Desired Capabilities are keys and values encoded in a JSON object, sent by Appium clients to the server when a new automation session is requested. They tell the Appium drivers all kinds of important things about how you want your test to work. Each Appium client builds capabilities in a way specific to the client's language, but at the end of the day, they are sent over to Appium as JSON objects.
Desired Capabilities can be scripted in the WebDriver test or set within the Appium Server GUI (via an Inspector Session)
Some important capabilities are demonstrated in the following example:
{
"platformName": "iOS",
"platformVersion": "11.0",
"deviceName": "iPhone 7",
"automationName": "XCUITest",
"app": "/path/to/my.app"
}This set of Desired Capabilities expresses the desire for Appium to begin an
automation session on an iPhone 7 simulator with iOS 11, using the XCUITest
Driver, with /path/to/my.app as the app
under test.
There are many, many Capabilities that Appium supports. Capabilities also differ by driver, though there are a standard set that most drivers pay attention to. What follows are a series of tables outlining the various Desired Capabilities available in general and for specific drivers.
These Capabilities span multiple drivers.
| Capability | Description | Values |
|---|---|---|
automationName |
Which automation engine to use | Appium (default), or UiAutomator2, Espresso, or UiAutomator1 for Android, or XCUITest or Instruments for iOS, or YouiEngine for application built with You.i Engine |
platformName |
Which mobile OS platform to use | iOS, Android, or FirefoxOS |
platformVersion |
Mobile OS version | e.g., 7.1, 4.4 |
deviceName |
The kind of mobile device or emulator to use | iPhone Simulator, iPad Simulator, iPhone Retina 4-inch, Android Emulator, Galaxy S4, etc.... On iOS, this should be one of the valid devices returned by instruments with instruments -s devices or xctrace with xcrun xctrace list devices (since Xcode 12). On Android this capability is currently ignored, though it remains required. |
app |
The absolute local path or remote http URL to a .ipa file (IOS), .app folder (IOS Simulator), .apk file (Android) or .apks file (Android App Bundle), or a .zip file containing one of these. Appium will attempt to install this app binary on the appropriate device first. Note that this capability is not required for Android if you specify appPackage and appActivity capabilities (see below). UiAutomator2 and XCUITest allow to start the session without app or appPackage. Incompatible with browserName. See here about .apks file. |
/abs/path/to/my.apk or http://myapp.com/app.ipa |
otherApps |
App or list of apps (as a JSON array) to install prior to running tests. Note that it will not work with automationName of Espresso and iOS real devices |
e.g., "/path/to/app.apk", https://www.example.com/url/to/app.apk, ["http://appium.github.io/appium/assets/TestApp9.4.app.zip", "/path/to/app-b.app"] |
browserName |
Name of mobile web browser to automate. Should be an empty string if automating an app instead. | 'Safari' for iOS and 'Chrome', 'Chromium', or 'Browser' for Android |
newCommandTimeout |
How long (in seconds) Appium will wait for a new command from the client before assuming the client quit and ending the session | e.g. 60 |
language |
Language to set for iOS (XCUITest driver only) and Android. | e.g. fr |
locale |
Locale to set for iOS (XCUITest driver only) and Android. fr_CA format for iOS. CA format (country name abbreviation) for Android |
e.g. fr_CA, CA |
udid |
Unique device identifier of the connected physical device | e.g. 1ae203187fc012g |
orientation |
(Sim/Emu-only) start in a certain orientation | LANDSCAPE or PORTRAIT |
autoWebview |
Move directly into Webview context. Default false |
true, false |
noReset |
Don't reset app state before this session. See here for more details | true, false |
fullReset |
Perform a complete reset. See here for more details | true, false |
eventTimings |
Enable or disable the reporting of the timings for various Appium-internal events (e.g., the start and end of each command, etc.). Defaults to false. To enable, use true. The timings are then reported as events property on response to querying the current session. See the event timing docs for the the structure of this response. |
e.g., true |
enablePerformanceLogging |
(Web and webview only) Enable Chromedriver's (on Android) or Safari's (on iOS) performance logging (default false) |
true, false |
printPageSourceOnFindFailure |
When a find operation fails, print the current page source. Defaults to false. |
e.g., true |
clearSystemFiles |
Delete any generated files at the end of a session. Default to false. |
true, false |
| Capability | Description | Values |
|---|---|---|
settings[settingsKey] |
Update Appium Settings on session creation. | e.g., 'settings[mjpegScalingFactor]': 10, 'settings[shouldUseCompactResponses]': true |
These Capabilities are available for UiAutomator1 driver. The driver is for Android 5 and lower.
