Auto-start and manage an Appium server for WebdriverIO mobile tests using @wdio/appium-service
domain: mobile-automation · 6 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
Install `@wdio/appium-service` as a dev dependency and add `'appium'` to the `services` array in wdio.conf.js
Set `port: 4723` (Appium's default port) in the config so WebdriverIO's driver and the launched Appium server agree on where to connect
Pass Appium CLI arguments via the service's `args` option object using lower-camelCase keys, e.g. `['appium', { args: { platformName: 'iOS', debugLogSpacing: true } }]`
Point `command` at a specific Appium binary (e.g. `'appium'` for a global npm install) if you don't want the bundled version, and set `logPath` to capture server logs
Use `npx start-appium-inspector` to launch a local Appium server plus the Inspector UI at `http://localhost:{port}/inspector` for interactive element exploration
Rely on the service's automatic cloud detection — when your capabilities target a cloud provider it skips starting a local Appium process entirely
Known gotchas
The optional `trackSelectorPerformance` option is beta and iOS-only today (Android support not yet released) and is unsupported in MultiRemote sessions
If cloud capabilities are present in your config, the service silently skips starting Appium locally — don't assume a missing local server log means misconfiguration
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