- Overview
- UI Automation
- About the UI Automation activity package
- Applications and technologies automated with UI Automation
- Project compatibility
- UI-ANA-016 - Pull Open Browser URL
- UI-ANA-017 - ContinueOnError True
- UI-ANA-018 - List OCR/Image Activities
- UI-DBP-006 - Container Usage
- UI-DBP-013 - Excel Automation Misuse
- UI-DBP-030 - Forbidden Variables Usage In Selectors
- UI-DBP-031 - Activity verification
- UI-PRR-001 - Simulate Click
- UI-PRR-002 - Simulate Type
- UI-PRR-003 - Open Application Misuse
- UI-PRR-004 - Hardcoded Delays
- UI-REL-001 - Large Idx in Selectors
- UI-SEC-004 - Selector Email Data
- UI-SEC-010 - App/Url Restrictions
- UI-USG-011 - Non Allowed Attributes
- UX-SEC-010 - App/Url Restrictions
- UX-DBP-029 - Insecure Password Use
- UI-PST-001 - Audit Log Level in Project Settings
- UiPath Browser Migration Tool
- Clipping region
- Computer Vision Recorder
- Activities index
- Activate
- Anchor Base
- Attach Browser
- Attach Window
- Block User Input
- Callout
- Check
- Click
- Click Image
- Click Image Trigger
- Click OCR Text
- Click Text
- Click Trigger
- Close Application
- Close Tab
- Close Window
- Context Aware Anchor
- Copy Selected Text
- Element Attribute Change Trigger
- Element Exists
- Element Scope
- Element State Change Trigger
- Export UI Tree
- Extract Structured Data
- Find Children
- Find Element
- Find Image
- Find Image Matches
- Find OCR Text Position
- Find Relative Element
- Find Text Position
- Get Active Window
- Get Ancestor
- Get Attribute
- Get Event Info
- Get From Clipboard
- Get Full Text
- Get OCR Text
- Get Password
- Get Position
- Get Source Element
- Get Text
- Get Visible Text
- Go Back
- Go Forward
- Go Home
- Google Cloud Vision OCR
- Hide Window
- Highlight
- Hotkey Trigger
- Hover
- Hover Image
- Hover OCR Text
- Hover Text
- Image Exists
- Indicate On Screen
- Inject .NET Code
- Inject Js Script
- Invoke ActiveX Method
- Key Press Trigger
- Load Image
- Maximize Window
- Microsoft Azure Computer Vision OCR
- Microsoft OCR
- Microsoft Project Oxford Online OCR
- Minimize Window
- Monitor Events
- Mouse Trigger
- Move Window
- Navigate To
- OCR Text Exists
- On Element Appear
- On Element Vanish
- On Image Appear
- On Image Vanish
- Open Application
- Open Browser
- Refresh Browser
- Replay User Event
- Restore Window
- Save Image
- Select Item
- Select Multiple Items
- Send Hotkey
- Set Clipping Region
- Set Focus
- Set Text
- Set To Clipboard
- Set Web Attribute
- Show Window
- Start Process
- System Trigger
- Take Screenshot
- Tesseract OCR
- Text Exists
- Tooltip
- Type Into
- Type Secure Text
- Use Foreground
- Wait Attribute
- Wait Element Vanish
- Wait Image Vanish
- Accessibility Check
- Application Event Trigger
- Block User Input
- Check/Uncheck
- Check App State
- Check Element
- Click
- Click Event Trigger
- Drag and Drop
- Extract Table Data
- Find Elements
- For Each UI Element
- Get Browser Data
- Get Clipboard
- Get Text
- Get URL
- Go to URL
- Highlight
- Hover
- Inject Js Script
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Keypress Event Trigger
- Mouse Scroll
- Navigate Browser
- Save Image
- Select Item
- Set Browser Data
- Set Clipboard
- Set Runtime Browser
- Set Focus
- Set Text
- Take Screenshot
- Type Into
- Unblock User Input
- Browser automation mode
- Window Operation
- Perform browser search and retrieve results using UI Automation APIs
- Web Browsing
- Find Images
- Click Images
- Trigger and Monitor Events
- Create and Override Files
- HTML Pages: Extract and Manipulate Information
- Window Manipulation
- Automated List Selection
- Find and Manipulate Window Elements
- Manage Text Automation
- Load and Process Images
- Manage Mouse Activated Actions
- Automate Application Runtime
- Automated Run of a Local Application
- Browser Navigation
- Web Automation
- Trigger Scope Example
- Enable UI Automation support in DevExpress
- Computer Vision Local Server
- Mobile Automation
- Release notes
- About the mobile device automation architecture
- Project compatibility
- Get Log Types
- Get Logs
- Get Page Source
- Get Device Orientation
- Get Session Identifier
- Install App
- Manage Current App
- Manage Other App
- Open DeepLink
- Open URL
- Mobile Device Connection
- Directional Swipe
- Draw Pattern
- Positional Swipe
- Press Hardware Button
- Set Device Orientation
- Take Screenshot
- Take Screenshot Part
- Element Exists
- Execute Command
- Get Attribute
- Get Selected Item
- Get Text
- Set Selected Item
- Set Text
- Swipe
- Tap
- Type Text
- Terminal
