Espresso setup instructions

This guide covers installing Espresso using the SDK Manager and building it using Gradle. Android Studio is recommended.

Set up your test environment

To avoid flakiness, we highly recommend that you turn off system animations on the virtual or physical devices used for testing. On your device, under Settings > Developer options, disable the following 3 settings:

  • Window animation scale
  • Transition animation scale
  • Animator duration scale

Add Espresso dependencies

To add Espresso dependencies to your project, complete the following steps:

  1. Open your app’s build.gradle file. This is usually not the top-level build.gradle file but app/build.gradle.
  2. Add the following lines inside dependencies:

Groovy

androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.6.1'
androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test:runner:1.6.1'
androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test:rules:1.6.1'

Kotlin

androidTestImplementation('androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.6.1')
androidTestImplementation('androidx.test:runner:1.6.1')
androidTestImplementation('androidx.test:rules:1.6.1')

View the complete set of Gradle dependencies.

Set the instrumentation runner

Add to the same build.gradle file the following line in android.defaultConfig:

Groovy

testInstrumentationRunner "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"

Kotlin

testInstrumentationRunner = "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"

Example Gradle build file

Groovy

plugins {
  id 'com.android.application'
}

android {
    compileSdkVersion 33

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.my.awesome.app"
        minSdkVersion 21
        targetSdkVersion 33
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"

        testInstrumentationRunner "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
}

dependencies {
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test:runner:1.6.1'
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.6.1'
}

Kotlin

plugins {
    id("com.android.application")
}

android {
    compileSdkVersion(33)

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId = "com.my.awesome.app"
        minSdkVersion(21)
        targetSdkVersion(33)
        versionCode = 1
        versionName = "1.0"

        testInstrumentationRunner = "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
}

dependencies {
    androidTestImplementation('androidx.test:runner:1.6.1')
    androidTestImplementation('androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.6.1')
}

Analytics

In order to make sure we are on the right track with each new release, the test runner collects analytics. More specifically, it uploads a hash of the package name of the application under test for each invocation. This allows us to measure both the count of unique packages using Espresso as well as the volume of usage.

If you do not wish to upload this data, you can opt out by including the disableAnalytics argument in your instrumentation command:

adb shell am instrument -e disableAnalytics true

Add the first test

Android Studio creates tests by default in src/androidTest/java/com.example.package/.

Example JUnit4 test using Rules:

Kotlin

@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4::class)
@LargeTest
class HelloWorldEspressoTest {

    @get:Rule
    val activityRule = ActivityScenarioRule(MainActivity::class.java)

    @Test fun listGoesOverTheFold() {
        onView(withText("Hello world!")).check(matches(isDisplayed()))
    }
}

Java

@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
@LargeTest
public class HelloWorldEspressoTest {

    @Rule
    public ActivityScenarioRule<MainActivity> activityRule =
            new ActivityScenarioRule<>(MainActivity.class);

    @Test
    public void listGoesOverTheFold() {
        onView(withText("Hello world!")).check(matches(isDisplayed()));
    }
}

Run tests

You can run your tests in Android Studio or from the command line.

In Android Studio

To create a test configuration in Android Studio, complete the following steps:

  1. Open Run > Edit Configurations.
  2. Add a new Android Tests configuration.
  3. Choose a module.
  4. Add a specific instrumentation runner: androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner
  5. Run the newly created configuration.

From the command line

Execute the following Gradle command:

./gradlew connectedAndroidTest