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testland/winappdriver

Authors and runs Windows UI tests against the WinAppDriver UIA surface via both invocation paths - the direct Microsoft W3C-WebDriver service (installing + launching `WinAppDriver.exe` on `127.0.0.1:4723`, `app` / `platformName` / `appArguments` / `appTopLevelWindow` capabilities) and the actively-maintained Appium 2.x wrapper (`appium driver install windows`, `appium:` prefixed capabilities, `windows:` gestures, PowerShell prerun/postrun hooks). Covers UWP / WPF / WinForms / Win32 apps, `AccessibilityId` / `Name` / `ClassName` locators, and Windows-runner CI. Use when driving a native Windows app from a Selenium-style client (C#, Java, Python, Ruby, JS) - directly when no Appium install is wanted, via Appium when the stack already runs Appium for iOS / Android / Mac2; for a C#-only FlaUI client use flaui-tests, and to choose among Windows desktop drivers first use desktop-test-strategy-reference.

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Appium Windows driver - gestures, hooks, and CI

Deep reference for the "Invoking via Appium" section of SKILL.md. Consult when adding Windows-specific gestures, multi-window flows, PowerShell session hooks, or wiring the Appium-wrapped driver into CI on a Windows runner.

Windows-specific gestures

Per awd, the driver adds Windows-namespaced extensions on top of the W3C WebDriver baseline:

Command	Purpose
`windows: scroll`	"Mouse wheel gesture" with `deltaX` / `deltaY` parameters (awd)
`windows: clickAndDrag`	"Drag-and-drop operations" (awd)
`windows: keys`	"Customized keyboard input with virtual key codes" (awd)
`windows: launchApp`	Open another app window within the same session (awd)

Scroll a list inside the app under test (negative deltaY scrolls down):

driver.execute_script('windows: scroll', {
    'elementId': list_element.id,
    'deltaY': -300,   # negative scrolls down
})

Drag a file across panels:

driver.execute_script('windows: clickAndDrag', {
    'startElementId': source.id,
    'endElementId':   target.id,
})

Multi-window sessions

Per awd, "It is possible to switch between app windows using WebDriver Windows API" and windows: launchApp "creates new app windows within the same session". This is the cross-app workflow path (e.g., test a deep-link flow that crosses from a desktop app into the Settings app):

settings_handle = driver.execute_script('windows: launchApp', {
    'app': 'ms-settings:',
})
driver.switch_to.window(settings_handle)

Pre/post-run PowerShell hooks

Per awd, appium:prerun and appium:postrun accept PowerShell scripts that the driver executes around session lifecycle. This is the canonical place to:

Set up fixture data (write a config file to the user's %AppData%).
Suppress / replay the Windows lock screen if the app under test triggers a UAC prompt.
Tear down user-data state between tests.

{
  "platformName": "windows",
  "appium:automationName": "windows",
  "appium:app": "MyApp",
  "appium:prerun": {
    "script": "Copy-Item .\\fixtures\\config.json $env:APPDATA\\MyApp\\config.json -Force"
  },
  "appium:postrun": {
    "script": "Remove-Item $env:APPDATA\\MyApp\\config.json -Force"
  }
}

Run and parse results

# Pytest example
pytest tests/windows --junitxml=reports/windows-junit.xml

JUnit XML output feeds junit-xml-analysis (in the qa-test-reporting plugin) for the cross-runner aggregation pipeline.

CI integration

# .github/workflows/appium-windows.yml
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: '22' }
      - run: npm install -g appium
      - run: appium driver install windows
      - run: appium driver run windows install-wad
      - name: Enable Developer Mode
        run: |
          reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModelUnlock" `
            /t REG_DWORD /f /v AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense /d 1
      - name: Start Appium
        run: |
          Start-Process -FilePath "appium" -ArgumentList "--port 4723" -PassThru
          Start-Sleep -Seconds 5
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with: { python-version: '3.12' }
      - run: pip install Appium-Python-Client pytest
      - run: pytest tests/windows --junitxml=reports/windows-junit.xml
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: always()
        with: { name: junit, path: reports/ }

Same hosted-vs-self-hosted runner caveats as the direct service (SKILL.md Limitations) - UIA requires an interactive desktop session, so Session-0 Windows containers won't work without extra display setup.