Mock dependencies using Mockito

Sometimes, unit tests might depend on classes that fetch data from live web services or databases. This is inconvenient for a few reasons:

Calling live services or databases slows down test execution.
A passing test might start failing if a web service or database returns unexpected results. This is known as a "flaky test."
It is difficult to test all possible success and failure scenarios by using a live web service or database.

Therefore, rather than relying on a live web service or database, you can "mock" these dependencies. Mocks allow emulating a live web service or database and return specific results depending on the situation.

Generally speaking, you can mock dependencies by creating an alternative implementation of a class. Write these alternative implementations by hand or make use of the Mockito package as a shortcut.

This recipe demonstrates the basics of mocking with the Mockito package using the following steps:

Add the package dependencies.
Create a function to test.
Create a test file with a mock http.Client.
Write a test for each condition.
Run the tests.

For more information, see the Mockito package documentation.

To use the mockito package, add it to the pubspec.yaml file along with the flutter_test dependency in the dev_dependencies section.

This example also uses the http package, so define that dependency in the dependencies section.

mockito: 5.0.0 supports Dart's null safety thanks to code generation. To run the required code generation, add the build_runner dependency in the dev_dependencies section.

To add the dependencies, run flutter pub add:

flutter pub add http dev:mockito dev:build_runner

In this example, unit test the fetchAlbum function from the Fetch data from the internet recipe. To test this function, make two changes:

Provide an http.Client to the function. This allows providing the correct http.Client depending on the situation. For Flutter and server-side projects, provide an http.IOClient. For Browser apps, provide an http.BrowserClient. For tests, provide a mock http.Client.
Use the provided client to fetch data from the internet, rather than the static http.get() method, which is difficult to mock.

The function should now look like this:

dartFuture<Album> fetchAlbum(http.Client client) async {
  final response = await client.get(
    Uri.parse('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/albums/1'),
  );

  if (response.statusCode == 200) {
    // If the server did return a 200 OK response,
    // then parse the JSON.
    return Album.fromJson(jsonDecode(response.body) as Map<String, dynamic>);
  } else {
    // If the server did not return a 200 OK response,
    // then throw an exception.
    throw Exception('Failed to load album');
  }
}

In your app code, you can provide an http.Client to the fetchAlbum method directly with fetchAlbum(http.Client()). http.Client() creates a default http.Client.

Next, create a test file.

Following the advice in the Introduction to unit testing recipe, create a file called fetch_album_test.dart in the root test folder.

Add the annotation @GenerateMocks([], customMocks: [MockSpec<http.Client>(as: #MockHttpClient)]) to the main function to generate a MockHttpClient class with mockito.

The generated MockHttpClient class implements the http.Client class. This allows you to pass the MockHttpClient to the fetchAlbum function, and return different http responses in each test.

The generated mocks will be located in fetch_album_test.mocks.dart. Import this file to use them.

dartimport 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
import 'package:mocking/main.dart';
import 'package:mockito/annotations.dart';

// Generate a MockClient using the Mockito package.
// Create new instances of this class in each test.
// Note: Naming the generated mock `MockHttpClient` to avoid confusion with
// `MockClient` from `package:http/testing.dart`.
@GenerateMocks([], customMocks: [MockSpec<http.Client>(as: #MockHttpClient)])
void main() {
}

Next, generate the mocks running the following command:

dart run build_runner build

The fetchAlbum() function does one of two things:

Returns an Album if the http call succeeds
Throws an Exception if the http call fails

Therefore, you want to test these two conditions. Use the MockHttpClient class to return an "Ok" response for the success test, and an error response for the unsuccessful test. Test these conditions using the when() function provided by Mockito:

dartimport 'package:flutter_test/flutter_test.dart';
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
import 'package:mocking/main.dart';
import 'package:mockito/annotations.dart';
import 'package:mockito/mockito.dart';

import 'fetch_album_test.mocks.dart';

// Generate a MockClient using the Mockito package.
// Create new instances of this class in each test.
// Note: Naming the generated mock `MockHttpClient` to avoid confusion with
// `MockClient` from `package:http/testing.dart`.
@GenerateMocks([], customMocks: [MockSpec<http.Client>(as: #MockHttpClient)])
void main() {
  group('fetchAlbum', () {
    test('returns an Album if the http call completes successfully', () async {
      final client = MockHttpClient();

