MCP Appium - MCP server for Mobile Development and Automation | iOS, Android, Simulator, Emulator, and Real Devices

MCP Appium is an intelligent MCP (Model Context Protocol) server designed to empower AI assistants with a robust suite of tools for mobile automation. It streamlines mobile app testing by enabling natural language interactions, intelligent locator generation, and automated test creation for both Android and iOS platforms.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Configuration
• Available Tools
• Plugin API
• Client Support
• Usage Examples
• Contributing
• License

🚀 Features

• Cross-Platform Support: Automate tests for both Android (UiAutomator2) and iOS (XCUITest).
• AI-Powered Element Finding: Locate UI elements using natural language descriptions powered by vision models - no need for complex XPath or selectors.
• Intelligent Locator Generation: AI-powered element identification using priority-based strategies.
• Interactive Session Management: Easily create and manage sessions on local mobile devices.
• Smart Element Interactions: Perform actions like clicks, text input, screenshots, and element finding.
• Automated Test Generation: Generate Java/TestNG test code from natural language descriptions.
• Page Object Model Support: Utilize built-in templates that follow industry best practices.
• Flexible Configuration: Customize capabilities and settings for different environments.
• Multilingual Support: Use your native language - AI handles all interactions naturally in any language (English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.).

📋 Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

System Requirements

• Node.js (v22 or higher)
• npm or yarn
• Java Development Kit (JDK) (8 or higher)
• Android SDK (for Android testing)
• Xcode (for iOS testing on macOS)

MCP Appium supports two driver modes:

• Embedded local drivers: when appium_session_management creates an android or ios session without remoteServerUrl, MCP Appium uses the bundled appium-uiautomator2-driver or appium-xcuitest-driver dependency directly. You still need the platform toolchains below, but you do not need to install a global Appium server or run appium driver install uiautomator2 / appium driver install xcuitest for this mode.
• Remote WebDriver/Appium server: when remoteServerUrl is provided to action=create or action=attach, MCP Appium uses the webdriver client to talk to that existing server. In this mode the remote server is responsible for its installed drivers, plugins, device access, and capability handling. Use this mode for platform=general; embedded local creation is available only for Android and iOS.

Mobile Testing Setup for embedded local drivers

Android

1. Install Android Studio and the Android SDK.
2. Set the ANDROID_HOME environment variable.
3. Add the Android SDK tools to your system's PATH.
4. Enable USB debugging on your Android device.
5. Install the Android platform tools/build tools and keep adb available on PATH.

iOS (macOS only)

1. Install Xcode from the App Store.
2. Install the Xcode Command Line Tools: xcode-select --install.
3. Install iOS simulators through Xcode.
4. For real device testing, enable Developer Mode on the device and sign in to your Apple ID in Xcode (Settings → Accounts). Use appium_prepare_ios_real_device to download and sign WebDriverAgent in a single call - it will guide you through provisioning profile selection and return capabilities for session startup.

🛠️ Installation

Standard config works in most of the tools::

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "appium-mcp": {
      "disabled": false,
      "timeout": 100,
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["appium-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "ANDROID_HOME": "/path/to/android/sdk",
        "CAPABILITIES_CONFIG": "/path/to/your/capabilities.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

In Cursor IDE

The easiest way to install MCP Appium in Cursor IDE is using the one-click install button:

This will automatically configure the MCP server in your Cursor IDE settings. Make sure to update the ANDROID_HOME environment variable in the configuration to match your Android SDK path.

Or install manually:

Go to Cursor Settings → MCP → Add new MCP Server. Name it to your liking, use command type with the command npx -y appium-mcp@latest. You can also verify config or add command arguments via clicking Edit.

Here is the recommended configuration:

{
  "appium-mcp": {
    "disabled": false,
    "timeout": 100,
    "type": "stdio",
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["appium-mcp@latest"],
    "env": {
      "ANDROID_HOME": "/Users/xyz/Library/Android/sdk"
    }
  }
}

Note: Make sure to update the ANDROID_HOME path to match your Android SDK installation path.

With Gemini CLI

Use the Gemini CLI to add the MCP Appium server:

gemini mcp add appium-mcp npx -y appium-mcp@latest

This will automatically configure the MCP server for use with Gemini. Make sure to update the ANDROID_HOME environment variable in the configuration to match your Android SDK path.

With Claude Code CLI

Use the Claude Code CLI to add the MCP Appium server:

claude mcp add appium-mcp -- npx -y appium-mcp@latest

This will automatically configure the MCP server for use with Claude Code. Make sure to update the ANDROID_HOME environment variable in the configuration to match your Android SDK path.

