Appium in a Nutshell

As mentioned on the main page, Appium aims to support UI automation of many different platforms (mobile, web, desktop, etc.). Not only that, but it also aims to support automation code written in different languages (JS, Java, Python, etc.). Combining all of this functionality in a single program is a very daunting, if not impossible task!

In order to achieve this, Appium is effectively split into four parts:

• Appium Core - defines the core APIs
• Drivers - implement connectivity to specific platforms
• Clients - implement Appium's API in specific languages
• Plugins - change or extend Appium's core functionality

Therefore, in order to start automating something with Appium, you need to:

• Install Appium itself
• Install a driver for your target platform
• Install a client library for your target programming language
• (Optional) install one or more plugins

These are the basics! If you are ready to jump in, proceed with the Quickstart!

If you wish to learn more details about how it all works, see these pages for background material:

• Appium Core
• Appium Drivers
• Appium Clients

Finally, to learn about the origins of Appium, check out the Appium Project History.