The XmlParser appendNode(...) methods come in several signatures: appendNode('element-name', map-of-attribute-values) appendNode('element-name', list-of-nested-elements-or-text-or-other-value-except-a-Map) appendNode('element-name', map-of-attribute-values, list-of-nested-elements-or-text-or-other-value) However, there is no method for adding just an element, with no attributes or values specified. This Jira issue would add such a method, and also add a corresponding constructor to Node, which also is missing the constructor that creates a new Node without a map of attributes and without a value specification.