id	title
Introduction.Android	Detox for Android

Breaking Changes ⚠️

If you are installing Detox for Android for the first time, you can skip right over to the setup section.

Follow our Migration Guide for instructions on how to upgrade from older versions.

In version 11 we switched to using Android Espresso of Android's new androidx.* support libraries. We did this in order to stay up to date with Google's latest features and bug fixes, in the hopes of using them to improve our own Android support (which gets better every day!).
In version 10, we've made Kotlin mandatory for integrating Detox into your Android project. In the very least, you must include the Kotlin gradle plugin in your project, as we shall see later on. Nevertheless, this is a breaking change so bear that in mind when upgrading. In any case, worry not of the impact on your app, as - unless you effectively use Kotlin in your own native code, there will be no impact on the final APK, in terms of size and methods count.
As of version 7 we require Android gradle plugin 3.0.0 or newer. This is a breaking change that makes it impossible to support previous Android gradle plugin versions.

https://developer.android.com/studio/build/gradle-plugin-3-0-0-migration.html

For older Android gradle plugin support use detox@6.x.x instead (previous setup guide here).

Note: As a rule of thumb, we consider all old major versions discontinued; We only support the latest Detox major version.

Setup ⚙️

1. Run through the initial Getting Started Guide

Getting Started

2. Add Detox dependency to an Android project

Starting Detox 12.5.0, Detox is shipped as a precompiled .aar. To configure Detox as a compiling dependency, nevertheless -- refer to the Setting Detox up as a compiling dependency section at the bottom.

In your root buildscript (i.e. build.gradle), register both google() and detox as repository lookup points in all projects:

// Note: add the 'allproject' section if it doesn't exist
allprojects {
    repositories {
        // ...
        google()
        maven {
            // All of Detox' artifacts are provided via the npm module
            url "$rootDir/../node_modules/detox/Detox-android"
        }
    }
}

In your app's buildscript (i.e. app/build.gradle) add this in dependencies section:

dependencies {
	  // ...
    androidTestImplementation('com.wix:detox:+') { transitive = true } 
    androidTestImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
}

In your app's buildscript (i.e. app/build.gradle) add this to the defaultConfig subsection:

android {
  // ...
  
  defaultConfig {
      // ...
      testBuildType System.getProperty('testBuildType', 'debug')  // This will later be used to control the test apk build type
      testInstrumentationRunner 'androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner'
  }
}

Please be aware that the minSdkVersion needs to be at least 18.

3. Add Kotlin

If your project does not already support Kotlin, add the Kotlin Gradle-plugin to your classpath in the root build-script (i.e.android/build.gradle):

buildscript {
    // ...
    ext.kotlinVersion = '1.3.0'

    dependencies: {
        // ...
        classpath "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin:$kotlinVersion"
    }
}

Note: most guides advise of defining a global kotlinVersion constant - as in this example, but that is not mandatory.

Note that Detox has been tested for version 1.1.0 of Kotlin, and higher!

4. Create Android Test class

Add the file android/app/src/androidTest/java/com/[your.package]/DetoxTest.java and fill as in the detox example app for NR. Don't forget to change the package name to your project's.

5. Add Android configuration

Add this part to your package.json:

"detox" : {
    "configurations": {
        "android.emu.debug": {
            "binaryPath": "android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk",
            "build":
            "cd android && ./gradlew assembleDebug assembleAndroidTest -DtestBuildType=debug && cd ..",
            "type": "android.emulator",
            "name": "Nexus_5X_API_24"
        },
        "android.emu.release": {
            "binaryPath": "android/app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk",
            "build":
            "cd android && ./gradlew assembleRelease assembleAndroidTest -DtestBuildType=release && cd ..",
            "type": "android.emulator",
            "name": "Nexus_5X_API_26"
        }
    }
}

Pay attention to -DtestBuildType, set either to debug or release according to the main apk type.

Following device types could be used to control Android devices:

android.emulator. Boot stock SDK emulator with provided name, for example Nexus_5X_API_25. After booting connect to it.

android.attached. Connect to already-attached android device. The device should be listed in the output of adb devices command under provided name. Use this type to connect to Genymotion emulator.