| Capability | Description | Values |
|---|---|---|
appActivity |
Activity name for the Android activity you want to launch from your package. This often needs to be preceded by a . (e.g., .MainActivity instead of MainActivity). By default this capability is received from the package manifest (action: android.intent.action.MAIN , category: android.intent.category.LAUNCHER) |
MainActivity, .Settings |
appPackage |
Java package of the Android app you want to run. By default this capability is received from the package manifest (@package attribute value) | com.example.android.myApp, com.android.settings |
appWaitActivity |
Activity name/names, comma separated, for the Android activity you want to wait for. By default the value of this capability is the same as for appActivity. You must set it to the very first focused application activity name in case it is different from the one which is set as appActivity if your capability has appActivity and appPackage. You can also use wildcards (*). |
SplashActivity, SplashActivity,OtherActivity, *, *.SplashActivity |
appWaitPackage |
Java package of the Android app you want to wait for. By default the value of this capability is the same as for appActivity |
com.example.android.myApp, com.android.settings |
appWaitDuration |
Timeout in milliseconds used to wait for the appWaitActivity to launch (default 20000) |
30000 |
deviceReadyTimeout |
Timeout in seconds while waiting for device to become ready | 5 |
allowTestPackages |
Allow to install a test package which has android:testOnly="true" in the manifest. false by default |
true or false |
androidCoverage |
Fully qualified instrumentation class. Passed to -w in adb shell am instrument -e coverage true -w | com.my.Pkg/com.my.Pkg.instrumentation.MyInstrumentation |
androidCoverageEndIntent |
A broadcast action implemented by yourself which is used to dump coverage into file system. Passed to -a in adb shell am broadcast -a | com.example.pkg.END_EMMA |
androidDeviceReadyTimeout |
Timeout in seconds used to wait for a device to become ready after booting | e.g., 30 |
androidInstallTimeout |
Timeout in milliseconds used to wait for an apk to install to the device. Defaults to 90000 |
e.g., 90000 |
androidInstallPath |
The name of the directory on the device in which the apk will be push before install. Defaults to /data/local/tmp |
e.g. /sdcard/Downloads/ |
adbPort |
Port used to connect to the ADB server (default 5037) |
5037 |
systemPort |
systemPort used to connect to appium-uiautomator2-server or appium-espresso-driver. The default is 8200 in general and selects one port from 8200 to 8299 for appium-uiautomator2-server, it is 8300 from 8300 to 8399 for appium-espresso-driver. When you run tests in parallel, you must adjust the port to avoid conflicts. Read Parallel Testing Setup Guide for more details. |
e.g., 8201 |
remoteAdbHost |
Optional remote ADB server host | e.g.: 192.168.0.101 |
androidDeviceSocket |
Devtools socket name. Needed only when tested app is a Chromium embedding browser. The socket is open by the browser and Chromedriver connects to it as a devtools client. | e.g., chrome_devtools_remote |
avd |
Name of avd to launch | e.g., api19 |
avdLaunchTimeout |
How long to wait in milliseconds for an avd to launch and connect to ADB (default 60000) |
300000 |
avdReadyTimeout |
How long to wait in milliseconds for an avd to finish its boot animations (default 120000) |
300000 |
avdArgs |
Additional emulator arguments used when launching an avd | e.g., -netfast |
useKeystore |
Use a custom keystore to sign apks, default false |
true or false |
keystorePath |
Path to custom keystore, default ~/.android/debug.keystore | e.g., /path/to.keystore |
keystorePassword |
Password for custom keystore | e.g., foo |
keyAlias |
Alias for key | e.g., androiddebugkey |
keyPassword |
Password for key | e.g., foo |
chromedriverExecutable |
The absolute local path to webdriver executable (if Chromium embedder provides its own webdriver, it should be used instead of original chromedriver bundled with Appium) | /abs/path/to/webdriver |
chromedriverArgs |
An array of arguments to be passed to the chromedriver binary when it's run by Appium. By default no CLI args are added beyond what Appium uses internally (such as --url-base, --port, --adb-port, and --log-path. |
