Atest

Atest is a command line tool that allows users to build, install, and run Android tests locally, greatly speeding test re-runs without requiring knowledge of Trade Federation test harness command line options. This page explains how to use Atest to run Android tests.

For general information on writing tests for Android, see Android Platform Testing.

For information on the overall structure of Atest, see Atest Developer Guide.

For information on running tests in TEST_MAPPING files through Atest, see Running tests in TEST_MAPPING files.

And to add a feature to Atest, follow Atest Developer Workflow.

Setting up your environment

To run Atest, follow the steps in the sections below to set up your environment.

Set environment variable

Set test_suite for Soong or LOCAL_COMPATIBILITY_SUITE for Make per Packaging build script rules.

Run envsetup.sh

From the root of the Android source checkout, run:

source build/envsetup.sh

Run lunch

Run the lunch command to bring up a menu of supported devices. Find the device and run that command.

For example, if you have an ARM device connected, run the following command:

lunch aosp_arm64-eng

This sets various environment variables required for running Atest and adds the Atest command to your $PATH.

Basic usage

Atest commands take the following form:

atest test-to-run [optional-arguments]

Optional arguments

Below are the most commonly used arguments. A complete list is available through atest --help.

Option	Long option	Description
-b	--build	Builds test targets. (default)
-i	--install	Installs test artifacts (APKs) on device. (default)
-t	--test	Runs the tests. (default)
-s	--serial	Runs the tests on the specified device. One device can be tested at a time.
-d	--disable-teardown	Disables test teardown and cleanup.
	--info	Shows the relevant info of the specified targets and exits.
	--dry-run	Dry runs atest without building, installing and running tests in actuality
-m	--rebuild-module-info	Forces a rebuild of the module-info.json file.
-w	--wait-for-debugger	Waits for debugger prior to execution. Only for instrumentation tests.
-v	--verbose	Displays DEBUG level logging.
	--iterations	Loop-runs tests until the max iteration is reached. (10 by default)
	--rerun-until-failure	Reruns all tests until a failure occurs or the max iteration is reached. (10 by default)
	--retry-any-failure	Reruns failed tests until passed or the max iteration is reached. (10 by default)
	--start-avd	Automatically creates an AVD and runs tests on the virtual device.
	--acloud-create	Creates AVDs using the acloud command.
	--[CUSTOM_ARGS]	Specifies custom args for the test runners.
-a	--all-abi	Runs the tests for all available device architectures.
	--host	Runs the test completely on the host without a device. (Note: Running a host test that requires a device with --host will fail.)
	--flakes-info	Shows the test result with flakes info.
	--history	Shows the test result in chronological order.
	--latest-result	Prints the latest test result.

For more information on -b, -i and -t, see Specifying steps: build, install, or run.

Tests to run

You can run one or more tests using test-to-run. To run multiple tests, separate test references with spaces. For example:

atest test-to-run-1 test-to-run-2

Here are some examples:

atest FrameworksServicesTests
atest example/reboot
atest FrameworksServicesTests CtsVideoTestCases
atest FrameworksServicesTests:ScreenDecorWindowTests

For more information on how to reference a test, see Identifying tests.

Identifying tests

You can specify the test-to-run argument with the test's module name, Module:Class, class name, TF integration test, file path or package name.

Module name

To run an entire test module, use its module name. Input the name as it appears in the LOCAL_MODULE or LOCAL_PACKAGE_NAME variables in that test's Android.mk or Android.bp file.

Examples:

atest FrameworksServicesTests
atest CtsVideoTestCases

Module:Class

To run a single class within a module, use Module:Class. Module is the same as described in Module name. Class is the name of the test class in the .java file and can be the fully qualified class name or the basic name.

Examples:

atest FrameworksServicesTests:ScreenDecorWindowTests
atest FrameworksServicesTests:com.android.server.wm.ScreenDecorWindowTests
atest CtsVideoTestCases:VideoEncoderDecoderTest

Class name

To run a single class without explicitly stating a module name, use the class name.

Examples:

atest ScreenDecorWindowTests
atest VideoEncoderDecoderTest

Using the Module:Class reference is recommended whenever possible since Atest requires more time to search the complete source tree for potential matches if no module is stated.

Examples (ordered from fastest to slowest):

atest FrameworksServicesTests:com.android.server.wm.ScreenDecorWindowTests
atest FrameworksServicesTests:ScreenDecorWindowTests
atest ScreenDecorWindowTests

TF integration test

To run tests that are integrated directly into TradeFed (non-modules), input the name as it appears in the output of the tradefed.sh list configs command. For example:

To run the reboot.xml test:

atest example/reboot

To run the native-benchmark.xml test:

atest native-benchmark

File path

You can run both module-based tests and integration-based tests by inputting the path to their test file or directory as appropriate. You can also run a single class by specifying the path to the class's Java file. Both relative and absolute paths are supported.

Example: Two ways to run the CtsVideoTestCases module via path

1. Run module from Android repo-root:

   atest cts/tests/video
   

2. From Android repo-root/cts/tests/video:

   atest .
   