      // Use Mockito to return a successful response when it calls the
      // provided http.Client.
      when(
        client.get(Uri.parse('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/albums/1')),
      ).thenAnswer(
        (_) async =>
            http.Response('{"userId": 1, "id": 2, "title": "mock"}', 200),
      );

      expect(await fetchAlbum(client), isA<Album>());
    });

    test('throws an exception if the http call completes with an error', () {
      final client = MockHttpClient();

      // Use Mockito to return an unsuccessful response when it calls the
      // provided http.Client.
      when(
        client.get(Uri.parse('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/albums/1')),
      ).thenAnswer((_) async => http.Response('Not Found', 404));

      expect(fetchAlbum(client), throwsException);
    });
  });
}

Now that you have a fetchAlbum() function with tests in place, run the tests.

flutter test test/fetch_album_test.dart

You can also run tests inside your favorite editor by following the instructions in the Introduction to unit testing recipe.

dartimport 'dart:async';
import 'dart:convert';

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;

Future<Album> fetchAlbum(http.Client client) async {
  final response = await client.get(
    Uri.parse('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/albums/1'),
  );

  if (response.statusCode == 200) {
    // If the server did return a 200 OK response,
    // then parse the JSON.
    return Album.fromJson(jsonDecode(response.body) as Map<String, dynamic>);
  } else {
    // If the server did not return a 200 OK response,
    // then throw an exception.
    throw Exception('Failed to load album');
  }
}

class Album {
  final int userId;
  final int id;
  final String title;

  const Album({required this.userId, required this.id, required this.title});

  factory Album.fromJson(Map<String, dynamic> json) {
    return Album(
      userId: json['userId'] as int,
      id: json['id'] as int,
      title: json['title'] as String,
    );
  }
}

void main() => runApp(const MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  @override
  State<MyApp> createState() => _MyAppState();
}

class _MyAppState extends State<MyApp> {
  late final Future<Album> futureAlbum;

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    futureAlbum = fetchAlbum(http.Client());
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Fetch Data Example',
      theme: ThemeData(
        colorScheme: ColorScheme.fromSeed(seedColor: Colors.deepPurple),
      ),
      home: Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(title: const Text('Fetch Data Example')),
        body: Center(
          child: FutureBuilder<Album>(
            future: futureAlbum,
            builder: (context, snapshot) {
              if (snapshot.hasData) {
                return Text(snapshot.data!.title);
              } else if (snapshot.hasError) {
                return Text('${snapshot.error}');
              }

              // By default, show a loading spinner.
              return const CircularProgressIndicator();
            },
          ),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

dartimport 'package:flutter_test/flutter_test.dart';
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
import 'package:mocking/main.dart';
import 'package:mockito/annotations.dart';
import 'package:mockito/mockito.dart';

import 'fetch_album_test.mocks.dart';

// Generate a MockClient using the Mockito package.
// Create new instances of this class in each test.
// Note: Naming the generated mock `MockHttpClient` to avoid confusion with
// `MockClient` from `package:http/testing.dart`.
@GenerateMocks([], customMocks: [MockSpec<http.Client>(as: #MockHttpClient)])
void main() {
  group('fetchAlbum', () {
    test('returns an Album if the http call completes successfully', () async {
      final client = MockHttpClient();

      // Use Mockito to return a successful response when it calls the
      // provided http.Client.
      when(
        client.get(Uri.parse('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/albums/1')),
      ).thenAnswer(
        (_) async =>
            http.Response('{"userId": 1, "id": 2, "title": "mock"}', 200),
      );

      expect(await fetchAlbum(client), isA<Album>());
    });

    test('throws an exception if the http call completes with an error', () {
      final client = MockHttpClient();

      // Use Mockito to return an unsuccessful response when it calls the
      // provided http.Client.
      when(
        client.get(Uri.parse('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/albums/1')),
      ).thenAnswer((_) async => http.Response('Not Found', 404));

      expect(fetchAlbum(client), throwsException);
    });
  });
}

In this example, you've learned how to use Mockito to test functions or classes that depend on web services or databases. This is only a short introduction to the Mockito library and the concept of mocking. For more information, see the documentation provided by the Mockito package.

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Unless stated otherwise, the documentation on this site reflects the latest stable version of Flutter. Page last updated on 2025-10-21. View source or report an issue.

Mock dependencies using Mockito

1. Add the package dependencies

2. Create a function to test

3. Create a test file with a mock `http.Client`

4. Write a test for each condition

5. Run the tests

Complete example

lib/main.dart

test/fetch_album_test.dart

Summary