Attributed to http://kvz.io/blog/2009/12/15/run-nodejs-as-a-service-on-ubuntu-karmic/

appium.config

description "appium server"
author      "startup script: kvz - http://kevin.vanzonneveld.net"

# used to be: start on startup
# until we found some mounts weren't ready yet while booting:
start on started mountall
stop on shutdown

# Automatically Respawn:
respawn
respawn limit 99 5

script
    # Not sure why $HOME is needed, but we found that it is:
    export HOME="/root"

    exec appium >> /var/log/node.log 2>&1
end script

post-start script
   # Optionally put a script here that will notifiy you node has (re)started
   # /root/bin/hoptoad.sh "node.js has started!"
end script