Run Flutter end-to-end tests in GitHub Actions

This workflow builds a Flutter app with the FlutterProbe agent, starts an Android emulator, runs your .probe tests and publishes JUnit results. It uses the released CLI binary, so you do not build FlutterProbe from source. Action versions and the emulator API level change over time: check them against the action’s own documentation. The actions/probe-test directory in the FlutterProbe repository wraps the install and run steps as a reusable action (see the GitHub Actions page).

The workflow

name: E2E
on: [pull_request]

jobs:
  android:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6

      - uses: subosito/flutter-action@v2
        with:
          channel: stable

      - name: Install the probe CLI
        run: |
          curl -fsSL -o probe https://github.com/AlphaWaveSystems/flutter-probe/releases/download/v0.25.1/probe-linux-amd64
          chmod +x probe
          ./probe version

      - name: Build the app with the agent
        run: |
          flutter pub get
          flutter build apk --debug --dart-define=PROBE_AGENT=true

      - name: Enable KVM
        run: |
          echo 'KERNEL=="kvm", GROUP="kvm", MODE="0666", OPTIONS+="static_node=kvm"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-kvm4all.rules
          sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
          sudo udevadm trigger --name-match=kvm

      - name: Run the tests on an emulator
        uses: reactivecircus/android-emulator-runner@v2
        with:
          api-level: 34
          script: |
            adb install -r build/app/outputs/flutter-apk/app-debug.apk
            adb shell am start -n com.example.myapp/.MainActivity
            ./probe test tests/ --device emulator-5554 -y --format junit -o reports/results.xml

      - name: Keep the reports
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: e2e-reports
          path: reports/

Change com.example.myapp to your app id. Pin the CLI version in the download URL, and keep the CLI and the flutter_probe_agent package on the same version (see Compatibility).

What each step does

Install the CLI. One binary from the release page. Use probe-darwin-arm64 on a macOS runner.
Build with the flag. --dart-define=PROBE_AGENT=true is what starts the agent. Without it the CLI cannot connect.
Run on the emulator. probe test waits for the agent to come up and connects. -y accepts permission prompts automatically.
JUnit output. Most CI systems show JUnit results natively. Use a test-reporter action to show them in the pull request.

Make it faster and steadier

Split the suite across jobs with --shard 1/3, --shard 2/3 and --shard 3/3.
If the first connection after install times out on a busy runner, raise agent.dial_timeout in probe.yaml or pass --dial-timeout 90s. The default is 30 seconds.
Keep failed-step screenshots by uploading reports/ with if: always().

Find and fix flaky tests, or see all options on the GitHub Actions page.

The CLI and everything on this page is free. Probe Cloud, hosted report storage, is a design-partner preview and is not live yet.

Run Flutter end-to-end tests in GitHub Actions

The workflow

What each step does

Make it faster and steadier

Next