⚙️ Configuration

Environment Variables

Note: For embedded local Android/iOS sessions, MCP Appium already includes the UiAutomator2 and XCUITest driver packages. The system-level requirements are the platform toolchains (ANDROID_HOME, Java, Android SDK tools, Xcode/iOS signing or simulator setup). For remote sessions, configure those requirements on the remote Appium/WebDriver server instead.

OpenTelemetry tracing

OpenTelemetry tracing is disabled by default. Set APPIUM_MCP_OTEL_ENABLED=true to initialize the Node.js OpenTelemetry SDK before the MCP server is constructed. The SDK uses standard OTEL_* environment variables, for example:

APPIUM_MCP_OTEL_ENABLED=true
# Optional: include sanitized non-sensitive argument values in spans.
# APPIUM_MCP_OTEL_INCLUDE_ARGUMENT_VALUES=true
# Optional: attach custom key=value pairs to every span (e.g. test case ID, team name).
# OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES=testcase.id=my-test-123,team=platform
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=appium-mcp
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT=http://127.0.0.1:4318/v1/traces
OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER=parentbased_always_on

(Please check the official document as well)

When enabled, appium-mcp creates spans for MCP tool calls, prompt loads, resource reads, and resource template reads. Error status is recorded for thrown operation errors and MCP tool results marked with isError. Span attributes intentionally avoid raw screenshots, XML page source, prompts, credentials, and other high-cardinality or sensitive payloads.

For local trace inspection, use the Jaeger setup in tools/telemetry:

npm run telemetry:jaeger:start

Then open http://127.0.0.1:16686 and run appium-mcp with the environment values in tools/telemetry/jaeger.env.

Capabilities

Create a capabilities.json file to define your device capabilities:

{
  "android": {
    "appium:app": "/path/to/your/android/app.apk",
    "appium:deviceName": "Android Device",
    "appium:platformVersion": "11.0",
    "appium:automationName": "UiAutomator2",
    "appium:udid": "your-device-udid"
  },
  "ios": {
    "appium:app": "/path/to/your/ios/app.ipa",
    "appium:deviceName": "iPhone 15 Pro",
    "appium:platformVersion": "17.0",
    "appium:automationName": "XCUITest",
    "appium:udid": "your-device-udid"
  },
  "general": {
    "platformName": "mac",
    "appium:automationName": "mac2",
    "appium:bundleId": "com.apple.Safari"
  }
}

Set the CAPABILITIES_CONFIG environment variable to point to your configuration file.

Platform names and "general" mode

• You can pass any platform name to appium_session_management (action=create).
• If the platform is ios or android, the server builds capabilities for that platform (including selected device info when local).
• If the platform is any other value, it is treated internally as general:
  • The session will use the provided capabilities exactly as given, or
  • If CAPABILITIES_CONFIG is set, it will merge with the general section from your capabilities file.
• This allows custom setups and non-standard platforms to work without changing server logic.

Integrator notes (sessions, transport, logging)

For CI, device farms, or multi-session setups:

Multi-session and sessionId

The process keeps one active Appium session; tools use it when sessionId is omitted. If a tool call does not include a sessionId, it will target the active session instead of a specific one. If more than one session exists (see appium_session_management with action=list), pass sessionId on every tool call that must target a specific session. Do not assume the active session is stable if other clients or flows can create, select, or delete sessions.

Session persistence

If APPIUM_MCP_PERSIST_REMOTE_SESSIONS_PATH is set, MCP Appium persists attached remote sessions to that directory as JSON files. The path may be absolute or relative to the current working directory. Each session is stored under a canonical filename derived from a hash of the sessionId; older legacy filenames are migrated, and duplicate files for the same session are removed when the directory is read. When a persisted attached session is used again, the server tries to reattach to the remote Appium session; unreachable entries are pruned automatically.

Client disconnect

When the MCP client disconnects, the server deletes only MCP-owned sessions it is tracking (Appium deleteSession for each, via safeDeleteAllSessions). Attached sessions (ownership=attached) are intentionally left on the remote Appium server. Transports that drop often—httpStream behind proxies, idle timeouts, or flaky clients—can wipe owned automation in one go under the default policy. stdio is usually safer for a single long-lived operator; if you use httpStream, expect reconnects to require new owned sessions where applicable.