- Release notes
- About the Terminal activity package
- Project compatibility
- Best practices
- Find Text
- Get Color at Position
- Get Cursor Position
- Get Field
- Get Field at Position
- Get Screen Area
- Get Text
- Get Text at Position
- Move Cursor
- Move Cursor to Text
- Send Control Key
- Send Keys
- Send Keys Secure
- Set Field
- Set Field at Position
- Terminal Session
- Wait Field Text
- Wait Screen Ready
- Wait Screen Text
- Wait Text at Position
- Terminal coded automation APIs
UI Automation activities
UiPath supports multiple methods for automating browsers, each suited to different deployment environments and browser targets. The Browser Automation Mode setting lets you choose which method to use — either for a specific workflow scope via the Use Application/Browser activity, or as a project-wide default in UI Automation Modern Project Settings > Application/Browser.
Automation methods
UiPath provides three underlying automation methods, exposed as five modes:
Browser Extension injects the UiPath extension into the browser to interact with web pages directly. It requires the extension to be installed, but provides the richest automation coverage and is compatible with all four major supported browsers: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari.
WebDriver uses the W3C WebDriver protocol to open and control a dedicated browser session via a browser-specific driver binary (chromedriver, msedgedriver, geckodriver). It works without the UiPath extension and supports all four major browsers. A headless variant runs the browser without a visible window.
Chromium Automation uses the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) to control Chromium-based browsers directly, with no extension or driver download required. It is the simplest to configure on Chrome and Edge. A headless variant is also available.
Available modes
Browser Extension
Uses the UiPath browser extension to automate the target browser. The extension injects scripts into web pages to interact with the page and reports element information back to the Robot.
- Requires: UiPath browser extension installed and enabled in the target browser profile
- Supported browsers: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari
- Browser window: Visible
This is the default mode. Choose it for standard attended or unattended automation where the browser runs on the same machine as the Robot and extension installation is possible.
To automate pages in Incognito (private) mode, open chrome://extensions, locate the UiPath extension, and enable Allow in Incognito and Allow access to file URLs.
WebDriver with GUI
Opens a new, visible browser session controlled by the W3C WebDriver protocol. UiPath communicates with the browser via a browser-specific WebDriver server.
- Requires: WebDriver binary compatible with the installed browser version
- Supported browsers: Chrome, Edge, Firefox
- Browser window: Visible
WebDriver creates a new user-data-dir for each session and cannot connect to a browser instance already open on the user's desktop. This makes WebDriver unsuitable for attended automation. For unattended automation this is not a limitation.
WebDriver Headless
Same as WebDriver with GUI, but the browser runs without a visible window.
- Requires: WebDriver binary compatible with the installed browser version
- Supported browsers: Chrome, Edge, Firefox
- Browser window: None (headless)
Some operations that require a visible window — such as native drag-and-drop or hardware mouse simulation — are not supported in headless mode.
Like WebDriver with GUI, this mode creates a new user-data-dir and cannot connect to an already-open browser. A compatible WebDriver binary must be downloaded at runtime. Incognito mode is supported without additional configuration.
Chromium Automation
Uses the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) to control the browser directly. No extension installation or WebDriver binary is required — UiPath launches and manages the browser session internally.
- Requires: Browser process launched with the
--remote-debugging-port=0flag - Supported browsers: Chrome, Edge, and all Chromium-based browsers
- Browser window: Visible
Choose this mode for the simplest setup on Chrome or Edge. It does not support Firefox or Safari.
Chromium Automation creates a new user-data-dir for each session and cannot connect to a browser instance already open on the user's desktop. This makes it unsuitable for attended automation. For unattended automation this is not a limitation.
