Implementation:SeleniumHQ Selenium Bazelisk JDK DevContainer Setup

Knowledge Sources	Selenium
Domains	Developer_Experience, Build_Systems, Toolchain
Last Updated	2026-02-11 00:00 GMT

Overview

External tool documentation for setting up the Selenium development environment using Bazelisk, JDK, and container-based options.

Description

The Selenium development environment requires Bazelisk (which auto-manages Bazel versions by reading the .bazelversion file) and JDK 17+ (e.g., Java 17 Temurin). The JAVA_HOME environment variable must point to the JDK installation directory, and javac must be available (not just the JRE). Three setup paths exist:

• Local installation with platform-specific tools:
  • macOS: Xcode command-line tools (xcode-select --install), Rosetta for Apple Silicon (add build --host_platform=//:rosetta to .bazelrc.local)
  • Windows: MSYS2 (set BAZEL_SH), Visual Studio Community with C++ workload (set BAZEL_VC and BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION), long path registry settings, and optionally startup --output_user_root=C:/tmp in .bazelrc.windows.local
  • Linux: Standard package manager installs
• Dev Container (VS Code or IntelliJ extension using .devcontainer/devcontainer.json, which builds from scripts/dev-image/Dockerfile)
• Gitpod (cloud IDE using .gitpod.yml with a Supervisor task for VNC/noVNC, auto-configured Bazel cache at /workspace/.cache/, and jobs limited to 10)

Usage

Follow one of the three setup paths before contributing code. Verify with bazel --version and javac (the presence of javac confirms JDK, not just JRE).

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: Selenium
• File: README.md (L46-137)
• File: .devcontainer/devcontainer.json (L1-9)
• File: .gitpod.yml (L1-34)

Signature

# Local Setup (macOS)
xcode-select --install
# For Apple Silicon, add to .bazelrc.local:
# build --host_platform=//:rosetta
# Install Bazelisk via Homebrew or npm
brew install bazelisk
# Install JDK 17+
brew install openjdk@17
export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 17)

# Local Setup (Linux)
# Install Bazelisk binary from https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazelisk/releases
# Or via npm:
npm install -g @bazel/bazelisk
# Install JDK 17+
sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64

# Local Setup (Windows - PowerShell as Admin)
# Option 1: Automatic
# Run scripts/dev-environment-setup.ps1
# Option 2: Manual
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
# Install MSYS2, set BAZEL_SH=C:\tools\msys64\usr\bin\bash.exe
# Install Visual Studio Community with C++ workload
# Set BAZEL_VC, BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION
# Enable long paths via registry

# Verify
bazel --version
javac --version

Import

N/A - External tool setup

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
Platform	OS	Yes	macOS, Linux, or Windows
Setup path	Choice	Yes	Local, Dev Container, Gitpod, or Docker Image

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
Development environment	System	Bazel + JDK + platform tools ready for building Selenium

Usage Examples

Dev Container

// .devcontainer/devcontainer.json
{
  "name": "selenium-devcontainer",
  "build": {
    "dockerfile": "../scripts/dev-image/Dockerfile"
  },
  "runArgs": ["--name", "selenium_devcontainer"]
}

# In VS Code with Dev Containers extension:
# 1. Open the selenium repo folder
# 2. VS Code prompts "Reopen in Container"
# 3. Click "Reopen in Container"
# All tools are pre-installed in the container

Gitpod

# Open in Gitpod (browser-based):
# Navigate to: https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium
# Gitpod auto-configures Bazel cache:
#   build --repository_cache=/workspace/.cache/bazel-repo
#   build --disk_cache=/workspace/.cache/bazel-disk
#   build --jobs=10
# VNC available at port 5900, noVNC at port 7900

Windows Automatic Setup

# Open PowerShell as Administrator
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
# Navigate to parent directory of selenium clone
# Download and run: scripts/dev-environment-setup.ps1

Related Pages

Implements Principle

• Principle:SeleniumHQ_Selenium_Development_Environment_Setup

Requires Environment

• Environment:SeleniumHQ_Selenium_Contributor_Development_Environment