Self-Healing For Selenium

Overview

The Self-Healing capability in Pcloudy helps automation engineers maintain stable and reliable automation scripts by automatically handling changes in application elements and locators. When application updates cause locator changes, the self-healing engine intelligently identifies and updates them during execution, reducing script failures and manual maintenance.

Prerequisites

Registered Pcloudy account
Existing Appium or Selenium automation scripts
One stable build and one updated build of the application
Pcloudy user credentials and access key—to get access key
Click on Quick Actions from the bottom-left corner
Copy the API Access Key
(Optional) To generate a new key:Go to Profile → API Keys

Advantages of Self-Healing

Reduced Script Failures – Automatically heals locator changes
Lower Maintenance Effort – Minimizes manual script updates
Improved Execution Stability – Consistent execution across builds
AI-Based Learning – Improves accuracy over multiple runs
CI/CD Friendly – Supports stable automation pipelines

Step 3: Update Selenium Capabilities

Replace your local Selenium driver with the Pcloudy RemoteWebDriver and add Pcloudy-specific capabilities.

Key Capabilities Explained

Capability	Description
userName	Registered Pcloudy email ID
accessKey	API key from Pcloudy
os	Operating system (Windows / Mac)
osVersion	OS version
browserName	Browser to execute tests
browserVersion	Browser version
seleniumVersion	Selenium framework version
build	Build name for grouping executions
local	Enable if testing with local setup
Pcloudy_EnableVideo	Enable/disable execution video

Below is a clean, user-friendly step-by-step section that you can directly add to your existing help documentation. It’s written in a documentation style, easy to follow, and suitable for Word/Confluence.

Execution Steps (Self-Healing Flow)

Follow the steps below to execute the automation script and observe the self-healing behavior:

Step 1: Update Pcloudy Credentials

Add your email ID and access key in the PcloudyDriver file.

Step 2: Set Initial Build Name

Set the build name as Build1 in your capabilities.

Step 3: Execute the Test

Run the test by clicking Run in the Runner file.

Step 4: Verify Active Session

Navigate to My Active Sessions in the Pcloudy dashboard to confirm that the session has started.

Step 5: View Live Execution

Open Live View to watch the script execution in real time on the device.

Step 6: Modify Application or Locators

After the first execution completes, make required changes in your Git repository (for example, locator or UI changes).

Step 7: Update Build Name

Change the build name to Build2 in your capabilities.

Step 8: Re-run the Test

Click Run again from the Runner file and verify the new active session.

Step 9: Observe Self-Healing Logs

During execution, monitor the console logs.

You will see logs indicating that auto-healed elements were detected and updated automatically.

Step 10: Review Session Report

After execution:

Navigate to Report->Automation Reports->open the particular report
Review execution status, logs, healed elements, and other test details

Outcome

Script executes successfully despite locator changes
Healed elements are captured and logged
Reduced manual intervention and maintenance effort

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