6. Run the tests

Using the android.emu.debug configuration from above, you can invoke it in the standard way.

detox test -c android.emu.debug

Proguard (Minification)

In apps running minification using Proguard, in order for Detox to work well on release builds, please enable some Detox proguard-configuration rules by applying the custom configuration file on top of your own. Typically, this is defined using the proguardFiles statement in the minification-enabled build-type in your app/build.gradle:

    buildTypes {
        // 'release' is typically the default proguard-enabled build-type
        release {
            minifyEnabled true

            // Typical pro-guard definitions
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
            // Detox-specific additions to pro-guard
            proguardFile "${rootProject.projectDir}/../node_modules/detox/android/detox/proguard-rules-app.pro"
        }
    }

Setting Detox up as a compiling dependency

This is an alternative to the setup process described under the previous section, on adding Detox as a dependency.

In your project's settings.gradle add:

include ':detox'
project(':detox').projectDir = new File(rootProject.projectDir, '../node_modules/detox/android/detox')

In your root buildscript (i.e. build.gradle), register google() as a repository lookup point in all projects:

// Note: add the 'allproject' section if it doesn't exist
allprojects {
    repositories {
        // ...
        google()
    }
}

In your app's buildscript (i.e. app/build.gradle) add this in dependencies section:

dependencies {
  	// ...
    androidTestImplementation(project(path: ":detox"))
    androidTestImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
}

In your app's buildscript (i.e. app/build.gradle) add this to the defaultConfig subsection:

android {
  // ...
  
  defaultConfig {
      // ...
      testBuildType System.getProperty('testBuildType', 'debug')  // This will later be used to control the test apk build type
      testInstrumentationRunner 'androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner'
  }
}

Please be aware that the minSdkVersion needs to be at least 18.

Troubleshooting

Problem: `Duplicate files copied in ...`

If you get an error like this:

Execution failed for task ':app:transformResourcesWithMergeJavaResForDebug'.
> com.android.build.api.transform.TransformException: com.android.builder.packaging.DuplicateFileException: Duplicate files copied in APK META-INF/LICENSE

You need to add this to the android section of your android/app/build.gradle:

packagingOptions {
    exclude 'META-INF/LICENSE'
}

Problem: Kotlin stdlib version conflicts

The problems and resolutions here are different if you're using Detox as a precompiled dependency artifact (i.e. an .aar) - which is the default, or compiling it yourself.

Resolving for a precompiled dependency (`.aar`)

Of all Kotlin implementation flavours, Detox assumes the most recent one, namely kotlin-stdlib-jdk8. If your Android build fails due to conflicts with implementations coming from other dependencies or even your own app, consider adding an exclusion to either the "other" dependencies or detox itself, for example:

dependencies {
-    androidTestImplementation('com.wix:detox:+') { transitive = true } 
+    androidTestImplementation('com.wix:detox:+') { 
+        transitive = true
+        exclude group: 'org.jetbrains.kotlin', module: 'kotlin-stdlib-jdk8'
+    }
}

Detox should work with kotlin-stdlib-jdk7, as well.

Resolving for a compiling subproject

Detox requires the Kotlin standard-library as it's own dependency. Due to the many flavours by which Kotlin has been released, multiple dependencies often create a conflict.

For that, Detox allows for the exact specification of the standard library to use using two Gradle globals: detoxKotlinVerion and detoxKotlinStdlib. You can define both in your root build-script file (i.e.android/build.gradle):

buildscript {
    // ...
    ext.detoxKotlinVersion = '1.3.0' // Detox' default is 1.2.0
    ext.detoxKotlinStdlib = 'kotlin-stdlib-jdk7' // Detox' default is kotlin-stdlib-jdk8
}

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Introduction.Android.md

Introduction.Android.md

Breaking Changes ⚠️

Setup ⚙️

1. Run through the initial Getting Started Guide

2. Add Detox dependency to an Android project

3. Add Kotlin

4. Create Android Test class

5. Add Android configuration

6. Run the tests

Proguard (Minification)

Setting Detox up as a compiling dependency

Troubleshooting

Problem: `Duplicate files copied in ...`

Problem: Kotlin stdlib version conflicts

Resolving for a precompiled dependency (`.aar`)

Resolving for a compiling subproject

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Introduction.Android.md

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Breaking Changes ⚠️

Setup ⚙️

1. Run through the initial Getting Started Guide

2. Add Detox dependency to an Android project

3. Add Kotlin

4. Create Android Test class

5. Add Android configuration

6. Run the tests

Proguard (Minification)

Setting Detox up as a compiling dependency

Troubleshooting

Problem: Duplicate files copied in ...

Problem: Kotlin stdlib version conflicts

Resolving for a precompiled dependency (.aar)

Resolving for a compiling subproject

Problem: `Duplicate files copied in ...`

Resolving for a precompiled dependency (`.aar`)