Start WebDriver

This node starts a Selenium workflow by creating a new WebDriver. A WebDriver serves as an interface to a web browser, and allows to open web pages, control the browser, and extract data from it. The actual WebDriver to use must be configured using an upstream WebDriver Factory node.

The WebDriver is automatically closed, when this node is being reset, or the workflow or KNIME is closed. Additionally, you can explicitly close the browser with a Quit WebDriver node.

Important note: Because of the way Selenium works, KNIME workflows using the Selenium Nodes behave differently than you might be used from other nodes. As a Selenium workflow relies on a running browser instance, it is for example not possible to re-run a saved KNIME workflow from in between after it has been loaded from disk. In such cases, you need to re-run the workflow starting from the initial Start WebDriver node, as the downstream Selenium nodes require a WebDriver instance for operation.

Options

WebDriver

WebDriver
The WebDriver to use (this option is available when the input port is unconnected). Otherwise you can configure this in the corresponding “WebDriver Factory” node. Please see the “WebDriver Factory” node documentation for configuration details.

Navigation

URL
(optional) The URL to load (“knime:” URLs will be resolved to local “file:” URLs, which is useful for testing purposes). Hint: It’s recommended to use the “Navigate” node instead to configure the initial URL -- this allows you re-run a workflow starting at the “Navigate” node without having to re-start the browser.

Timeouts

Page load timeout
The timeout for a page load to finish in milliseconds.
Script timeout
The timeout for asynchronous scripts in milliseconds.
Implicit wait
The amount of time to wait in case an element is searched in the DOM and it is not immediately available. Note: We recommend against using this configuration - instead use the “explicit” waits which you can configure in the “Find Elements” options.

Input Ports

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A configured factory which is used for creating the WebDrivers

Output Ports

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A table with one row and column providing the WebDriver

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Installation

To use this node in KNIME, install the extension Selenium Nodes for KNIME from the below update site following our NodePit Product and Node Installation Guide:

v5.12

A zipped version of the software site can be downloaded here.

Plugin provider: seleniumnodes.com
Plugin version: 5.13.6.202607040648
On NodePit since: 2026-07-06
Last update: 2026-07-17
KNIME versions: Since v3.6

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