Appium server arguments

Many Appium 1.5 server arguments have been deprecated in favor of the --default-capabilities flag.

Usage: node . [flags]

Server flags

All flags are optional, but some are required in conjunction with certain others.

<expand_table>

Flag	Default	Description	Example
--shell	null	Enter REPL mode
--ipa	null	(IOS-only) abs path to compiled .ipa file	--ipa /abs/path/to/my.ipa
-a, --address	0.0.0.0	IP Address to listen on	--address 0.0.0.0
-p, --port	4723	port to listen on	--port 4723
-ca, --callback-address	null	callback IP Address (default: same as --address)	--callback-address 127.0.0.1
-cp, --callback-port	null	callback port (default: same as port)	--callback-port 4723
-bp, --bootstrap-port	4724	(Android-only) port to use on device to talk to Appium	--bootstrap-port 4724
-r, --backend-retries	3	(iOS-only) How many times to retry launching Instruments before saying it crashed or timed out	--backend-retries 3
--session-override	false	Enables session override (clobbering)
-l, --pre-launch	false	Pre-launch the application before allowing the first session (Requires --app and, for Android, --app-pkg and --app-activity)
-g, --log	null	Also send log output to this file	--log /path/to/appium.log
--log-level	debug	log level; default (console[:file]): debug[:debug]	--log-level debug
--log-timestamp	false	Show timestamps in console output
--local-timezone	false	Use local timezone for timestamps
--log-no-colors	false	Do not use colors in console output
-G, --webhook	null	Also send log output to this HTTP listener	--webhook localhost:9876
--safari	false	(IOS-Only) Use the safari app
--default-device, -dd	false	(IOS-Simulator-only) use the default simulator that instruments launches on its own
--force-iphone	false	(IOS-only) Use the iPhone Simulator no matter what the app wants
--force-ipad	false	(IOS-only) Use the iPad Simulator no matter what the app wants
--tracetemplate	null	(IOS-only) .tracetemplate file to use with Instruments	--tracetemplate /Users/me/Automation.tracetemplate
--instruments	null	(IOS-only) path to instruments binary	--instruments /path/to/instruments
--nodeconfig	null	Configuration JSON file to register appium with selenium grid	--nodeconfig /abs/path/to/nodeconfig.json
-ra, --robot-address	0.0.0.0	IP Address of robot	--robot-address 0.0.0.0
-rp, --robot-port	-1	port for robot	--robot-port 4242
--selendroid-port	8080	Local port used for communication with Selendroid	--selendroid-port 8080
--chromedriver-port	9515	Port upon which ChromeDriver will run	--chromedriver-port 9515
--chromedriver-executable	null	ChromeDriver executable full path
--show-config	false	Show info about the appium server configuration and exit
--no-perms-check	false	Bypass Appium's checks to ensure we can read/write necessary files
--strict-caps	false	Cause sessions to fail if desired caps are sent in that Appium does not recognize as valid for the selected device
--isolate-sim-device	false	Xcode 6 has a bug on some platforms where a certain simulator can only be launched without error if all other simulator devices are first deleted. This option causes Appium to delete all devices other than the one being used by Appium. Note that this is a permanent deletion, and you are responsible for using simctl or xcode to manage the categories of devices used with Appium.
--tmp	null	Absolute path to directory Appium can use to manage temporary files, like built-in iOS apps it needs to move around. On *nix/Mac defaults to /tmp, on Windows defaults to C:\Windows\Temp
--trace-dir	null	Absolute path to directory Appium use to save ios instruments traces, defaults to /appium-instruments
--debug-log-spacing	false	Add exaggerated spacing in logs to help with visual inspection
--suppress-adb-kill-server	false	(Android-only) If set, prevents Appium from killing the adb server instance
--async-trace	false	Add long stack traces to log entries. Recommended for debugging only.
--webkit-debug-proxy-port	27753	(IOS-only) Local port used for communication with ios-webkit-debug-proxy	--webkit-debug-proxy-port 27753
-dc, --default-capabilities	{}	Set the default desired capabilities, which will be set on each session unless overridden by received capabilities.	`--default-capabilities [ '{"app": "myapp.app", "deviceName": "iPhone Simulator"}'
--reboot	false	- (Android-only) reboot emulator after each session and kill it at the end
--command-timeout	60	[DEPRECATED] No effect. This used to be the default command timeout for the server to use for all sessions (in seconds and should be less than 2147483). Use newCommandTimeout cap instead
-k, --keep-artifacts	false	[DEPRECATED] - no effect, trace is now in tmp dir by default and is cleared before each run. Please also refer to the --trace-dir flag.
--platform-name	null	[DEPRECATED] - Name of the mobile platform: iOS, Android, or FirefoxOS	--platform-name iOS
--platform-version	null	[DEPRECATED] - Version of the mobile platform	--platform-version 7.1
--automation-name	null	[DEPRECATED] - Name of the automation tool: Appium or Selendroid	--automation-name Appium
--device-name	null	[DEPRECATED] - Name of the mobile device to use	--device-name iPhone Retina (4-inch), Android Emulator
