snakeoil-web 0.1.21

Plain English web test automation using Selenium and Playwright. No code. No maintenance.

snakeoil-web

Selector-free, self-healing web test automation.

No XPaths. No CSS selectors. No waiting. Tests that describe what users see, not how developers built it.

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Install

pip install snakeoil-web

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Your first test

from snakeoil_web import WebAgent

agent = WebAgent()
agent.click("Sign in")
agent.type("[e-mail]", into="Email")
agent.type("password123", into="Password")
agent.click("Sign in")
agent.verify_text("Dashboard")

That's it. No selectors. No waits. No maintenance.

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Why snake-oil?

Most test automation breaks when a developer renames a CSS class or moves an element. snakeoil-web finds elements by what users actually see — visible text, labels, and position on screen — not by how the DOM is built.

# Selenium — breaks when developer renames the class
driver.find_element(By.XPATH, '//button[@data-testid="login-btn"]').click()

# snakeoil-web — works regardless of how the DOM changes
agent.click("Sign in")

When the DOM changes, your tests don't.

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Two ways to write tests

Pythonic — IDE guided, autocomplete friendly:

agent = WebAgent()
agent.click("Sign in")
agent.type("[e-mail]", into="Email")
agent.verify_text("Dashboard")

English — human readable, shareable with non-developers:

agent = WebAgent()
agent.run([
    'click "Sign in"',
    'type "[e-mail]" into "Email"',
    'verify text "Dashboard" is present',
])

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Using variables

Pythonic — pass variables directly:

email    = "[e-mail]"
password = "secret123"

agent.type(email, into="Email")
agent.type(password, into="Password")
agent.click("Sign in")

English — embed variables with f-strings:

email    = "[e-mail]"
password = "secret123"

agent.run([
    f'type "{email}" into "Email"',
    f'type "{password}" into "Password"',
    'click "Sign in"',
])

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Mix Pythonic and English freely

Use whichever style fits each step — they work together in the same test:

from snakeoil_web import WebAgent

# Get test data from your API
user = api.create_test_user()

agent = WebAgent()

# English for readable setup steps
agent.run([
    'click "Sign in"',
    f'type "{user.email}" into "Email"',
    f'type "{user.password}" into "Password"',
    'click "Sign in"',
])

# Pythonic for assertions — IDE helps you get it right
agent.verify_text("Dashboard")
balance = agent.extract_text(next_to="Balance")

# Back to Python for logic
assert balance == user.expected_balance

# English for teardown
agent.run([
    'click "Settings"',
    'click "Sign out"',
])

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Spatial targeting

No visible text on that icon button? Use its position instead.

agent.click("button", below="Total Price")
agent.click("icon", next_to="Search")
agent.click("button", index=2)
agent.extract_text(next_to="Balance")
agent.verify_text("$0.00", next_to="Balance")

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Mix with Python

Use Python for data setup, snakeoil for the UI steps.

from snakeoil_web import WebAgent

user = api.create_test_user()

agent = WebAgent()
agent.type(user.email, into="Email")
agent.type(user.password, into="Password")
agent.click("Sign in")
agent.verify_text("Dashboard")

balance = agent.extract_text(next_to="Balance")
assert balance == user.expected_balance

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Quick start with pytest

pip install snakeoil-web
snakeoil init
pytest web-tests/

snakeoil init creates everything — config, conftest, sample tests, installs pytest and pytest-html. Results saved to report.html.

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pytest integration

# web-tests/test_checkout.py

username = "standard_user"
password = "secret_sauce"

def test_login(agent):
    agent.run([
        f'type "{username}" into "Username"',
        f'type "{password}" into "Password"',
        'click "Login"',
        'verify text "Products" is present',
    ])

def test_add_to_cart(agent):
    agent.type(username, into="Username")
    agent.type(password, into="Password")
    agent.click("Login")
    agent.click("Add to cart")
    agent.verify_text("1")

Each test gets its own isolated browser session. verify_* failures raise AssertionError — pytest handles reporting.

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Configuration

snakeoil.web.config.py in your project root:

URL        = "https://yourapp.com"
BROWSER    = "chromium"   # chromium | firefox | webkit | msedge
HEADLESS   = False
MAXIMIZED  = True
TIMEOUT    = 30_000       # milliseconds
RESULT_DIR = "."          # where report.html is saved

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Supported browsers

Browser	Support
Chrome / Chromium	✅
Firefox	✅
Safari / WebKit	✅
Edge	✅

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Related packages

• snakeoil-mobile — Mobile browser automation on real Android and iOS devices
• snakeoil-native — Native app automation for Android and iOS

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Status

Early development. Feedback and contributions welcome.

GitHub · PyPI