Implementation:SeleniumHQ Selenium VirtualAuthenticator

Knowledge Sources	SeleniumHQ_Selenium Selenium Documentation
Domains	WebDriver, WebAuthn, VirtualAuthenticator
Last Updated	2026-02-12 00:00 GMT

Overview

The VirtualAuthenticator interface represents a virtual WebAuthn authenticator instance that can manage credentials and simulate user verification for automated testing.

Description

VirtualAuthenticator is an interface that models a W3C WebAuthn virtual authenticator. It provides methods to manage the authenticator's lifecycle including adding, retrieving, and removing credentials, as well as controlling user verification state. Instances are created through HasVirtualAuthenticator.addVirtualAuthenticator() and each authenticator has a unique identifier.

Usage

Use VirtualAuthenticator to programmatically manage WebAuthn credentials during automated browser tests. After obtaining an authenticator instance from the driver, inject pre-configured credentials, query existing credentials, or control whether user verification succeeds or fails.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: SeleniumHQ_Selenium
• File: java/src/org/openqa/selenium/virtualauthenticator/VirtualAuthenticator.java

Signature

public interface VirtualAuthenticator {
    String getId();
    void addCredential(Credential credential);
    List<Credential> getCredentials();
    void removeCredential(byte[] credentialId);
    void removeCredential(String credentialId);
    void removeAllCredentials();
    void setUserVerified(boolean verified);
}

Import

import org.openqa.selenium.virtualauthenticator.VirtualAuthenticator;

I/O Contract

Methods

Method	Parameters	Returns	Description
getId()	none	String	Returns the unique identifier of this virtual authenticator
addCredential	Credential credential	void	Injects a credential into the authenticator
getCredentials()	none	List<Credential>	Returns the list of all credentials owned by this authenticator
removeCredential(byte[])	byte[] credentialId	void	Removes a credential by its raw byte array ID
removeCredential(String)	String credentialId	void	Removes a credential by its Base64 URL-encoded string ID
removeAllCredentials()	none	void	Removes all credentials from this authenticator
setUserVerified	boolean verified	void	Controls whether the authenticator simulates successful or failed user verification

Usage Examples

// Obtain authenticator from driver
VirtualAuthenticatorOptions options = new VirtualAuthenticatorOptions()
    .setProtocol(VirtualAuthenticatorOptions.Protocol.CTAP2)
    .setHasResidentKey(true)
    .setHasUserVerification(true);
VirtualAuthenticator authenticator = ((HasVirtualAuthenticator) driver)
    .addVirtualAuthenticator(options);

// Get the authenticator ID
String authId = authenticator.getId();

// Add a credential
authenticator.addCredential(credential);

// List all credentials
List<Credential> credentials = authenticator.getCredentials();

// Remove a specific credential by byte array ID
authenticator.removeCredential(credential.getId());

// Or remove by Base64 URL-encoded string ID
authenticator.removeCredential("dGVzdA==");

// Remove all credentials
authenticator.removeAllCredentials();

// Simulate user verification failure
authenticator.setUserVerified(false);

Related Pages

• SeleniumHQ_Selenium_HasVirtualAuthenticator - Interface used to create and remove virtual authenticators
• SeleniumHQ_Selenium_VirtualAuthenticatorOptions - Configuration for creating authenticators
• SeleniumHQ_Selenium_WebAuthn_Credential - Credential objects managed by this authenticator