it works as well for you as it does for me, but it being a system executable that drives a webdriver instance directly, well its a bit more of a beast when it comes to things like killing rogue webdriver processes and dealing with the tool breaking and such. Best of luck and I hope you like it!

[aliceoneill]

Thank you so much for replying, I really appreciate it. Sadly, I think our security set up doesn't allow me to do this. I'm really upset - it's such a good tool.

[dwarwick]

If I remember correctly, you can only download it with either Edge or Chrome. I don't remember which one allowed me to trust the download. You might be seeing the same issue. Maybe try the other browser to download it. Sincerely, David Warwick 951-210-8209

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On Wed, Feb 12, 2025, 9:36 AM Alice ***@***.***> wrote: Thank you so much for replying, I really appreciate it. Sadly, I think our security set up doesn't allow me to do this. I'm really upset - it's such a good tool. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1882 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ADZ27ZHX474QJSRAI66HVFT2POBCNAVCNFSM6AAAAABU2MR4WWVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDMNJUGQYTMNRSGA> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[lino76]

There's a couple ways. If you have npm, it's pretty great imo.

If you don't have npm, you can also download binaries here:

https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium-ide/releases/tag/v4.0.1-beta.14

You'll have to mark it as safe because your computer will call it an untrusted download. The act of getting code signing certificates for this, well, it did not go so good.

@toddtarsi
I installed the package via npm, but I don't see the extension in chrome. I think I'm assuming to much here.
What do you need to do to get chrome to recognize the selenium extension in Chrome? Is there something I need to do to add it to the browser?

Thank You

[diemol]

v4 is an Electron app, it is not a browser extension.

[lino76]

@diemol Thanks for the response.

I will use selenium installer and just use the tool out of the box.