e.g., ["--disable-gpu", "--disable-web-security"] |
chromedriverExecutableDir |
The absolute path to a directory to look for Chromedriver executables in, for automatic discovery of compatible Chromedrivers. Ignored if chromedriverUseSystemExecutable is true |
/abs/path/to/chromedriver/directory |
chromedriverChromeMappingFile |
The absolute path to a file which maps Chromedriver versions to the minimum Chrome that it supports. Ignored if chromedriverUseSystemExecutable is true |
/abs/path/to/mapping.json |
chromedriverUseSystemExecutable |
If true, bypasses automatic Chromedriver configuration and uses the version that comes downloaded with Appium. Ignored if chromedriverExecutable is set. Defaults to false |
e.g., true |
autoWebviewTimeout |
Amount of time to wait for Webview context to become active, in ms. Defaults to 2000 |
e.g. 4 |
chromedriverPort |
Numeric port to start Chromedriver on. Note that use of this capability is discouraged as it will cause undefined behavior in case there are multiple webviews present. By default Appium will find a free port. | e.g. 8000 |
chromedriverPorts |
A list of valid ports for Appium to use for communication with Chromedrivers. This capability supports multiple webview scenarios. The form of this capability is an array of numeric ports, where array items can themselves be arrays of length 2, where the first element is the start of an inclusive range and the second is the end. By default, Appium will use any free port. | e.g. [8000, [9000, 9005]] |
ensureWebviewsHavePages |
Whether or not Appium should augment its webview detection with page detection, guaranteeing that any webview contexts which show up in the context list have active pages. This can prevent an error if a context is selected where Chromedriver cannot find any pages. Defaults to false |
e.g. true |
webviewDevtoolsPort |
To support the ensureWebviewsHavePages feature, it is necessary to open a TCP port for communication with the webview on the device under test. This capability allows overriding of the default port of 9222, in case multiple sessions are running simultaneously (to avoid port clash), or in case the default port is not appropriate for your system. |
e.g. 9543 |
enableWebviewDetailsCollection |
Enables collection of detailed WebView information via /json/version CDP (Chrome Developer Protocol) endpoint since Appium 1.18.0+. This helps to properly match Chromedriver version which supports the given WebView. Without this flag enabled, Appium tries to guess the version of the WebView based on the version of the corresponding installed package (which usually fails for custom web views). Defaults to false |
true or false |
dontStopAppOnReset |
Doesn't stop the process of the app under test, before starting the app using adb. If the app under test is created by another anchor app, setting this false, allows the process of the anchor app to be still alive, during the start of the test app using adb. In other words, with dontStopAppOnReset set to true, we will not include the -S flag in the adb shell am start call. With this capability omitted or set to false, we include the -S flag. Default false |
true or false |
unicodeKeyboard |
Enable Unicode input, default false |
true or false |
resetKeyboard |
Reset keyboard to its original state, after running Unicode tests with unicodeKeyboard capability. Ignored if used alone. Default false |
true or false |
noSign |
Skip checking and signing of app with debug keys, will work only with UiAutomator, default false |
true or false |
ignoreUnimportantViews |
Calls the setCompressedLayoutHierarchy() uiautomator function. This capability can speed up test execution, since Accessibility commands will run faster ignoring some elements. The ignored elements will not be findable, which is why this capability has also been implemented as a toggle-able setting as well as a capability. Defaults to false |
true or false |
disableAndroidWatchers |
Disables android watchers that watch for application not responding and application crash, this will reduce cpu usage on android device/emulator. This capability will work only with UiAutomator, default false |
true or false |
chromeOptions |