Remote Appium, CI, and device farms

For grids, cloud labs, or CI, prefer remoteServerUrl plus explicit capabilities on appium_session_management (action=create)—for example appium:udid, app path or id, platform version—rather than depending on local discovery. select_device is geared toward local ADB / simulator picking; use it as a dev convenience, not the main path for allocated remote devices.

Tool logging and argument size

Tool calls are logged with argument redaction implemented via JSON.stringify. Oversized payloads (especially long base64 strings, e.g., screenshot/image payloads, and also very large capabilities objects) cost CPU and log volume. Prefer CAPABILITIES_CONFIG and avoid passing large inline blobs in tool arguments when possible.

Screenshots

Set the SCREENSHOTS_DIR environment variable to specify where screenshots are saved. If not set, screenshots are saved to the current working directory. Supports both absolute and relative paths (relative paths are resolved from the current working directory). The directory is created automatically if it doesn't exist.

Screen Recording

Screen recordings are saved as MP4 files to the same directory as screenshots (SCREENSHOTS_DIR, or os.tmpdir() if not set).

• iOS: Requires ffmpeg to be installed and available on PATH. The default codec is libx264 with yuv420p pixel format for QuickTime compatibility.
• Android: Uses the built-in screenrecord command via UiAutomator2. No additional dependencies required.

To start recording, call appium_screen_recording with action="start". You may provide timeLimit in seconds to limit the maximum recording duration, but the start call still returns immediately. To finalize the recording, save the video, and receive the file path, call appium_screen_recording again with action="stop".

AI Vision Element Finding

Configure AI-powered element finding using vision models. When enabled, a separate tool — appium_ai — is registered alongside appium_find_element. It exposes action=find_element, which locates UI elements from natural-language descriptions and returns a coordinate UUID (ai-element:x,y:bbox) that can be passed to appium_gesture (tap / double_tap / long_press).

This feature is opt-in. When AI_VISION_ENABLED is unset or false, the appium_ai tool is not registered and the LLM has no way to invoke vision-based finding — keeping appium_find_element purely traditional. This deliberate gating prevents the model from defaulting to a slow, paid vision call when a stable locator (accessibility id, resource-id, etc.) would do the job.

Required Environment Variables:

{
  "appium-mcp": {
    "env": {
      "ANDROID_HOME": "/path/to/android/sdk",
      "AI_VISION_ENABLED": "true",
      "AI_VISION_API_BASE_URL": "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1",
      "AI_VISION_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
    }
  }
}

If AI_VISION_ENABLED=true is set without both API vars, the server fails to start with a clear error message — misconfiguration is surfaced immediately rather than mid-test.

Optional Environment Variables:

See the Environment Variables table above for the full list of AI_VISION_* options and their defaults.

Supported Vision Model Providers:

Based on benchmark testing, the following models are recommended:

1. Qwen3-VL-235B-A22B-Instruct

   • Provider: Alibaba Cloud DashScope
   • Accuracy: 100%
   • Speed: 12649ms
   • API: https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1

2. gemini-3-flash-preview

   • Provider: Google AI
   • Accuracy: 100%
   • Speed: 17353
   • API: https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta

More models benchmarked can be found here.

Performance Features:

• Image Compression: Automatically compresses screenshots to reduce API latency and token costs (50-80% size reduction)
• Result Caching: Caches results for 5 minutes using a module-level LRU cache (max 50 entries) that persists across tool calls, avoiding redundant API calls for identical screenshot + instruction pairs
• Coordinate Handling: In normalized mode (default), the model returns 0–1000 range coordinates that are automatically scaled to absolute pixel coordinates using the original image dimensions — independent of any image compression. In absolute mode, image resizing is disabled so the model's returned pixel coordinates always map directly to the original screen dimensions.

Performance Optimization

NO_UI Mode

Set the NO_UI environment variable to true or 1 to disable UI components and improve performance:

{
  "appium-mcp": {
    "env": {
      "NO_UI": "true",
      "ANDROID_HOME": "/path/to/android/sdk"
    }
  }
}

Benefits:

• Significantly Faster Response Times: UI rendering and data processing are completely skipped, resulting in 50-80% faster tool responses depending on the operation.
• Major Token Savings: Eliminates 500-5000+ tokens per request by removing HTML UI components from responses, dramatically reducing LLM API costs.
• Massive Bandwidth Reduction:
  • Screenshots: Saves 1-5MB of base64-encoded image data per screenshot
  • Page source: Saves 50-200KB+ of duplicated XML data in HTML UI
  • Locators: Saves 10-100KB+ of element data in interactive UI
  • Device/App lists: Saves 5-50KB of HTML UI per selection
• Lower Memory Usage: Client applications consume less memory without HTML rendering and embedded data.
• Perfect for Headless Environments: Ideal for CI/CD pipelines, automated testing scripts, batch operations, or any scenario where visual UI feedback is not required.
• Better Scalability: Reduced resource consumption allows handling more concurrent sessions.