Incognito mode is supported without additional configuration.
Chromium Automation Headless
Same as Chromium Automation, but the browser runs without a visible window.
- Requires: Browser process launched with the
--remote-debugging-port=0flag - Supported browsers: Chrome, Edge, and all Chromium-based browsers
- Browser window: None (headless)
This mode combines zero-configuration setup with headless execution, making it well suited for unattended automation on servers or CI/CD pipelines.
Like Chromium Automation, this mode creates a new user-data-dir and is blocked when the DeveloperToolsAvailability Group Policy is set to 2. Incognito mode is supported without additional configuration.
Comparison
Setup requirements
What each mode depends on before it can run.
| Mode | Extension required | WebDriver required | Headless | Additional setup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browser Extension | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | Install UiPath extension |
| WebDriver with GUI | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | Download WebDriver binary |
| WebDriver Headless | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | Download WebDriver binary |
| Chromium Automation | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | Launch browser with the --remote-debugging-port=0 flag |
| Chromium Automation Headless | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | Launch browser with the --remote-debugging-port=0 flag |
Capabilities
What each mode supports once it is running.
| Mode | Attended automation | Incognito (no config) | Supported browsers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Browser Extension | ✅ | ❌ | Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari |
| WebDriver with GUI | ❌ | ✅ | Chrome, Edge, Firefox |
| WebDriver Headless | ❌ | ✅ | Chrome, Edge, Firefox |
| Chromium Automation | ❌ | ✅ | Chrome, Edge, Chromium-based |
| Chromium Automation Headless | ❌ | ✅ | Chrome, Edge, Chromium-based |
Choosing a mode
| Scenario | Recommended mode |
|---|---|
| Standard desktop automation, extension can be installed | Browser Extension |
| Attended automation (work with the user's already-open browser) | Browser Extension |
| Extension cannot be installed, browser must be visible | WebDriver with GUI |
| Extension cannot be installed, no display available | WebDriver Headless |
| Chrome or Edge, simplest possible setup | Chromium Automation |
| Unattended or server automation on Chrome/Edge, no display | Chromium Automation Headless |
| Firefox or Safari without extension | WebDriver with GUI or WebDriver Headless |
DeveloperToolsAvailability Group Policy restricts Developer Tools | Browser Extension or WebDriver |
Configure the mode
For a specific activity
- Add a Use Application/Browser activity to your workflow.
- In the Properties panel, locate Browser automation mode.
- Select the desired mode from the dropdown.
Result: The selected mode applies to every UI Automation activity scoped to this Use Application/Browser container.
As a project default
- Open Project Settings from the gear icon in the Project panel.
- Go to UI Automation Modern > Application/Browser.
- Set Browser automation mode to your preferred default.
- Select Save.
Result: New Use Application/Browser activities added to the project use the selected mode unless overridden on a specific activity.
The activity-level setting takes precedence over the project default within its scope.
The Browser automation mode property for the Use Application/Browser activity and the project setting in UI Automation Modern > Application/Browser are available only in preview versions starting with UIAutomation v26.4.0-preview.
Limitations
- Chromium Automation modes only support Chromium-based browsers. Using them with Firefox or Safari returns an error; no automatic fallback occurs.
- Headless modes do not support operations that depend on a visible window or OS-level rendering, such as hardware mouse drag-and-drop or certain screenshot operations.
- WebDriver and Chromium Automation create a new
user-data-dirfor each session. They cannot connect to a browser already open on the user's desktop, making them unsuitable for attended automation. This is not a limitation for unattended automation. - WebDriver and Chromium Automation sessions use an isolated browser profile. Extensions, saved passwords, and user session cookies from the default browser profile are unavailable.
- WebDriver requires a browser-specific binary (
chromedriver,msedgedriver, orgeckodriver) to be downloaded at runtime and kept compatible with the installed browser version. Browser Extension and Chromium Automation have no such external binary dependency. - Chromium Automation is blocked when the DeveloperToolsAvailability Group Policy is set to
2(Disallow usage of the Developer Tools). Use Browser Extension or WebDriver in environments where this policy is enforced. - Browser Extension requires additional manual setup to automate pages in Incognito mode: the user must open chrome://extensions, locate the UiPath extension, and enable Allow in Incognito and Allow access to file URLs. WebDriver and Chromium Automation support Incognito mode without any additional configuration.