Appium Mobile Automation (workflow)
Operating mode (token-efficient)
- •Treat this skill as a router + governor.
- •Do not load multiple procedures. Select exactly one procedure below and follow it end-to-end.
- •Optimize for reproducibility: environment checks + deterministic selectors + strong diagnostics.
Routing (pick one procedure)
| Task | Open this procedure | Optional examples |
|---|---|---|
| Bootstrap an Appium harness (recommended default: WebdriverIO + TS) | reference/procedures/bootstrap.md | reference/examples/wdio.conf.ts |
| Define/adjust capabilities (iOS/Android) | reference/procedures/capabilities.md | reference/examples/capabilities/android.ts, reference/examples/capabilities/ios.ts |
| Add a new Appium test | reference/procedures/add-test.md | — |
| Run locally (debug) | reference/procedures/run-local.md | — |
| Triage failures / improve stability | reference/procedures/triage-failures.md | — |
Shared non-negotiables (apply to all procedures)
- •
Stable selectors
- •Prefer accessibility id (
accessibilityId) as the primary locator. - •Avoid XPath unless unavoidable; avoid brittle class chains.
- •Prefer accessibility id (
- •
No fixed sleeps
- •Prefer explicit waits tied to conditions (element displayed/clickable).
- •Keep timeouts bounded and purposeful.
- •
Environment-first diagnostics
- •Always verify device/emulator, SDKs, and drivers before blaming tests.
- •Capture device logs + Appium server logs for every failure.
- •
Artifact contract (for CI + triage)
- •Standardize under:
artifacts/appium/ - •Include: server logs, device logs, screenshots on failure (and video if feasible).
- •Standardize under:
- •
No secrets in repo
- •Inject secrets via CI secrets / env vars.
- •Never commit real credentials.
Minimal inputs you should capture before changing code
- •Platforms: iOS / Android
- •Device strategy: local simulators/emulators vs device farm
- •App build pipeline: where apk/ipa comes from; debug/release variants
- •Automation backend:
UiAutomator2/XCUITest(typical defaults) - •Test data and auth strategy
Verification
- •
If you changed skills:
- •Prefer host-repo tooling if present:
- •
node .ai/scripts/lint-skills.cjs --strict
- •
- •Always run the local validator:
- •
node .ai/skills/testing/test-mobile-appium/scripts/validate-skill.cjs
- •
- •Prefer host-repo tooling if present:
- •
If you changed tests/config:
- •
node -v - •
appium --version(ornpx appium --versionif installed locally) - •Start server:
- •
appium --log-level info(or repo equivalent)
- •
- •Run one test against one device config.
- •
Boundaries
- •Do not edit
.codex/skills/or.claude/skills/directly (generated). - •Do not introduce multiple harnesses in the same repo; prefer one standard runner.
- •Do not rely on production data or credentials.