# Getting started

> Install Browser, write a first test, and run it.

Source: [https://robotframework-browser.org/docs/start/getting-started](https://robotframework-browser.org/docs/start/getting-started)

Install the library and its browser binaries, write one test, run it.

## Before you start

You need **Python 3.10 or newer**, and a virtual environment to put this in —
`uv`, `venv` or `pyenv`, whichever your team uses.

## Install

```bash
$ pip install "robotframework-browser[bb]"
Successfully installed robotframework-browser-21.0.0 robotframework-browser-batteries-21.0.0
$ rfbrowser install
Installing Playwright browser binaries…
✓ chromium   downloaded
✓ firefox    downloaded
✓ webkit     downloaded
```

```powershell
PS> py -m pip install "robotframework-browser[bb]"
Successfully installed robotframework-browser-21.0.0 robotframework-browser-batteries-21.0.0
PS> py -m Browser.entry install
Installing Playwright browser binaries…
✓ chromium   downloaded
✓ firefox    downloaded
✓ webkit     downloaded
```

That is the route that needs no Node.js: the `[bb]` extra brings a Node.js
runtime along in the wheel. `rfbrowser install` then downloads three browser
engines, so it is the slow part and it needs a few hundred megabytes — once per
environment.

If you would rather provide Node.js yourself — because your platform has no
wheel, or because a JavaScript extension needs npm packages Browser does not
ship — the commands are `pip install robotframework-browser` and `rfbrowser init` instead. Both routes, in full, are on
[Installation](https://robotframework-browser.org/docs/start/installation).

## Your first test

The assertion is part of the keyword — `Get Title` both reads and checks.

The browser runs **headless** by default, so this prints a result without
anything appearing on screen. To watch it, open the browser yourself above
`New Page`:

```robot-repl
New Browser    chromium    headless=False
```

```robot [first.robot]
*** Settings ***
Library    Browser

*** Test Cases ***
Open The Keyword Reference
    New Page     https://robotframework-browser.org
    Get Title    *=    Robot Framework Browser
    Click        nav[aria-label="Main"] >> text="Keywords"
    Get Title    *=    Keyword reference
```

It drives this site, so you can run it right now without an application of your
own — and the pages it touches are the ones you are reading.

Two things are doing work in that selector, and both are worth copying.

`>>` chains: everything left of it narrows the search, so `text="Keywords"` is
looked for only inside the main navigation. The page has a second link with that
exact text — in the row of figures on the landing page — and Playwright is
strict: a selector matching more than one element is an error, not a silent
first-match.

The quotes make it an *exact* match. Without them, `text=Keywords` is a
case-insensitive substring, which would also find "keywords" inside a sentence.
See [selectors](https://robotframework-browser.org/docs/concepts/selectors).

## Run it

```bash
$ robot first.robot
Open The Keyword Reference                                            | PASS |
1 test, 1 passed, 0 failed
```

Robot Framework writes `log.html` into the directory you ran `robot` from — not
next to the test file — unless you pass `--outputdir`. Open it — every keyword,
its arguments and its result are in there, and it is the first place to look
when something fails.

## What is not in that test

No `Sleep`, and no wait keyword before anything. Two different mechanisms are
doing that work:

- **Action keywords** like `Click` wait for the element to be actionable —
attached, visible, stable and able to receive the click — before acting.
- **Assertions** like the `Get Title` line above re-read the value until it
matches or the retry window expires.

So a keyword with an assertion operator is itself the wait. A getter *without*
one reads once and returns. That distinction is the whole of
[assertions](https://robotframework-browser.org/docs/concepts/assertions).