Affected Tools:

The following tools return lightweight text-only responses when NO_UI is enabled:

• appium_screenshot - Screenshot files are still saved to disk, but base64 data is not embedded in responses
• appium_get_page_source - Returns XML as text without interactive inspector UI
• generate_locators - Returns locator data as JSON without interactive UI
• select_device - Returns device list as text without picker UI
• appium_session_management (action=create) - Returns session info as text without dashboard UI
• appium_context - Returns context list as text with action=list without switcher UI
• appium_app_lifecycle (action=list) - Returns app list as JSON without interactive UI

When to Enable NO_UI:

• ✅ Automated test execution in CI/CD pipelines
• ✅ Batch processing multiple devices/sessions
• ✅ Cost-sensitive LLM API usage (reduces token consumption by 60-90%)
• ✅ Network-constrained environments
• ✅ Scripted automation where human interaction is not needed
• ❌ Interactive debugging and exploration (keep UI enabled for better experience)

Documentation Tools (opt-in)

The documentation tools — appium_documentation_query (RAG search over the Appium docs) and appium_skills — live in a separate package, @appium/mcp-documentation, that carries a multi-megabyte embeddings cache and pulls in a heavy ML stack (@xenova/transformers, @langchain/*). To keep the default install lean, this package is not a runtime dependency of appium-mcp and is never downloaded unless you opt in. It is declared as an optional peer dependency.

Enabling the tools is a two-step opt-in:

1. Install the optional package (in the same project/environment as appium-mcp):

npm install @appium/mcp-documentation

Installing it with your own package manager dedupes against appium-mcp's existing dependencies, so only the genuinely new code is added.

2. Set APPIUM_MCP_DOCS_ENABLED in your MCP server config:

{
  "appium-mcp": {
    "env": {
      "APPIUM_MCP_DOCS_ENABLED": "true",
      "ANDROID_HOME": "/path/to/android/sdk"
    }
  }
}

Behavior:

• Unset / not truthy (default): the documentation tools are not registered, and nothing related to them (cache, embeddings, ML dependencies) is loaded.
• Truthy (true/1/yes/on): the server registers the documentation tools if @appium/mcp-documentation is installed. If the flag is set but the package is not installed, the server starts normally without the documentation tools and logs a hint to run npm install @appium/mcp-documentation.

The gate is governed by the env var, not by mere presence of the package: with APPIUM_MCP_DOCS_ENABLED unset, the tools stay hidden even if the package happens to be installed.

Pre-installing it that way also avoids the first-run download delay.

MCP disconnect behavior

By default (APPIUM_MCP_ON_CLIENT_DISCONNECT unset or delete_all), when the MCP client disconnects, this server deletes every MCP-owned Appium session (the same sessions safeDeleteAllSessions targets) so embedded drivers are not left running after a short-lived assistant run. Attached sessions (ownership=attached) are unchanged by this teardown.

HTTP and streamable MCP clients may disconnect briefly (reconnect, reload, proxy). If that tears down drivers you still need, set APPIUM_MCP_ON_CLIENT_DISCONNECT to skip in your MCP server env (same pattern as NO_UI above). With skip, sessions survive disconnect until you call appium_session_management with action=delete, or you stop the Appium server / process.

Tradeoff: skip can leave orphaned sessions on your Appium server if nothing cleans up — use it when disconnect is not the same as “automation finished.”

🔌 Plugin API

Use appium-mcp/core to compose the default Appium MCP server with custom business logic without maintaining a fork. Plugins can register MCP tools, prompts, resources, and resource templates, and can wrap tool execution with lifecycle hooks. Call hooks are tool-only: prompts, resources, and resource templates are registered with FastMCP but are not wrapped by beforeCall or afterCall.

createAppiumMcpServer({ policy }) can also hide nonmatching tools and resources from MCP discovery. The factory is async, so await it before starting the returned server. Policy rules are regular expressions matched against tool and resource names exactly as registered. The policy is applied at registration time to both single and batch registration methods. Resource policy matches the resource name only; resources or resource templates without a string name cannot match a non-empty allowResources list.

