Unwanted browser notification prompts during Selenium test runs

Explanation

Browser notification permission dialogs are not JavaScript alerts; they are controlled by browser profile preferences that are read when the browser starts. Selenium can set these preferences through ChromeOptions or FirefoxOptions, so the prompt never appears unless the test explicitly allows it.

Confirmed facts

• In Chrome, the preference profile.default_content_setting_values.notifications set to 2 blocks notifications; 1 allows them.
• In Firefox, the preference dom.webnotifications.enabled set to false blocks; true allows.
• Both ChromeDriver and GeckoDriver apply these options at browser start‑up, so the setting takes effect before any page loads.

Steps to suppress notifications globally (suite‑wide)

1. Create a shared options object for the browser.
2. For Chrome: add the preference profile.default_content_setting_values.notifications: 2 or the argument --disable-notifications.
3. For Firefox: set the preference dom.webnotifications.enabled: false.
4. Pass the options to the WebDriver constructor when initializing the driver for each test.

Per‑test control (allow prompts when needed)

1. For tests that must verify notification handling, create a fresh options instance without the blocking preference (or set it to allow).
2. Chrome: either omit the preference or set profile.default_content_setting_values.notifications: 1.
3. Firefox: either omit the preference or set dom.webnotifications.enabled: true.
4. Initialize the driver with these options only for the specific test; all other tests reuse the suppressing options.

Verification that suppression does not break legitimate flows

1. Run a test that visits a site known to request notification permission (e.g., https://www.google.com) with the suppressing options enabled. Confirm that no permission dialog appears and the test proceeds without interruption.
2. Run the same test without the suppressing options (or with the preference set to allow). Verify that the notification prompt appears and the test can interact with it (click "Allow" or "Block") as expected.
3. Optionally, retrieve browser logs via driver.getLog('browser') to ensure no unexpected errors are introduced by the preference changes.

Missing diagnostic detail

If you need to know whether any of your tests rely on the notification prompt appearing after a page has already loaded (e.g., triggered by a user action), let me know; that would affect whether a simple start‑up preference is sufficient or whether you must also handle runtime permission requests.