Appium is an open source, cross-platform test automation tool for native, hybrid and mobile web and desktop apps. We support simulators (iOS), emulators (Android), and real devices (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac).
Each platform is supported by one or more "drivers", which know how to automate that particular platform. Choose a driver below for specific information about that driver, and how to set your system up for using it:
- iOS
- The XCUITest Driver
- (DEPRECATED) The UIAutomation Driver
- Android
- (BETA) The Espresso Driver
- The UiAutomator2 Driver
- (DEPRECATED) The UiAutomator Driver
- (DEPRECATED) The Selendroid Driver
- The Windows Driver (for Windows Desktop apps)
- The Mac Driver (for Mac Desktop apps)
- You don't have to recompile your app or modify it in any way, due to use of standard automation APIs on all platforms.
- You can write tests with your favorite dev tools using any WebDriver-compatible language such as Java, Objective-C, JavaScript (Node), PHP, Python, Ruby, C#, Clojure, or Perl with the Selenium WebDriver API and language-specific client libraries.
- You can use any testing framework.
Investing in the WebDriver protocol means you are betting on a single, free and open protocol for testing that has become a web standard. Don't lock yourself into a proprietary stack.
For example, if you use Apple's XCUITest library without Appium you can only write tests using Obj-C/Swift, and you can only run tests through Xcode. Similarly, with Google's UiAutomator or Espresso you can only write tests in Java. Appium opens up the possibility of true cross-platform native app automation, for mobile and beyond. Finally!
If you're new to Appium, or want a fuller description of what this is all about, please read our Introduction to Appium Concepts.
Your environment needs to be set up for the particular platforms that you want to run tests on. Each of the drivers above documents the requirements for their particular brand of automation.
If you want to run Appium via an npm install, hack with or contribute to
Appium, you will need node.js and npm (use
nvm,
n, or brew install node to install
Node.js. Make sure you have not installed Node or Appium with sudo, otherwise
you'll run into problems). We recommend the latest stable version, though
Appium supports Node 6+.
To verify that all of Appium's dependencies are met you can use
appium-doctor. Install it with npm install -g appium-doctor (or run it
from source), then run
appium-doctor and supply the --ios or --android flags to verify that all
of the dependencies are set up correctly.
You also need to download the Appium client for your language so you can write tests. The Appium clients are simple extensions to the WebDriver clients. You can see the list of clients and links to download instructions at the Appium clients list.
Kick up an Appium server, and then run a test written in your favorite WebDriver-compatible language! You can run an Appium server using node.js or using Appium Desktop; see below.
npm install -g appium
appium
As we said above, you may want to run appium-doctor to ensure your system is
set up properly:
npm install -g appium-doctor
appium-doctor
- Download Appium Desktop
- Run it!
To see how to start session with a particular Appium driver, refer to that driver's specific doc page.
Essentially, we support a subset of the Selenium WebDriver JSON Wire Protocol, and extend it so that you can specify mobile-targeted desired capabilities to run your test through Appium.
You find elements by using a subset of WebDriver's element-finding strategies. See finding elements for detailed information. We also have several extensions to the JSON Wire Protocol for automating mobile gestures like tap, flick, and swipe.
You can also automate webviews in hybrid apps! See the hybrid app guide
This repository contains many examples of tests in a variety of different languages!
For the full list of Appium doc pages, visit this directory.
Please take a look at our contribution documentation for instructions on how to build, test and run Appium from source.
Interested in where Appium is heading in the future? Check out the Roadmap
Announcements and debates often take place on the Discussion Group, be sure to sign up!
We put together a troubleshooting guide. Please have a look here first if you run into any problems. It contains instructions for checking a lot of common errors and how to get in touch with the community if you're stumped.
Using Appium with Tapster and other robots is possible, check out the Appium Robots project!
