WebDriverIO Introduction

Webdriver.io is a mobile and browser test automation framework that has recently become quite popular in the software testing industry. 

This free and open-source framework is written in JavaScript and runs on Node.js. Packaged into npm, WebdriverIO is easy to install and use. This framework enables you to test web applications as well as native mobile apps.

Webdriver is popular because it is backed by Selenium which means you can run test scripts on all browsers. While it brings all the advantages of Selenium, it eliminates the pain of writing Java-based scripts.

 It allows you to easily integrate it with multiple testing frameworks such as Appium to bring the best out of both worlds.

The Key Features of WebDriverIO:

• Run automation tests both for web applications as well as native mobile apps
• Simple and Easy Syntax
• Integrating tests to third-party tools such as Appium.
• ‘Wdio setup wizard’ to make the setup simple and easy.
• Integrated test runner

WebDriverIO Vs Selenium WebDriver

Both WebDriverIO and Selenium WebDriver are open source and are used for browser testing. Selenium is used for automating browsers, while WebDriverIO is used for automating both browsers and native mobile apps.

Prerequisites For Setting Up WebDriverIO

• You need to install NodeJS in your machine before setting up WebDriverIO.
• Additionally, you’ll need to install VSCode IDE
• To install WebDriverIO CLI, execute the below command in the terminal.      npm i --save-dev @wdio/cli