Example: Run a specific class within CtsVideoTestCases module via path. From Android repo-root:

atest cts/tests/video/src/android/video/cts/VideoEncoderDecoderTest.java

Example: Run an integration test via path. From Android repo-root:

atest tools/tradefederation/contrib/res/config/example/reboot.xml

Package name

Atest supports searching tests by package name.

Examples:

atest com.android.server.wm
atest android.jank.cts

Specifying steps: Build, install, or run

You can specify which steps to run by using the -b, -i, and -t options. If you don't specify an option, then all steps run.

• Build targets only: atest -b test-to-run
• Run tests only: atest -t test-to-run
• Install apk and run tests: atest -it test-to-run
• Build and run, but don't install: atest -bt test-to-run

Atest can force a test to skip the cleanup/teardown step. Many tests, such as CTS, clean up the device after the test is run, so trying to rerun your test with -t will fail without the --disable-teardown parameter. Use -d before -t to skip the test clean up step and test iteratively.

atest -d test-to-run
atest -t test-to-run

Running specific methods

You can run specific methods within a test class. Although the whole module needs to be built, this reduces the time needed to run the tests. To run specific methods, identify the class using any of the ways supported for identifying a class (Module:Class, file path, etc) and append the name of the method.

atest reference-to-class#method1

You can specify multiple methods with commas.

atest reference-to-class#method1,method2,method3

Examples:

atest com.android.server.wm.ScreenDecorWindowTests#testMultipleDecors
atest FrameworksServicesTests:ScreenDecorWindowTests#testFlagChange,testRemoval

The following two examples show the preferred ways to run a single method, testFlagChange. These examples are preferred over only using the class name because specifying the module or the Java file location allows Atest to find the test much faster:

1. Using Module:Class

   atest FrameworksServicesTests:ScreenDecorWindowTests#testFlagChange
   

2. From Android repo-root

   atest frameworks/base/services/tests/wmtests/src/com/android/server/wm/ScreenDecorWindowTests.java#testFlagChange
   

Multiple methods can be run from different classes and modules:

atest FrameworksServicesTests:ScreenDecorWindowTests#testFlagChange,testRemoval ScreenDecorWindowTests#testMultipleDecors

Running multiple classes

To run multiple classes, separate them with spaces in the same way as running multiple tests. Atest builds and runs classes efficiently, so specifying a subset of classes in a module improves performance over running the whole module.

Examples:

• Two classes in the same module:

  atest FrameworksServicesTests:ScreenDecorWindowTests FrameworksServicesTests:DimmerTests
  

• Two classes in different modules:

  atest FrameworksServicesTests:ScreenDecorWindowTests CtsVideoTestCases:VideoEncoderDecoderTest
  

Running native tests

Atest can run native tests. Use -a to run the tests for all available device architectures, which in this example are armeabi-v7a (ARM 32-bit) and arm64-v8a (ARM 64-bit).

Examples:

• Input tests:

  atest -a libinput_tests inputflinger_tests
  

To select a specific native test to run, use colon (:) to specify the test name and hashtag (#) to further specify an individual method. For example, for the following test definition:

TEST_F(InputDispatcherTest, InjectInputEvent_ValidatesKeyEvents)

You can run the entire test using

atest inputflinger_tests:InputDispatcherTest

or an individual test method using

atest inputflinger_tests:InputDispatcherTest#InjectInputEvent_ValidatesKeyEvents

Running tests in iteration

To run tests in iteration, simply pass the --iterations argument. Whether it passes or fails, atest won't stop testing until the max iteration is reached.

Examples:

By default atest iterates 10 times, giving an integer to change the round of iteration.

atest test-to-run --iterations
atest test-to-run --iterations 5

Two approaches that assist users to detect flaky tests:

Approach 1: Run all tests until a failure occurs or the max iteration is reached.

• Stop when a failure occurs or the iteration reaches the 10th (by default) round.

  atest test-to-run --rerun-until-failure
  

• Stop when a failure occurs or the iteration reaches the 100th round.

  atest test-to-run --rerun-until-failure 100
  

Approach 2: Run only failed tests until passed or the max iteration is reached.

• Assume test-to-run has five test cases and one of the tests fails. Run only the failed test 10 times or until the test passes.

  atest test-to-run --retry-any-failure
  

• Stop running the failed test when it passes or reaches the 100th round.

  atest test-to-run --retry-any-failure 100
  

Running tests on AVDs

Atest is able to run tests with the newly created AVD. Atest can build artifacts along with running acloud create, and run tests after the AVD has been created successfully.

Examples:

• Start an AVD before running tests on that newly created device:

  acloud create && atest test-to-run
  

  Now it can be simplified by:

  atest test-to-run --start-avd
  

• Start AVDs by specifing acloud create arguments and run tests on that newly created device.

  atest test-to-run --acloud-create "--build-id 6509363 --build-target aosp_cf_x86_phone-userdebug --branch aosp_master"
  

To get usage detail about the argument, run acloud create --help.