Integration testing concepts

Unit tests and widget tests validate individual classes, functions, or widgets. They don't validate how individual pieces work together in whole or capture the performance of an app running on a real device. To perform these tasks, use integration tests.

Integration tests verify the behavior of the complete app. This test can also be called end-to-end testing or GUI testing.

Two packages are commonly used to perform Flutter integration tests. These are:

• integration_test package: The official integration test package that is part of the Flutter SDK. Tests written with integration_test can perform the following tasks: run on the target device, run from the host machine with flutter test integration_test, and use flutter_test APIs. This makes integration tests similar to writing widget tests. However, integration_test can't interact with native platform UI.

• patrol package: A popular third-party integration test package that has many of the features supported by the integration_test package, but can additionally interact with native platform UI such as permission dialogs, notifications, or the contents of platform views.

host machine

The system on which you develop your app, like a desktop computer.

target device

The mobile device, browser, or desktop application that runs your Flutter app.

If you run your app in a web browser or as a desktop application, the host machine and the target device are the same.

To use integration_test, add it as a dependency for your Flutter app test file.

To migrate existing projects that use flutter_driver, consult the Migrating from flutter_driver guide.

To use patrol, follow the Patrol setup guide.

The other guides in this section explain how to use integration tests to validate functionality and performance.