Working with Cookies in Selenium Java Automation

 Cookies are an essential part of modern web applications. They store user preferences, session information, and track user behavior. When automating web applications using Selenium in Java, managing cookies becomes crucial, especially when dealing with login sessions, user tracking, and cross-page navigation.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how to work with cookies in Selenium Java automation, including reading, adding, deleting, and verifying cookies.

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of data stored by the browser to remember information between requests. They can be used for:

• Session management (e.g., user logins)
• Personalization (e.g., language or theme preferences)
• Tracking (e.g., analytics and advertising)

In automation, managing cookies helps in skipping repetitive login steps, simulating user behavior, or validating cookie-based features.

Setting Up Selenium in Java

Before diving into cookie operations, make sure your Selenium setup is ready. Here’s a quick Maven dependency:

xml

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<dependency>

    <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>

    <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>

    <version>4.10.0</version>

</dependency>

Also, configure a WebDriver instance:

java

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WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();

driver.manage().window().maximize();

driver.get("https://example.com");

Reading Cookies

Selenium provides straightforward methods to read cookies:

java

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// Get all cookies

Set<Cookie> allCookies = driver.manage().getCookies();

for (Cookie cookie : allCookies) {

    System.out.println(cookie.getName() + " = " + cookie.getValue());

}

// Get a specific cookie by name

Cookie sessionCookie = driver.manage().getCookieNamed("session_id");

System.out.println(sessionCookie);

This is useful when you want to validate whether certain cookies were set after login or some user action.

Adding Cookies

You can simulate an authenticated session by adding cookies directly:

java

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Cookie newCookie = new Cookie.Builder("user_token", "abc123xyz")

        .domain("example.com")

        .path("/")

        .build();

driver.manage().addCookie(newCookie);

Make sure to navigate to the domain first before adding cookies, or Selenium will throw an error.

Deleting Cookies

You may want to delete cookies to simulate a fresh session or test logout behavior:

java

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// Delete a specific cookie by name

driver.manage().deleteCookieNamed("user_token");

// Delete a specific cookie by object

Cookie cookieToDelete = driver.manage().getCookieNamed("session_id");

driver.manage().deleteCookie(cookieToDelete);

// Delete all cookies

driver.manage().deleteAllCookies();

Deleting cookies is especially helpful in test teardown steps to ensure no session data carries over between tests.

Real-World Use Case: Bypassing Login

Suppose you’ve logged in once and captured cookies. You can reuse those cookies in future test runs to skip login:

java

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// Load saved cookies (assume loaded from a file)

Cookie savedCookie = new Cookie("session_id", "xyz456");

driver.manage().addCookie(savedCookie);

// Refresh or revisit the page

driver.navigate().refresh();

This saves time and reduces dependency on login tests for every scenario.

Best Practices

• Always validate cookie properties like domain, path, and expiry.
• Use cookies responsibly—don’t bypass security-critical workflows unless it’s a test-specific case.
• Clean up cookies between tests to avoid flaky test behavior.
• Store cookies securely if persisting across sessions.

Conclusion

Managing cookies in Selenium Java automation allows you to simulate complex user behaviors and optimize test performance. Whether it’s maintaining sessions or validating user preferences, cookies give you granular control over browser state. By mastering cookie operations, you can build more robust and efficient automation frameworks tailored to your web application’s needs.

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