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.
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 Selendroid or UiAutomator2 or Espresso for Android or XCUITest 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. On Android this capability is currently ignored, though it remains required. |
app |
The absolute local path or remote http URL to an .ipa or .apk file, or a .zip 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). Incompatible with browserName. |
/abs/path/to/my.apk or http://myapp.com/app.ipa |
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 |
(Sim/Emu-only) Language to set for the simulator / emulator. On Android, available only on API levels 22 and below | e.g. fr |
locale |
(Sim/Emu-only) Locale to set for the simulator / emulator. | e.g. fr_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 |
These Capabilities are available only on Android-based drivers (like UiAutomator2 for example).
| 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) |
MainActivity, .Settings |
appPackage |
Java package of the Android app you want to run | com.example.android.myApp, com.android.settings |
appWaitActivity |
Activity name/names, comma separated, for the Android activity you want to wait for | SplashActivity, SplashActivity,OtherActivity, *, *.SplashActivity |
appWaitPackage |
Java package of the Android app you want to wait for | 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 |
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, default is 8200 in general and selects one port from 8200 to 8299. 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 120000) |
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 |
autoWebviewTimeout |
Amount of time to wait for Webview context to become active, in ms. Defaults to 2000 |
e.g. 4 |
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. |
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 and not with selendroid, 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 and not with selendroid, 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 |
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 |
uiautomator2ServerLaunchTimeout |
Timeout in milliseconds used to wait for an uiAutomator2 server to launch. Defaults to 20000 |
e.g., 20000 |
uiautomator2ServerInstallTimeout |
Timeout in milliseconds used to wait for an uiAutomator2 server to be installed. Defaults to 20000 |
e.g., 20000 |
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 |
udid |
Unique device identifier of the connected physical device | e.g. 1ae203187fc012g |
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. Does not work on XCUITest-based tests. |
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. Does not work on XCUITest-based tests. |
true or false |
nativeInstrumentsLib |
Use native intruments lib (ie disable instruments-without-delay). | true or false |
nativeWebTap |
(Sim-only) 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 |
(Sim-only) (>= 8.1) 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 |
(For XCUITest-specific capabilities, please refer to the documentation on the XCUITest Driver repo itself.)
(For You.i Engine-specific capabilities, please refer to the documentation on the You.i Engine driver itself.)