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Getting Started

Robolectric works with various build systems, which are documented on this page. If you are starting a new project, we recommend Gradle as a first choice, since it is the default build system for Android.

Building with Gradle

Start by adding the following to your module's build.gradle/build.gradle.kts file:

android {
  testOptions {
    unitTests {
      includeAndroidResources = true
    }
  }
}

dependencies {
  testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.13.2'
  testImplementation 'org.robolectric:robolectric:4.14'
}

android {
  testOptions {
    unitTests {
      isIncludeAndroidResources = true
    }
  }
}

dependencies {
  testImplementation("junit:junit:4.13.2")
  testImplementation("org.robolectric:robolectric:4.14")
}

Then, mark your test to run with RobolectricTestRunner:

import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner;

@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner.class)
public class SandwichTest {
}

import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner

@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner::class)
class SandwichTest

Building with Bazel

Robolectric works with Bazel 0.10.0 or higher. Bazel integrates with Robolectric through the android_local_test rule. The Robolectric Java/Kotlin test code is the same for a Bazel project as for a Gradle project (see section above).

Robolectric needs to be added as a dependency to your Bazel project with rules_jvm_external. Add the following to your WORKSPACE file:

http_archive(
    name = "robolectric",
    sha256 = "f7b8e08f246f29f26fddd97b7ab5dfa01aaa6170ccc24b9b6a21931bde01ad6f",
    strip_prefix = "robolectric-bazel-4.12.2",
    urls = ["https://github.com/robolectric/robolectric-bazel/releases/download/4.12.2/robolectric-bazel-4.12.2.tar.gz"],
)
load("@robolectric//bazel:robolectric.bzl", "robolectric_repositories")

robolectric_repositories()

http_archive(
    name = "rules_jvm_external",
    sha256 = "d31e369b854322ca5098ea12c69d7175ded971435e55c18dd9dd5f29cc5249ac",
    strip_prefix = "rules_jvm_external-5.3",
    url = "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_jvm_external/releases/download/5.3/rules_jvm_external-5.3.tar.gz",
)
load("@rules_jvm_external//:defs.bzl", "maven_install")

maven_install(
    name = "maven",
    artifacts = [
        "com.google.truth:truth:1.1.3",
        "org.robolectric:robolectric:4.14",
    ],
    repositories = [
        "https://maven.google.com",
        "https://repo1.maven.org/maven2",
    ],
)

Add an android_local_test rule to your BUILD file:

android_local_test(
    name = "greeter_activity_test",
    srcs = ["GreeterTest.java"],
    manifest = "TestManifest.xml",
    test_class = "com.example.bazel.GreeterTest",
    deps = [
        ":greeter_activity",
        "@maven//:org_robolectric_robolectric",
        "@robolectric//bazel:android-all",
    ],
)

Note

These instructions use robolectric-bazel 4.12.2 and rules_jvm_external 5.3. Please check robolectric-bazel's latest release for up-to-date information.

If you have any question about Bazel integration, we recommend to check robolectric-bazel first, and file an issue there if you need assistance.

Building with Maven

Start by adding the following to your module's pom.xml file:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.robolectric</groupId>
    <artifactId>robolectric</artifactId>
    <version>4.14</version>
    <scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

Then, mark your test to run with RobolectricTestRunner:

import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner;

@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner.class)
public class SandwichTest {
}

import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner

@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner::class)
class SandwichTest

Using libraries

If you use Maven to build your application, you will need to tell Robolectric where the unpacked resources are located for each library you use. This can either be specified with the @Config annotation:

import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner;

@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner.class)
@Config(libraries = {
  "build/unpacked-libraries/library1",
  "build/unpacked-libraries/library2"
})
public class SandwichTest {
}

import org.robolectric.RobolectricTestRunner

@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner::class)
@Config(libraries = [
  "build/unpacked-libraries/library1",
  "build/unpacked-libraries/library2"
])
class SandwichTest

or specified in the robolectric.properties file:

libraries=build/unpacked-libraries/library1,build/unpacked-libraries/library2

All paths are relative to the root directory of the project.

Debugging resource loading issues

If you are not sure if resources are being loaded for a particular library, enable debug logging by setting the system property robolectric.logging.enabled = true and run your tests. You should see lots of output like:

Loading resources for 'com.foo' from build/unpacked-libraries/library1...

If you don't see a particular library in the list, double-check the configuration.

If you reference resources that are outside of your project (i.e. in an AAR dependency), you will need to provide Robolectric with a pointer to the exploded AAR in your build system. See using libraries above for more information.

Additional resources