--browser-name	null	[DEPRECATED] - Name of the mobile browser: Safari or Chrome	--browser-name Safari
--app	null	[DEPRECATED] - IOS: abs path to simulator-compiled .app file or the bundle_id of the desired target on device; Android: abs path to .apk file	--app /abs/path/to/my.app
-lt, --launch-timeout	90000	[DEPRECATED] - (iOS-only) how long in ms to wait for Instruments to launch
--language	null	[DEPRECATED] - Language for the iOS simulator / Android Emulator	--language en
--locale	null	[DEPRECATED] - Locale for the iOS simulator / Android Emulator	--locale en_US
-U, --udid	null	[DEPRECATED] - Unique device identifier of the connected physical device	--udid 1adsf-sdfas-asdf-123sdf
--orientation	null	[DEPRECATED] - (IOS-only) use LANDSCAPE or PORTRAIT to initialize all requests to this orientation	--orientation LANDSCAPE
--no-reset	false	[DEPRECATED] - Do not reset app state between sessions (IOS: do not delete app plist files; Android: do not uninstall app before new session)
--full-reset	false	[DEPRECATED] - (iOS) Delete the entire simulator folder. (Android) Reset app state by uninstalling app instead of clearing app data. On Android, this will also remove the app after the session is complete.
--app-pkg	null	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Java package of the Android app you want to run (e.g., com.example.android.myApp)	--app-pkg com.example.android.myApp
--app-activity	null	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Activity name for the Android activity you want to launch from your package (e.g., MainActivity)	--app-activity MainActivity
--app-wait-package	false	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Package name for the Android activity you want to wait for (e.g., com.example.android.myApp)	--app-wait-package com.example.android.myApp
--app-wait-activity	false	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Activity name for the Android activity you want to wait for (e.g., SplashActivity)	--app-wait-activity SplashActivity
--device-ready-timeout	5	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Timeout in seconds while waiting for device to become ready	--device-ready-timeout 5
--android-coverage	false	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Fully qualified instrumentation class. Passed to -w in adb shell am instrument -e coverage true -w	--android-coverage com.my.Pkg/com.my.Pkg.instrumentation.MyInstrumentation
--avd	null	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Name of the avd to launch	--avd @default
--avd-args	null	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Additional emulator arguments to launch the avd	--avd-args -no-snapshot-load
--use-keystore	false	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) When set the keystore will be used to sign apks.
--keystore-path	<user>/.android/debug.keystore	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Path to keystore
--keystore-password	android	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Password to keystore
--key-alias	androiddebugkey	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Key alias
--key-password	android	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Key password
--intent-action	android.intent.action.MAIN	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Intent action which will be used to start activity	--intent-action android.intent.action.MAIN
--intent-category	android.intent.category.LAUNCHER	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Intent category which will be used to start activity	--intent-category android.intent.category.APP_CONTACTS
--intent-flags	0x10200000	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Flags that will be used to start activity	--intent-flags 0x10200000
--intent-args	null	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) Additional intent arguments that will be used to start activity	--intent-args 0x10200000
--dont-stop-app-on-reset	false	[DEPRECATED] - (Android-only) When included, refrains from stopping the app before restart
--calendar-format	null	[DEPRECATED] - (IOS-only) calendar format for the iOS simulator	--calendar-format gregorian
--native-instruments-lib	false	[DEPRECATED] - (IOS-only) IOS has a weird built-in unavoidable delay. We patch this in appium. If you do not want it patched, pass in this flag.
--keep-keychains	false	[DEPRECATED] - (iOS-only) Whether to keep keychains (Library/Keychains) when reset app between sessions
--localizable-strings-dir	en.lproj	[DEPRECATED] - (IOS-only) the relative path of the dir where Localizable.strings file resides	--localizable-strings-dir en.lproj
--show-ios-log	false	[DEPRECATED] - (IOS-only) if set, the iOS system log will be written to the console
--enable-heapdump	false	Enables NodeJS memory dumps collection feature. This feature is extremely useful for finding memory leaks. Use the 'kill -SIGUSR2 <PID>' command to create a dump of memory heap for node process with the particular PID (this works for *nix systems only). The dump file will be created in the same folder, where main Appium script was executed and will have *.heapsnapshot extension. These snapshot can be then loaded to Chrome Inspector for further investigation. Read the Rising Stack article for more details.