It’s Fun (and Powerful!) — Run Multiple Foreground Automations in Parallel with UiPath & Save on VM & Licensing Costs!
Use Case Description
I recently had some fun experimenting with UiPath and discovered something both powerful and cost-saving:
You can actually run multiple foreground automations in parallel on a single machine — yes, really!
This goes against the usual thinking that foreground automations must run one at a time due to session and GUI constraints. But with the right configuration, it works surprisingly well.
How I Did It:
The secret lies in leveraging Selenium WebDriver-style communication via UiPath’s browser automation:
Use Parallel For Each to launch multiple instances.
Feed it a dummy DataTable, where each row represents a single bot execution. Want 5 bots? Add 5 rows.
Inside each iteration:
Use the “Use Application/Browser” activity with:
Communication Mode: Chromium
WebDriver Mode: GUI
Each bot now opens a fresh, isolated Chromium session — and they all run in parallel.
Why This Works Technically:
Traditional GUI automation needs exclusive access to the screen or user session.
But in this case, WebDriver-based communication lets each bot talk directly to the browser using Chromium’s DevTools Protocol (CDP) — just like Selenium.
No user session needed
No shared screen conflicts
All bots run in true parallel, interacting with the DOM independently
That’s the technical reason it works — it’s all thanks to the WebDriver-like control layer underneath.
Why This Matters:
Running parallel foreground bots on a single machine means:
No extra VMs
No additional unattended licenses
Significant infra & licensing savings 
Key Considerations:
Data Handling
UiPath isn’t thread-safe across parallel threads.
Stick to row-scoped variables only — avoid shared flags or global data.
Bot Detection
Fresh browser sessions = no cookies or history.
Some websites may flag these as bots.
Exploring options like undetected ChromeDriver-style workarounds in UiPath for smoother automation.
AS-IS WORKFLOW, TO-BE WORKFLOW
Other information about the use case
Industry categories for this use case: Other Sector
Skill level required: Advanced
UiPath Products that were used: UiPath Studio
Other applications that were used: Excel,Browser
Other resources: #uipath #rpa #foregroundautomation #parallelbots #selenium #chromium… | Haris N
What is the top ROI driver for this use case?: Accelerate growth and operational efficiency