Allows passing chromeOptions capability for ChromeDriver. For more information see chromeOptions | chromeOptions: {args: ['--disable-popup-blocking']} |
recreateChromeDriverSessions |
Kill ChromeDriver session when moving to a non-ChromeDriver webview. Defaults to false |
true or false |
nativeWebScreenshot |
In a web context, use native (adb) method for taking a screenshot, rather than proxying to ChromeDriver. Defaults to false |
true or false |
androidScreenshotPath |
The name of the directory on the device in which the screenshot will be put. Defaults to /data/local/tmp |
e.g. /sdcard/screenshots/ |
autoGrantPermissions |
Have Appium automatically determine which permissions your app requires and grant them to the app on install. Defaults to false. If noReset is true, this capability doesn't work. |
true or false |
networkSpeed |
Set the network speed emulation. Specify the maximum network upload and download speeds. Defaults to full |
['full','gsm', 'edge', 'hscsd', 'gprs', 'umts', 'hsdpa', 'lte', 'evdo'] Check -netspeed option more info about speed emulation for avds |
gpsEnabled |
Toggle gps location provider for emulators before starting the session. By default the emulator will have this option enabled or not according to how it has been provisioned. | true or false |
isHeadless |
Set this capability to true to run the Emulator headless when device display is not needed to be visible. false is the default value. isHeadless is also support for iOS, check XCUITest-specific capabilities. |
e.g., true |
adbExecTimeout |
Timeout in milliseconds used to wait for adb command execution. Defaults to 20000 |
e.g., 50000 |
localeScript |
Sets the locale script | e.g., "Cyrl" (Cyrillic) |
skipDeviceInitialization |
Skip device initialization which includes i.a.: installation and running of Settings app or setting of permissions. Can be used to improve startup performance when the device was already used for automation and it's prepared for the next automation. Defaults to false |
true or false |
chromedriverDisableBuildCheck |
Sets the chromedriver flag --disable-build-check for Chrome webview tests |
true or false |
skipUnlock |
Skips unlock during session creation. Defaults to false |
true or false |
unlockType |
Unlock the target device with particular lock pattern instead of just waking up the device with a helper app. It works with unlockKey capability. Defaults to undefined. fingerprint is available only for Android 6.0+ and emulators. Read unlock doc in android driver. |
['pin', 'password', 'pattern', 'fingerprint'] |
unlockKey |
A key pattern to unlock used by unlockType. |
e.g., '1111' |
autoLaunch |
Initializing the app under test automatically. Appium does not install/launch the app under test if this is false. Defaults to true |
true or false |
skipLogcatCapture |
Skips to start capturing logcat. It might improve performance such as network. Log related commands will not work. Defaults to false. |
true or false |
uninstallOtherPackages |
A package, list of packages or * to uninstall package/s before installing apks for test. '*' uninstall all of thrid-party packages except for packages which is necessary for Appium to test such as io.appium.settings or io.appium.uiautomator2.server since Appium already contains the logic to manage them. |
e.g. "io.appium.example", ["io.appium.example1", "io.appium.example2"], '*' |
disableWindowAnimation |
Set device animation scale zero if the value is true. After session is complete, Appium restores the animation scale to it's original value. Defaults to false |
true, false |
remoteAppsCacheLimit |
Set the maximum number of remote cached apks (default is 10) which are pushed to the device-under-test's local storage. Caching apks remotely speeds up the execution of sequential test cases, when using the same set of apks, by avoiding the need to be push an apk to the remote file system every time a reinstall is needed. Set this capability to 0 to disable caching. |
e.g. 0, 5, 20 |
buildToolsVersion |
Specify the Android build-tools version to be something different than the default, which is to use the most recent version. It is helpful to use a non-default version if your environment uses alpha/beta build tools. |
e.g. '28.0.3' |
androidNaturalOrientation |
