Selenium Standalone for Home Assistant

A Home Assistant add-on that provides Selenium Standalone with Chromium as a shared service for other add-ons and integrations.

About

This add-on runs Selenium Standalone with Chromium in a Docker container, making it available to other Home Assistant add-ons and integrations that need browser automation capabilities. It's optimized for low resource usage, making it suitable for mini PCs and other resource-constrained environments.

Use Cases

• UK Bin Collection Data add-on integration
• Web scraping integrations
• Browser automation tasks
• Testing web interfaces

Installation

Step 1: Add the Repository

1. Navigate to Settings → Add-ons → Add-on Store in your Home Assistant interface
2. Click the ⋮ menu (three dots) in the top right corner
3. Select Repositories
4. Add this repository URL: https://github.com/davida72/selenium-homeassistant
5. Click Add

Step 2: Install the Add-on

1. Find "Selenium Standalone" in the add-on store
2. Click on it and press Install
3. Wait for the installation to complete

Step 3: Start the Add-on

1. After installation, go to the Info tab
2. Click Start
3. Enable Start on boot if you want it to start automatically
4. Enable Watchdog to automatically restart if it crashes

Usage

After starting the add-on, check the Log tab to see your Selenium URL prominently displayed:

=====================================================
  SELENIUM URL: http://localhost:4444/
            or: http://YOUR_HOME_ASSISTANT_IP:4444/
=====================================================

For Home Assistant Add-ons

Use: http://localhost:4444/

This works for UK Bin Collection Data, AppDaemon, and any other Home Assistant add-on.

For External Scripts

Use your Home Assistant IP address (e.g., http://YOUR_HOME_ASSISTANT_IP:4444/)

Example: UK Bin Collection Data Add-on

When configuring the UK Bin Collection Data add-on:

• Selenium URL: http://localhost:4444/

Watch Browser Sessions Live (Optional)

Want to see what Selenium is doing? Open this URL in your web browser to watch the automated browser in real-time:

• From Home Assistant: http://localhost:7900/
• From your network: Use your Home Assistant IP (e.g., http://YOUR_HOME_ASSISTANT_IP:7900/)

This is useful for debugging scripts and watching automation run.

By default, no password is required - just open the URL and you'll see the browser immediately.

Configuration

The add-on provides several configurable options to optimize performance for your hardware:

Use password to view Selenium sessions

Default: OFF - No password required to view browser sessions

max_sessions

Default: 2 - Maximum concurrent browser sessions (range: 1-10)

Recommendations:

• High-end x86 (8GB+ RAM): 3-5 sessions
• Standard x86 (4GB RAM): 2-3 sessions
• Raspberry Pi 4/5 (4GB+): 2 sessions (default)
• Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB): 1 session

session_timeout

Default: 300 seconds - Auto-close idle sessions (range: 60-3600s)

java_max_memory

Default: 384 MB - Maximum Java heap size (range: 128-2048 MB)

Recommendations:

• High-end x86 (8GB+ RAM): 512-768 MB
• Standard hardware: 384 MB (default)
• Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB): 256 MB

To configure: Go to Configuration tab, adjust values, save, then restart the add-on.

Resource Optimization

This add-on is optimized for low resource usage and configurable for different hardware:

Memory Usage

• Idle: ~100-200MB (server running, no sessions)
• Active (1-2 sessions): ~300-500MB (typical usage with default settings)
• Max (multiple sessions): Scales with number of sessions and java_max_memory setting

Disk Space

• Docker Image: ~1.2GB (x86), ~1.5-2GB (ARM/Raspberry Pi)
• Runtime Data: Minimal (~10-50MB for logs and temporary files)
• Total: ~1.3GB (x86) or ~1.7GB (ARM) disk space required

Default Configuration (Optimized for Broad Compatibility)

• Max Sessions: 2 (configurable 1-10)
• Session Timeout: 300 seconds / 5 minutes (configurable 60-3600s)
• Java Max Memory: 384MB (configurable 128-2048 MB)
• Log Level: WARNING (reduced logging overhead)

All settings except log level are configurable via the Configuration tab to optimize for your specific hardware.

Technical Details

• Base Image: selenium/standalone-chromium:latest
• Port: 4444 (WebDriver API)
• Architecture Support:
  • amd64 (Intel/AMD x86-64)
  • aarch64 (Raspberry Pi 4/5, ARM 64-bit)
• Startup: Automatically starts with Home Assistant services

Raspberry Pi Support

Compatible with Raspberry Pi models that support Home Assistant:

Supported Models:

• Raspberry Pi 5 (recommended)
• Raspberry Pi 4

System Requirements:

• Minimum: Raspberry Pi 4 with 2GB RAM
• Recommended: Raspberry Pi 4/5 with 4GB+ RAM for optimal performance
• Disk Space: ~1.5-2GB for ARM images
• SD Card: Class 10 or better (A2-rated recommended)

Performance:

• Fully functional for typical automation tasks
• Slower than x86 hardware but handles web scraping and automation well
• Pi 4 with 4GB+ RAM handles default settings perfectly
• Pi 4 with 2GB RAM: reduce to 1 session, 256MB Java memory

Support

If you encounter any issues:

1. Check the add-on logs in the Log tab
2. Ensure port 4444 is not being used by another service
3. Verify your system has sufficient resources (at least 512MB free RAM)
4. Open an issue on GitHub

Credits

• Based on Selenium by the Selenium Project
• Docker images by SeleniumHQ

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details