Configuration & Server Arguments

Xenon is highly configurable to suit single-node, hub-node, or cloud deployments. You can configure Xenon using:

1. Configuration File (Recommended for production)
2. Runtime API (For dynamic updates)
3. CLI Arguments (Good for quick testing)

---

1. Using Configuration File

We recommend using an Appium configuration file to manage complex settings.

YAML (Recommended)

server:
  keepAliveTimeout: 800
  basePath: /wd/hub
  usePlugins:
    - xenon
  plugin:
    xenon:
      platform: both
      maxSessions: 8
      enableDashboard: true
      bootedSimulators: true
      aiProvider: gemini
      aiModel: llava:7b
      aiBaseUrl: "http://localhost:11434"
      buildCleanupDays: 30

JSON

{
  "server": {
    "keepAliveTimeout": 800,
    "basePath": "/wd/hub",
    "usePlugins": ["xenon"],
    "plugin": {
      "xenon": {
        "platform": "both",
        "iosDeviceType": "both",
        "androidDeviceType": "both",
        "enableDashboard": true,
        "maxSessions": 8
      }
    }
  }
}

To run:

appium server --config xenon-config.yaml

---

2. Runtime Configuration (API)

Xenon exposes a REST API to update configuration at runtime. This is useful for adjusting timeouts or concurrency limits without downtime.

Endpoint: PUT /xenon/api/config

Example Request:

curl -X PUT http://localhost:4723/xenon/api/config \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "maxSessions": 12, "newCommandTimeoutSec": 120 }'

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "config": { ... },
  "restartRequired": false,
  "message": "Configuration updated..."
}

Restart Required: Changing these properties via API will NOT take effect until a server restart:

• hub
• platform
• bindHostOrIp
• proxy
• cloud
• iosDeviceType / androidDeviceType

---

3. Master Parameters Reference

Below is the definitive list of all Xenon configuration parameters.

YAML Key	CLI Flag	Mandatory	Type / Values	Default	Description
Core Options
platform	--plugin-xenon-platform	No	android, ios, both	both	Target platform for automation
maxSessions	--plugin-xenon-max-sessions	No	Number	8	Maximum concurrent sessions
enableDashboard	--plugin-xenon-enable-dashboard	No	Boolean	false	Enable the web dashboard interface
bindHostOrIp	--plugin-xenon-bind-host-or-ip	No	String	Local IP	Internal binding address
Device Filters
androidDeviceType	--plugin-xenon-android-device-type	No	both, real, simulated	both	Android device categories to include
iosDeviceType	--plugin-xenon-ios-device-type	No	both, real, simulated	both	iOS device categories to include
bootedSimulators	--plugin-xenon-booted-simulators	No	Boolean	false	Use only simulators already in Booted state
skipChromeDownload	--plugin-xenon-skip-chrome-download	No	Boolean	true	Prevent automatic Chromedriver fetching
hub	--plugin-xenon-hub	No	URL	None	Hub URL when running in Node mode
AI & Self-Healing
enableSelfHealing	--plugin-xenon-enable-self-healing	No	Boolean	true	Enable global locator auto-recovery
aiProvider	--plugin-xenon-ai-provider	No	gemini, openai, anthropic, ollama	gemini	Primary AI diagnostics provider
aiModel	--plugin-xenon-ai-model	No	String	Provider def	Model name override (e.g. gpt-4o)
aiBaseUrl	--plugin-xenon-ai-base-url	No	URL	None	Custom API endpoint (e.g. for Ollama)
Database
databaseProvider	--plugin-xenon-database-provider	No	sqlite, postgresql	sqlite	State storage engine
databaseUrl	--plugin-xenon-database-url	No	String	Local DB Path	Connection string or path
Cleanup & Retention
buildCleanupDays	--plugin-xenon-build-cleanup-days	No	Number	30	Build retention period in days
buildCleanupMaxCount	--plugin-xenon-build-cleanup-max-count	No	Number	100	Max builds to retain in database
buildCleanupSchedule	--plugin-xenon-build-cleanup-schedule	No	Cron String	0 0 * * *	Cleanup job execution schedule
deleteBuildAssets	--plugin-xenon-delete-build-assets	No	Boolean	true	Delete video/screenshots during cleanup
Timeouts & Monitoring
deviceAvailabilityTimeoutMs	--plugin-device-availability-timeout-ms	No	Number	300000	Max wait for a free device (ms)
newCommandTimeoutSec	--plugin-new-command-timeout-sec	No	Number	60	Auto-release idle sessions (sec)
healthCheckIntervalMs	--plugin-xenon-health-check-interval-ms	No	Number	86400000	Frequency of device health audits
sessionHeartbeatIntervalMs	--plugin-xenon-session-heartbeat-interval-ms	No	Number	30000	Session health check frequency
enableJsonLogging	--plugin-xenon-enable-json-logging	No	Boolean	false	Format logs as structured JSON

---

4. Environment Variables

Some advanced features are configured via environment variables.

AI & Diagnostics

Variable	Description	Default
GEMINI_API_KEY or XENON_GEMINI_API_KEY	Google Gemini API key	—
OPENAI_API_KEY or XENON_OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key	—
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or XENON_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic API key	—
XENON_AI_PROVIDER	AI provider: gemini, openai, anthropic, ollama	gemini
XENON_AI_MODEL	Universal AI model override (all providers)	Provider default
XENON_GEMINI_MODEL	Gemini-specific model (e.g., gemini-3-flash-preview)	—
XENON_OPENAI_MODEL	OpenAI-specific model (e.g., gpt-4o)	—
XENON_ANTHROPIC_MODEL	Anthropic-specific model	—
XENON_OLLAMA_MODEL	Ollama-specific model (e.g., llava)	—
XENON_AI_BASE_URL	Custom base URL (for self-hosted Ollama)	—

→ See AI Features for full provider documentation.

Database

Variable	Description	Default
DATABASE_URL	PostgreSQL or SQLite connection string	file:~/.cache/xenon/xenon.db
XENON_DB_PROVIDER	Database provider (sqlite or postgresql)	sqlite

→ See Deployment Guide for database setup instructions.

Observability

Variable	Description	Default
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT	OpenTelemetry collector endpoint (e.g., http://jaeger:4318/v1/traces)	—
XENON_OTEL_DEBUG	Log traces to console for debugging	false

Cloud & Proxy

Xenon also supports cloud and proxy configurations. See the Cloud Execution and Deployment Guide for structure.