Allow for correct handling of orientation on landscape-oriented devices. Set to true to basically flip the meaning of PORTRAIT and LANDSCAPE. Defaults to false |
true, false |
enforceAppInstall |
By default application installation is skipped if newer or the same version of this app is already present on the device under test. Setting this option to true will enforce Appium to always install the current application build independently of the currently installed version of it. Defaults to false. |
true , false |
ignoreHiddenApiPolicyError |
Ignores Security exception: Permission denial alert and allows to continue the session creation process since Appium 1.18.0+. The error happens when Appium tries to relax hidden API policy, although some devices with a customized firmware deny such requests. Defaults to false. |
true, false |
mockLocationApp |
Sets the package identifier of the app, which is used as a system mock location provider since Appium 1.18.0+. This capability has no effect on emulators. If the value is set to null or an empty string, then Appium will skip the mocked location provider setup procedure. Defaults to Appium Setting package identifier (io.appium.settings). |
e.g., null, io.appium.settings, example.your.app |
| logcatFormat | Set the output format for logcat messages since Appium 1.18.0. Supported formats are listed in here. Please read logcat#outputFormat for more details about each format. Defaults to threadtime. |
e.g., process |
logcatFilterSpecs |
Set the output filter rule for logcat messages since Appium 1.18.0. Please read logcat#filteringOutput for more details about the rule. Write and View Logs with Logcat is also helpful. | e.g., ['*:W', 'MyActivity:D'] (MyActivity is a tag) |
allowDelayAdb |
Whether enable -delay-adb on emulator startup. Defaults to true |
true, false |
intentAction |
Intent action which will be used to start activity (default android.intent.action.MAIN) |
e.g.android.intent.action.MAIN, android.intent.action.VIEW |
intentCategory |
Intent category which will be used to start activity (default android.intent.category.LAUNCHER) |
e.g. android.intent.category.LAUNCHER, android.intent.category.APP_CONTACTS |
intentFlags |
Flags that will be used to start activity (default 0x10200000) |
e.g. 0x10200000 |
optionalIntentArguments |
Additional intent arguments that will be used to start activity. See Intent arguments | e.g. --esn <EXTRA_KEY>, --ez <EXTRA_KEY> <EXTRA_BOOLEAN_VALUE>, etc. |
Please refer to the documentation on the UIAutomator2 driver repository about its available capabilities.
Please refer to the documentation on the Espresso driver repository about its available capabilities.
These Capabilities are available only on the XCUITest Driver and the deprecated UIAutomation Driver.
| Capability | Description | Values |
|---|---|---|
calendarFormat |
(Sim-only) Calendar format to set for the iOS Simulator | e.g. gregorian |
bundleId |
Bundle ID of the app under test. Useful for starting an app on a real device or for using other caps which require the bundle ID during test startup. To run a test on a real device using the bundle ID, you may omit the 'app' capability, but you must provide 'udid'. | e.g. io.appium.TestApp |
launchTimeout |
Amount of time in ms to wait for instruments before assuming it hung and failing the session | e.g. 20000 |
locationServicesEnabled |
(Sim-only) Force location services to be either on or off. Default is to keep current sim setting. | true or false |
locationServicesAuthorized |
(Sim-only) Set location services to be authorized or not authorized for app via plist, so that location services alert doesn't pop up. Default is to keep current sim setting. Note that if you use this setting you MUST also use the bundleId capability to send in your app's bundle ID. |
true or false |
autoAcceptAlerts |
Accept all iOS alerts automatically if they pop up. This includes privacy access permission alerts (e.g., location, contacts, photos). Default is false. | true or false |
autoDismissAlerts |
Dismiss all iOS alerts automatically if they pop up. This includes privacy access permission alerts (e.g., location, contacts, photos). Default is false. | true or false |
nativeInstrumentsLib |
Use native intruments lib (ie disable instruments-without-delay). | true or false |