import { createAppiumMcpServer } from 'appium-mcp/core';
import type {
  AppiumMcpPlugin,
  McpRegistry,
  ToolCallContext,
} from 'appium-mcp/core';
import { z } from 'zod';

class CheckoutPlugin implements AppiumMcpPlugin {
  readonly name = 'checkout-plugin';
  readonly version = '1.0.0';

  register(registry: McpRegistry): void {
    const parameters = z.object({ orderId: z.string() });
    registry.addTool({
      name: 'assert_checkout_summary',
      description:
        'Assert that the checkout summary screen shows an expected order ID.',
      parameters,
      execute: async (args) => {
        const { orderId } = parameters.parse(args);
        return {
          content: [
            { type: 'text', text: `Assert checkout order ${orderId}` },
          ],
        };
      },
    });
  }

  async beforeCall(ctx: ToolCallContext): Promise<void> {
    if (ctx.toolName === 'appium_gesture') {
      console.error(`[checkout-plugin] about to call ${ctx.toolName}`);
    }
  }
}

const server = await createAppiumMcpServer({
  plugins: [new CheckoutPlugin()],
  additionalInstructions: 'Custom checkout policies are active.',
  policy: {
    allowTools: [/^appium_session_management$/, /^assert_checkout_summary$/],
    allowResources: [/^Generate Code With Locators$/],
  },
});

await server.start({ transportType: 'stdio' });

Plugin lifecycle:

• register(registry, core): called during server construction. Register custom tools, prompts, resources, and resource templates here.
• initialize(ctx): called lazily on the first MCP client connection. Use it for async setup such as artifact storage or internal service clients.
• beforeCall(ctx): called before a registered MCP tool executes. Return a ToolCallResult to short-circuit the tool. This hook only applies to tools, not prompts, resources, or resource templates.
• afterCall(ctx, result): called after a registered MCP tool executes. Return a modified ToolCallResult to decorate or replace the response. This hook only applies to tools, not prompts, resources, or resource templates.
• destroy(): called after the last MCP client disconnects.

Safe plugin surface

The supported plugin API is intentionally small:

McpRegistry methods delegate to the matching FastMCP registration APIs, so their object shapes follow FastMCP's documented tool, prompt, resource, and resource-template definitions. Appium MCP wraps registered tools with plugin call hooks, but prompts and resources are registered directly with FastMCP.

Each plugin name should be unique within the server. If two plugins use the same name, Appium MCP keeps the first plugin registered for that name and skips later plugins with a warning. Use a stable, package-style or organization-prefixed name, such as acme-checkout-plugin, to avoid collisions when composing plugins from multiple teams.

Each tool name should also be unique across all plugins and the core server. Tool names follow FastMCP behavior, not plugin-name behavior: when a tool is registered with the same name as an existing tool, FastMCP replaces the earlier tool definition with the later one. Appium MCP registers built-in tools before plugin tools, which means a plugin tool that uses the same name as a built-in tool replaces the built-in tool. Appium MCP tools usually have an appium_ prefix, so plugin tool names should use that pattern only when they intentionally override a core tool.

Verify plugin and tool names

Use verifyAppiumMcpNames before publishing or deploying a custom plugin setup. It registers your plugin capabilities into a lightweight collector, registers the Appium MCP core tools, and reports duplicate plugin names, duplicate tool names, and registration errors without starting the MCP server.

The recommended approach is to verify the same plugin array you pass to createAppiumMcpServer({ plugins }). This preserves your real plugin instances and order:

import {
  formatVerificationReport,
  verifyAppiumMcpNames,
} from 'appium-mcp/core';
import { plugins } from './plugins.js';

const report = verifyAppiumMcpNames({ plugins });

console.log(formatVerificationReport(report));
process.exit(report.ok ? 0 : 1);

When you provide multiple plugins, order is preserved. Plugins are verified in array order after the appium-mcp core tools. This matters because Appium MCP keeps the first plugin for a duplicate plugin name and skips later plugins with the same name, while duplicate tool names follow FastMCP's later-registration-wins behavior. Tool names still need to be unique across all loaded plugins and appium-mcp core; the verifier reports any collisions it finds.

The report labels this package's own shipped tools as appium-mcp core. Plugin sources are labeled as plugin:<name> with the plugin version.

Treat anything outside appium-mcp/core as internal. In particular, plugins should not rely on private server internals, internal session-store modules, tool implementation files, or the raw FastMCP server instance. If a plugin needs another stable primitive, open an issue so it can be added to AppiumMcpCore or McpRegistry deliberately.

See examples/plugin-example.ts for a fuller cookbook with tools, prom