Headless browser

A headless browser is a web browser without a graphical user interface.

Not to be confused with Text-based web browser.

Headless browsers provide automated control of a web page in an environment similar to popular web browsers, but they are executed via a command-line interface or using network communication. They are particularly useful for testing web pages as they are able to render and understand HTML the same way a browser would, including styling elements such as page layout, color, font selection and execution of JavaScript and Ajax which are usually not available when using other testing methods.

Since version 59 of Google Chrome and version 56 of Firefox, there is native support for remote control of the browser. This made earlier efforts obsolete, notably PhantomJS.

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