nativeWebTap |
Enable "real", non-javascript-based web taps in Safari. Default: false. Warning: depending on viewport size/ratio; this might not accurately tap an element |
true or false |
safariInitialUrl |
Initial safari url, default is a local welcome page | e.g. https://www.github.com |
safariAllowPopups |
(Sim-only) Allow javascript to open new windows in Safari. Default keeps current sim setting | true or false |
safariIgnoreFraudWarning |
(Sim-only) Prevent Safari from showing a fraudulent website warning. Default keeps current sim setting. | true or false |
safariOpenLinksInBackground |
(Sim-only) Whether Safari should allow links to open in new windows. Default keeps current sim setting. | true or false |
keepKeyChains |
(Sim-only) Whether to keep keychains (Library/Keychains) when appium session is started/finished | true or false |
localizableStringsDir |
Where to look for localizable strings. Default en.lproj |
en.lproj |
processArguments |
Arguments to pass to the AUT using instruments | e.g., -myflag |
interKeyDelay |
The delay, in ms, between keystrokes sent to an element when typing. | e.g., 100 |
showIOSLog |
Whether to show any logs captured from a device in the appium logs. Default false |
true or false |
sendKeyStrategy |
strategy to use to type test into a test field. Simulator default: oneByOne. Real device default: grouped |
oneByOne, grouped or setValue |
screenshotWaitTimeout |
Max timeout in sec to wait for a screenshot to be generated. default: 10 | e.g., 5 |
waitForAppScript |
The ios automation script used to determined if the app has been launched, by default the system wait for the page source not to be empty. The result must be a boolean | e.g. true;, target.elements().length > 0;, $.delay(5000); true; |
webviewConnectRetries |
Number of times to send connection message to remote debugger, to get webview. Default: 8 |
e.g., 12 |
appName |
The display name of the application under test. Used to automate backgrounding the app in iOS 9+. | e.g., UICatalog |
customSSLCert |
(Sim only) Add an SSL certificate to IOS Simulator. | e.g. -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----MIIFWjCCBEKg...-----END CERTIFICATE----- |
webkitResponseTimeout |
(Real device only) Set the time, in ms, to wait for a response from WebKit in a Safari session. Defaults to 5000 |
e.g., 10000 |
remoteDebugProxy |
(Sim only, <= 11.2) If set, Appium sends and receives remote debugging messages through a proxy on either the local port (Sim only, <= 11.2) or a proxy on this unix socket (Sim only >= 11.3) instead of communicating with the iOS remote debugger directly. | e.g. 12000 or "/tmp/my.proxy.socket" |
enableAsyncExecuteFromHttps |
capability to allow simulators to execute asynchronous JavaScript on pages using HTTPS. Defaults to false |
true or false |
skipLogCapture |
Skips to start capturing logs such as crash, system, safari console and safari network. It might improve performance such as network. Log related commands will not work. Defaults to false. |
true or false |
webkitDebugProxyPort |
(Real device only) Port to which ios-webkit-debug-proxy is connected, during real device tests. Default is 27753. |
12021 |
fullContextList |
Returns the detailed information on contexts for the get available context command. If this capability is enabled, then each item in the returned contexts list would additionally include WebView title, full URL and the bundle identifier. Defaults to false. |
true or false |
Please refer to the documentation on the XCUITest driver repository about its available capabilities.
Please refer to the documentation on the safaridriver repository about its available capabilities.
Please refer to the documentation on the geckodriver repository about its available capabilities.
Please refer to the documentation on the MacDriver repository about its available capabilities.
Please refer to the documentation on the Mac2Driver repository about its available capabilities.
Please refer to the documentation on the You.i Engine driver repository about its available capabilities.
Please refer to the documentation on the Appium Windows Driver repository about its available capabilities.
Please refer to the documentation on the Flutter Driver repository about its available capabilities.