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Using Firefox

Vibium launches Chrome by default. Firefox is supported as an alternative engine, using Firefox's native WebDriver BiDi — no driver binary involved.

Install

$ vibium install --engine firefox
Installing Firefox v153.0.3 (release channel)...
Downloading Firefox from https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/153.0.3/mac/en-US/Firefox%20153.0.3.dmg...
Installation complete!
Firefox: /Users/you/Library/Caches/vibium/firefox/release/153.0.3/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox

Firefox installs into the vibium cache next to Chrome for Testing. The vibium binary auto-installs the selected engine on first launch on macOS and Linux, same as Chrome, so all clients get it for free. On Windows, Firefox auto-install is not available: install Firefox yourself and point VIBIUM_ENGINE_PATH at firefox.exe.

Release channels

--channel beta (or VIBIUM_ENGINE_CHANNEL=beta) selects the Firefox beta instead of the release build. The channel applies to install and launch alike: each channel is cached separately, and only the selected one is run, so an installed beta never shadows stable. In the clients, pass channel when starting the browser:

const bro = await firefox.start({ channel: 'beta' });
bro = firefox.start(channel="beta")
Browser bro = Vibium.start(
    new StartOptions().engine("firefox").channel("beta")
);

The release channel covers everything vibium supports, including video recording (Firefox 154+); the beta is for trying upcoming Firefox changes early.

Launch

CLI — every command accepts --engine, or set it once with VIBIUM_ENGINE=firefox:

$ vibium start --engine firefox

JavaScript — a named launcher, or the engine option:

const { browser, firefox } = require('vibium');
const bro = await firefox.start();

// equivalent:
const bro = await browser.start({ engine: 'firefox' });

The synchronous JavaScript API supports the same two forms:

const { browser, firefox } = require('vibium/sync');
const bro = firefox.start();

// equivalent:
const bro = browser.start({ engine: 'firefox' });

Python:

from vibium import browser, firefox
bro = firefox.start()

# equivalent:
bro = browser.start(engine="firefox")

Java:

Browser bro = Vibium.start(new StartOptions().engine("firefox"));

MCP — browser_start takes an engine argument (chrome or firefox) and an optional Firefox channel argument (release or beta).

Selecting Firefox with an environment variable

The VIBIUM_ENGINE env var changes the default engine of the vibium binary itself, so code that uses browser-neutral APIs can select Firefox without a code change:

$ VIBIUM_ENGINE=firefox node my-script.js

Browser-specific features still differ. In particular, native video recording currently requires Firefox, while PDF output may differ between engines.

Environment variables

Variable Effect
VIBIUM_ENGINE Default engine (chrome or firefox) when --engine is not given
VIBIUM_ENGINE_PATH Use this Firefox executable instead of the vibium cache; when set, channel selection does not apply
VIBIUM_ENGINE_CHANNEL Channel to install and run: release (default) or beta; same as --channel or the clients' channel option
VIBIUM_ENGINE_VERSION Pin the exact version to install and run (e.g. 153.0.4) instead of the channel's latest; keeps CI and fleets on one version until you move the pin

The names are engine-neutral, but only Firefox implements them today. Setting any of them with --engine chrome is an error rather than a silent no-op.

Feature notes

Capability Chrome Firefox
Navigation, elements, input, pages, screenshots, storage, and trace recording Supported Supported and covered by the Firefox core suite
Native video (recording.start({ video: true })) Not implemented by Chrome yet Firefox 154+; see Record Video
Dialog callbacks and capture.dialog() Supported Supported and covered by the cross-engine suites
Network events and request interception Supported Supported and covered by the cross-engine suites
PDF printing (page.pdf) Supported Output and support may differ
Console and page error events (onConsole, onError) Supported Supported and covered by the cross-engine suites
Download events (onDownload, capture.download()) Supported Supported and covered by the cross-engine suites
New tab and popup events (onPage, onPopup) Supported Supported and covered by the cross-engine suites
Navigation capture (capture.navigation()) Supported Supported and covered by the cross-engine suites

CI runs the full suite on Chrome. A separate Firefox job runs capability-selected CLI and client tests plus focused installation, launch, channel, and video coverage. Browser-driving cross-engine tests declare their requirements through the shared capability adapters; unsupported features are reported as skips with reasons.