Prepare Development Environment

Appium Repository Development Workflow

Repository-readiness routing and handoffs

Use this Skill for repository development readiness and repository-wide validation. Route Appium driver installation or doctor repair to skills/setup/SKILL.md, supported existing runtime failures to skills/appium-troubleshooting/SKILL.md, and real-device XCUITest work through skills/setup-xcuitest/SKILL.md.

Required inputs

Confirm the repository root, requested validation or edit scope, host OS and shell, available permissions, and existing uncommitted changes that must be preserved.

Workflow outline

1. Load AGENTS.md and inspect the workspace without changing it: git status --short, repository file inventory, node --version, npm --version, and npm config get registry.
2. Run node tools/appium/setup/scripts/check-node-env.mjs --format summary --report auto. Require top-level summary.requiredOk: true; report summary.npmConnectivityOk separately and gate it only when the requested work needs network access.
3. Identify the changed or explicitly in-scope files. Read each affected Skill and Context Asset and verify every changed repository-relative target.
4. Make only the requested repository changes, preserving repository-first shared contexts/ and tools/ boundaries and unrelated user work.
5. Run node tools/validate-repository.mjs; use --all for a repository-wide review. It checks all Skill names/descriptions, declared Context paths, UI metadata, and repository references (including callers of deleted targets). Changed tool files trigger syntax checks for every module under tools/. Whitespace checks include staged, unstaged, and in-scope untracked files. Require summary.requiredOk: true. This validates the repository's metadata contract, not arbitrary YAML or behavioral correctness.
6. Run the edited helper or narrowest representative helper. For shared helper, reporting, server-lifecycle, or validator changes, run node --test tools/tests/helpers.test.mjs. Tests use temporary fixtures and loopback servers; they require localhost listen permission but no Appium install.
7. Review git status --short and the final diff for unintended changes.

Hard constraints

• Preserve uncommitted user work and avoid unrelated edits.
• If work requires Appium drivers, optional dependencies, privileged system packages, signing, or device authorization, stop repository readiness and hand off to the owning setup workflow.
• Use already installed repository analyzers or validators only as optional evidence. When unavailable, rely on the required repository-local checks.
• Retain reusable Context Assets and deterministic repository tools at the repository level unless the request explicitly changes architecture.
• Run commands step by step and rerun only the affected check after each fix.

Completion criteria

• The Node readiness helper reports summary.requiredOk: true.
• git status --short has been reviewed so existing, in-scope, and unrelated changes are distinguished.
• Every changed Skill contains required frontmatter and valid explicit Context relationships.
• Every changed or introduced repository-local path resolves.
• Changed JavaScript modules pass syntax checks.
• The edited or representative helper passes when practical.
• git diff --check passes and the final diff contains no unintended changes.

Evidence boundary

Report command status summaries, paths checked, validation results, preserved unrelated work, and unresolved external blockers. Quote only sanitized lines when additional evidence is requested.

Self-Improvement Prompt

Before the final response, identify any missing, ambiguous, outdated, or retry-causing instruction encountered in this Skill or any loaded asset. Report the asset path and proposed wording. Leave unrelated files unchanged.

Evidence

Example input: Prepare this Appium skills repo for development and validate the changed helpers. Verify workspace state, Node/npm readiness, explicit paths, Skill metadata, changed JavaScript syntax, the narrowest helper, git diff --check, and the final diff.